AMD's newfangled ATI Radeon E4690 may not be the next Crysis killer, but it should do just fine in next-gen arcade and slot machines. All kidding aside (sort of...), this new embedded graphics set is said to triple the performance of AMD's prior offerings in the field, bringing with it 512MB of GDDR3 RAM, DirectX 10.1 / OpenGL 3.0 support and hardware acceleration of H.264 and VC-1 high-definition video. The 35mm chip also differentiates itself by integrating directly onto motherboards and taking on many of the tasks that are currently assigned to the CPU, but alas, it doesn't sound as if we'll be seeing this in any nettops / netbooks anytime soon ever.
So, why can't Yanks get ahold of these Blu-ray recorders again? All pent-up rage aside, what we're looking at above is LG's yet-to-be-formally-announced HR400, a Blu-ray recorder that will evidently be aimed initially at the European market. Packing BD-Live (Profile 2.0) support, a built-in DVB-T TV tuner and YouTube compatibility, this deck also arrives with 160GB of internal hard drive space for holding OTA recordings. Heck, this thing can even play back DivX HD files, stream media clips from other places on your network and upscale DVDs to 1080p. Is all that worth €599 ($852)? We're saying no, but you and your wallet can make your own darn decisions.
We get the feeling this isn't the motion sensing surprise that's likely in store for Xbox 360 fans at E3, but it's still great to see this controller moving beyond the hype stage. After being spied late last year and detailed around two months ago, the Gametrak Freedom motion controller is now listed at GameStop with an October 15th ship date. The controller, which will come bundled with Squeeballs: Island Party for the Xbox 360, is already up for pre-order, promising gamers who shell out $69.99 a grand total of 11 motion sensing party games. Unfortunately, there's no word on how much extra Freedom sticks will run, but based on the price of this kit, we'd wager not much.
We get the feeling this isn't the motion sensing surprise that's likely in store for Xbox 360 fans at E3, but it's still great to see this controller moving beyond the hype stage. After being spied late last year and detailed around two months ago, the Gametrak Freedom motion controller is now listed at GameStop with an October 15th ship date. The controller, which will come bundled with Squeeballs: Island Party for the Xbox 360, is already up for pre-order, promising gamers who shell out $69.99 a grand total of 11 motion sensing party games. Unfortunately, there's no word on how much extra Freedom sticks will run, but based on the price of this kit, we'd wager not much.
Look, we fully understand that September 5th is a long ways out, but don't think for a second that Microsoft isn't inking every last detail of its Zune HD launch in stone. That said, Windows expert and all-around good guy Paul Thurrott has been "told" that this very player will ship exactly on the fifth day of the ninth month of this year. Needless to say, that jibes with Microsoft's official line ("this fall"), but sadly, we've no other information to go on at the moment. In other words, feel free to pencil this one in, but keep that eraser handy -- cool?
It looks like Apple is on to the "account sharing" loophole with the App Store, because iPhone 3.0 firmware is going to make you go to iTunes to re-download apps you've already bought. Here's how the loophole works:
Currently, you're able to hook your friends up with free apps by logging their phone into your iTunes account. Then, when they go to buy an app you already own, iTunes lets them download it again for free. No more!
It's a mild inconvenience to have to sync your phone up with your computer to redownload apps you've already bought, but it's a move by Apple that's pretty understandable. Way to ruin it for the rest of us, unscrupulous loophole-exploiters
Electronic Gaming Monthly founder Steve Harris has re-acquired the recently-cancelled US enthusiast magazine, and plans to re-launch it this year.
Harris - who sold the magazine rights to publisher Ziff-Davis in 1996 - has re-purchased "certain assets" that include trademarks and publishing rights, and has announced his intention to re-introduce the publication in the second half of 2009.
"The re-launch of Electronic Gaming Monthly represents a welcome opportunity to continue delivering quality content to gaming enthusiasts," said Harris. "I feel honoured to once again be associated with this respected magazine. The talented writers and designers who built upon EGM's original vision have left behind a publication that is uniquely positioned to be successful."
After two decades on the market, Electronic Gaming Monthly was shut down when UGO Entertainment purchased online enthusiast publication 1UP.com and its associated websites. EGM, the only print publication still produced by Ziff-Davis' videogame division, was not a part of that deal, and was immediately cancelled.
"We have exciting plans for the evolution of what will once again be a leading independent voice for the gaming community," Harris continued. "The twenty year success of the EGM brand has always been built upon a commitment to its readers who I believe will enthusiastically embrace the changes we are planning to introduce."
Sony Computer Entertainment president Kazuo Hirai has said that the company's games division is cutting corners and increasing its PlayStation Network capabilities in order to bring it to a profitable state.
"We need to quickly bring our PlayStation business on a break-even level and later to profitability," said Harai, speaking to Japan Today.
According to the article, Sony is considering expanding its PlayStation Network service to products other than its consoles, including televisions and digital cameras.
"We need a strategy where buying a hardware is not the endpoint but instead a starting point that can offer new experiences to our customers," said Hirai.
Sony reported a USD 1 billion loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, with the game segment seeing an 18 per cent decrease in sales year-on-year. In January, the outspoken Hirai made controversial statements that Sony's PlayStation division was the "official" industry leader.
Sony Computer Entertainment president Kazuo Hirai has said that the company's games division is cutting corners and increasing its PlayStation Network capabilities in order to bring it to a profitable state.
"We need to quickly bring our PlayStation business on a break-even level and later to profitability," said Harai, speaking to Japan Today.
According to the article, Sony is considering expanding its PlayStation Network service to products other than its consoles, including televisions and digital cameras.
"We need a strategy where buying a hardware is not the endpoint but instead a starting point that can offer new experiences to our customers," said Hirai.
Sony reported a USD 1 billion loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, with the game segment seeing an 18 per cent decrease in sales year-on-year. In January, the outspoken Hirai made controversial statements that Sony's PlayStation division was the "official" industry leader.
Sony Online Entertainment's massively-multiplayer RPG The Matrix Online will be shut down on July 31, the game's online community lead has confirmed.
In a message posted on the game's official web forums community lead and producer Daniel Meyers broke the news to the community.
"Now we’ve seen how far the rabbit hole goes and it's time to wake up from that dream (or go back to sleep, depending how you look at it)," said Meyers. "On July 31, 2009, we will be jacking out for the last time. It's a bittersweet moment for everyone involved with the game; as a player or as a developer."
"It has been a good run," he continued. "Where many games have fizzled out before or shortly after launch, by August we will have lived on in our home at SOE for more than 4 years. To this day, I have never worked with a community as dedicated as The Matrix Online community."
The Matrix Online was initially developed by Monolith for publisher Ubisoft, which dropped the game in early 2004. The game was picked up by Sega later that year, and launched in March of 2005. Within months, the title was taken over by Sony Online Entertainment, which has overseen the title ever since
Eidos, the former UK publisher recently acquired by Square Enix, has revealed its line-up for E3 this year.
The company will be focusing its efforts on three main titles, headed up by Batman: Arkham Asylum, which will be playable on the PlayStation 3 and will include one of the PlayStation Network's downloadable maps.
Mini Ninjas from IO Interactive will also be present, while a demo of the latest code for Just Cause 2 from Avalanche Studios will also be shown.
"Eidos is proud to offer three very innovative and unique products at this year's E3. These games are a reflection of Eidos' commitment to deliver compelling characters in rich and expansive environments, allowing players to immersive themselves in engaging gameplay," said Robert A Lindsey, executive VP of sales and marketing for Eidos Inc.
"Heading back to the Los Angeles Convention Center is a big deal and Eidos is striving to make the return to the show floor unforgettable."
PS3's downloadable antigrav racer, WipEout HD, is getting its first bit of DLC. Attendees at E3 will be able to try out "Fury," the first expansion pack for the game. Included in the upcoming pack are 8 new tracks, 13 new ships and 3 new game modes. A patch will also add new trophies, a "re-styled front-end" and improved multiplayer functionality.
One of the new modes being reintroduced to WipEout HD is the "Eliminator" mode, last seen in PSP's Pulse. This combat-centric mode gives favor to killing instead of racing. It's one of our favorite modes from WipEout Pulse, so we're glad to see it make a comeback.
In addition, the upcoming Fury DLC will add "Zone Battle," a multiplayer twist on the classic "Zone" concept. In this new mode, players will be able to acquire zone pads and choose between a speed or health boost. Opponents will be able to drop zone barriers, a deadlier WipEout interpretation of Mario Kart's banana peel. Finally, the "Detonator" mode has players shooting at mines while trying to try through 14 different stages. We'll be giving you a full hands-on report on "Fury" later this week
The LA Convention Center is ready to open its doors to the videogames business this week as the E3 Expo looks set for a much-needed return to form.
Widely expected to bring some of the punch back to an event which has lacked any real sense of occasion in the past couple of years, the show will feature the majority of the main games publishers showcasing forthcoming titles and announcing new games.
As ever, the platform holder press conferences will provide the bulk of the news headlines this week, with Microsoft kicking off proceedings in its stage show at 6:30pm BST (10:30am PST / 7:30pm CET) today.
Sony and Nintendo will follow with their conferences at 5pm BST (9am PST / 6pm CET) and 7pm BST (11am PST / 8pm CET) respectively tomorrow, although some of Sony's announcements have already leaked.
The main third party publishers will also hold press conferences, with EA's taking place today at 10pm BST (2pm PST / 11pm CET), followed by Ubisoft's at 1am BST tomorrow (5pm today PST / 2am CET tomorrow).
Activision, returning to E3 following its absence last year, already hosted its own webcast conference yesterday, while the Blizzard half of the company is skipping the event altogether.
It's been a long time coming, but the European PlayStation.Blog has confirmed that Sony's online cake-fest, Fat Princess, will receive a June release. Just in case you didn't notice, that's this month. While the release timetable is only confirmed for Europe, it's likely the PSN capture-the-princess game will find a global release.
In addition to Fat Princess, SCEE confirmed June releases for Trash Panic, Numblast and a Ghostbusters demo. PSP owners will be able to expect Ape Academy 2, Everybody's Golf 2, Syphon Filter Logan's Shadow and WipEout Pulse in the European PS Store.
It's been a long time coming, but the European PlayStation.Blog has confirmed that Sony's online cake-fest, Fat Princess, will receive a June release. Just in case you didn't notice, that's this month. While the release timetable is only confirmed for Europe, it's likely the PSN capture-the-princess game will find a global release.
In addition to Fat Princess, SCEE confirmed June releases for Trash Panic, Numblast and a Ghostbusters demo. PSP owners will be able to expect Ape Academy 2, Everybody's Golf 2, Syphon Filter Logan's Shadow and WipEout Pulse in the European PS Store.
Activision Blizzard has opened E3 with the first conference of the week - although, rather than a physical meeting, the publisher elected to hold a webcast and conference call on last evening ahead of the main activities this week.
CEO and president Bobby Kotick began the by claiming that Activision Blizzard is on course to hit USD 1 billion in profit by 2012. As detailed by GameSpot, he attributed the company's continued growth to an increase in the worldwide audience for games.
Kotick stated his belief that the modern audience is driven by three factors: new interfaces, social interaction and good value for money. He quoted a recent Activision study which found that 23 million people now play games online, compared to just 12 million 18 months ago.
Other statistics included a 22 per cent increase in the number of console gamers in the West since 2005, with a 36 per cent increase in the number of female gamers. Activision has found that the number of hours spent playing games for existing customers is on the increase, with attach rates up by 17 per cent on the previous generation.
Taking his turn speaking to investors and journalists, chief financial officer Thomas Tippl characterised Activision's European business as "underdeveloped".
He also spoke about the company's move towards what he characterised as "higher-margin businesses" and away from "nickel-and-dime" businesses such as distribution and licensed properties. He also discussed how all employees were encourages to keep costs down and focus on "thrift and action".
"If there is one thing true of this hardware cycle, it's that the rising tide no longer lifts all boats," said Tippl in a series of thinly veiled references to EA and other competitors.
In discussing specific brands, new Guitar Hero boss Dan Rosensweig stated that international growth was now one of the main focuses for the company's music games, with the series still lagging in popularity in Europe compared to the US.
Rosenweig hinted at expanding the number of genres covered in Europe and making the hardware "more relevant" - although it was unclear whether this was simply a reference to DJ Hero. He also mentioned a new version of Guitar Hero for the PSP that would feature drumming for the first time.
Other new titles confirmed for the first time included a new Tony Hawk game in 2010, after this year's Ride, as well as new uses of the James Bond, Spider-Man and Transformers licenses - although presumably none of them based on specific films. Also mentioned was Shrek 4 and a new action game using an original intellectual property. There was also a hint of expanding the Call of Duty franchise into "related genres".
Blizzard's Mike Morhaime was also on hand to confirm that StarCraft II is expected to launch this year - although he made it clear this was subject to further change. Perhaps his most interesting comment though was in the questions and answers segment at the end of the call, when he answered a question about monetising the Battle.net platform by saying simply, "I'm not ready to talk about that today."
The IGDA (International Game Developers Association) has become embroiled in a row over board member Tim Langdell's actions around trademark usage.
Critically-acclaimed iPhone game Edge has been removed from Apple's App Store in the US and UK, with developer Mobigame confirming to website FingerGaming that it was due to "legal issues with a man named Tim Langdell".
Langdell's company owns the worldwide trademark to the word "Edge" and has apparently successfully upheld its usage in Namco title Soul Edge/Blade, as well as Edge magazine, Anthony Hopkins movie The Edge and many other properties in various media.
According to Mobigame's David Papazian, Edge is still available on the European App Store and the developer is currently "in talks" with Langdell.
The IGDA response to the issue appears on the non-profit organisation's website and states: "The IGDA cannot take a position in what is actually a legal dispute between two companies regarding an alleged trademark infringement. Whether or not a company has behaved lawfully is a matter for the courts to decide, not the IGDA board."
Writing on his own blog though, fellow IGDA board member Tom Buscaglia defended Langdell, saying: "While you or I may not agree with those laws related to trademarks, they are what they are. Moreover, the IGDA represents the individuals who make games, not the companies that make them … In any case, I do not see how Tim L vigorously enforcing his legal rights as contrary to the code of ethics in any way."
THQ's UFC 2009: Undisputed on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 has held onto the top spot in the UK all formats chart, despite a 42 per cent drop in sales this week.
By comparison Pokemon Platinum on Nintendo DS dropped only 28 percent in its second week and still remains at number one in the individual formats chart. The strong success of UFC 2009 on both its format also kept EA Sports Active at number three, despite that title seeing a 42 per cent increase in sales in its second week.
The highest new entry of the week, at number four, was Activision's multiformat Guitar Hero: Metallica - arriving several months after originally being released in the US. As a result Sony's PlayStation 3 exclusive inFamous had to make do with number five for its debut.
With the lower reaches of the top ten still filled by FIFA 09, Wolverine and the usual Wii suspects the final new entry was Sega's Virtua Tennis 2009 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at number eight. Wii and PC versions of the game are due to be released later in June.
Outside of the top ten the other major new entries were Warner's Terminator: Salvation at number 11 and Majesco's Night at the Museum 2 at number 35.
The UK top 10 supplied by GfK Chart-Track is as follows:
Crytek has announced that Crysis 2 will be a multiformat release, marking the studio's first crack at a console game, and will be published by EA.
The title will be built using the developer's own CryEngine 3, middleware that has been built with the next-generation of home consoles in mind.
The German developer has always been open in its desire to create a title for home consoles, and most recently bought UK studio Free Radical Design to help accelerate its entry into the market.
"The development of Crysis 2 marks a major stepping stone for our studio," said Cevat Yerli, CEO and president of Crytek. "This is not only the next game in the Crysis franchise, it's the first title we are developing for consoles and the first title being built on CryENGINE 3. We are excited to have the support of EA Partners again as we work together to make the launch of Crysis 2 a huge event."
"Nothing speaks more to the success of the EA Partners program than when a studio the calibre of Crytek continues to work with us," said David DeMartini, senior VP and GM of EA Partners. "Crytek is already one of the elite PC development studios in the world and we are excited to have the opportunity to partner with them in bringing their award-winning technology and gameplay to more platforms and a wider audience with Crysis 2."
Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment has confirmed that it is set to publish a new LEGO title in 2010, which will take the form of a Harry Potter game.
Harry Potter: Years 1-4 will be developed by TT Games, has been rumoured for some time, while Warner Bros has made no secret of the plan to utilise more of its own licenses in partnership with the LEGO brand.
"With LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 we are creating an open, wide-ranging experience within Hogwarts that is full of fun and LEGO magic," said Tom Stone, MD of TT Games. "Harry Potter is one of the most beloved and well-respected characters, and we look forward to bringing gamers a new way of interacting in the universe with the LEGO games' great humour and exploration." And Samantha Ryan, senior VP of development and production at WBIE, added: "Harry Potter is one of the world's most popular and inspirational heroes, and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 will appeal to a generation of gamers who grew up immersed in the Harry Potter books and films, and also loved playing with LEGO toys.
"The game is geared for players to experience a good mix of puzzle solving gameplay with exploration and battle in some of the most beloved Harry Potter environments, plus a few other surprises."
No indication as to the specific platforms the game will be released on was given.
"How do you beat World of Warcraft?" is a question I've heard asked plenty of times in the past four years. It's the wrong question. Other developers and publishers have been asking the right questions all this time - questions like "what can we learn from the success of World of Warcraft?" and "how do we co-exist with World of Warcraft?"
Many companies have tried to clone the success of Blizzard's game, with extremely limited success. Others have attempted to appeal to the hardcore audience who, some argue, are marginalised by the mass-appeal of WoW - a generally doomed endeavour, since that audience may be noisy online but it's actually extremely small in size and not hugely lucrative. Others still have tried genuinely new approaches, but have failed to learn WoW's vital lessons about accessibility and progression, and have paid the price.
Sony Online Entertainment is one of the companies which has struggled to get the questions right. From being the largest operator of massively multiplayer games in the western world, thanks to the success of the Everquest franchise, SOE has seen its fortunes decline as Blizzard's star has risen. Everquest maintains a legacy audience, but new launches such as Vanguard have badly misjudged the marketplace and failed to attract significant subscriber numbers.
This week, however, SOE is the darling of the online gaming world, thanks to the launch of its much-trumpeted free to play MMOG, Free Realms. Just a month after its arrival, Free Realms has signed up two million users - and that's on the PC client alone, with the PS3 version still in the pipeline.
Free Realms is exactly the kind of departure from the WoW formula which is likely to succeed in the market. It's aimed at a different market segment, with a focus on appealing to young teenagers - and particularly girls, who make up a third of the player base at present. It's built on a radically different business model, with the game being free to play but expandable with the purchase of in-game items or upgrades. Those purchases are supported by the sale of Station Cash cards at a widespread retail network of big brand names like Blockbuster, Best Buy and 7-Eleven.
Yet this departure from the norms of the MMOG world is tempered with a clear understanding of the things which make games like WoW appealing and addictive. Free Realms, from the first glance, is accessible, entertaining, and takes care not to overwhelm the player with stats. Its interface is simple to navigate and its character archetypes are fun and easy to comprehend even for newcomers to the fantasy genre.
To a certain extent, of course, there's a sense of foreboding about Free Realms' early success. We've seen the same huge claims a couple of times recently, most notably in the cases of Age of Conan and Warhammer Online, both of which trumpeted vast early subscriber numbers which then rapidly reduced in subsequent months. The caveat on Free Realms' success is that there's no way of telling how many of those two million players will continue to return to the game in the months to come,.
However, even with that in mind, Free Realms is one of the most interesting efforts yet at breaking MMO gaming out of the niche it presently occupies. World of Warcraft widened that niche significantly, but it's the companies working at the edges of the genre which are doing the most to bring massively multiplayer, interconnected and online social gaming to the wider audience.
That spectrum of gaming extends from Facebook games at one end (many of them are, by any definition, social and extensively multiplayer games) through to hardcore MMOs at the other end. World of Warcraft sits at the hardcore end of the spectrum, albeit rather closer to the centre than any of its kin. Free Realms plonks itself down squarely in the middle; if I were writing the marketing pitch for it, I'd describe it as bridging the gap between WoW and Facebook. If it can attract players from both sides of that divide, it'll be a huge, long-term success.
Even if it can't quite achieve that lofty goal, it clearly signposts one of the directions which this market needs to take. Potential markets for games exist across the spectrum of online socialisation. The core ingredient which makes WoW appealing to its players, the simple magic of playing in a world populated with other people - even if you're not directly playing with those other people - can be applied to a huge range of games, and appeals to almost every audience.
Appealing those audiences, however, is going to require a change in approach and perspective for many game developers. One of the greatest accomplishments of World of Warcraft is just how stable and bug-free the game is - running happily even on fairly old hardware. No buggy or demanding game will ever conquer a more lightweight audience, where attention spans wander as soon as a technical challenge appears. (For the same reason, old conventions like separate servers or "shards" need to go out the window; no casual player will tolerate such an artificial separation from their friends and acquaintances in the same game environment.)
Even WoW, however, demands that users download big patches - and even the straightforward process of installation may be enough to drive users away at the most casual end of the spectrum, where browser-based games that require no installation or patching are likely to dominate. The challenge for developers will be to deliver compelling experiences, bug-free, using the thinnest clients possible - a fairly radical departure from the client-heavy experiences game developers have been creating for the past few decades.
The early enthusiasm for Free Realms provides evidence, if any more were needed, that there is an audience out there keen to engage with this kind of massively multiplayer experience. If game creators can tap into that audience as effectively as Blizzard has targeted the more hardcore gamer market, then even the most optimistic of projections for the growth of the MMO market may turn out to be conservative.
What's with the goofy grin? Did you dip into the jar of Smilex, or are you just giddy that playing as the Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum won't cost you a dime?
Eidos has confirmed that the PS3-exclusive DLC will be free, allowing players to frolic about in the game's challenge maps as the Clown Prince of Crime when Batman: Arkham Asylum swoops onto store shelves this August.
Compass and auto-focus camera on the cards if shaky, grainy pics are to be believed.
UMPCfever.com has published pictures of what it claims is the iPhone 3.0 handset that many expect Apple to unveil next week at its WWDC ahead of a July 17th launch.
The new features on show include a touch-activated auto-focus, some kind of digital compass and the ability to monitor CPU usage.
ATI Radeon E4690 offers improved graphics capability
AMD has unveiled its new ATI Radeon E4690 GPU, which it claims offer three times the performance of previous ATI embedded chips.
According to Cool Computing, the new GPU will allow users to decode and play multiple HD videos, and includes support for DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0.
“The ATI Radeon E4690 sets a new bar for embedded graphics performance,” said AMD’s director of embedded graphics Richard Jaenicke.
“Blazingly fast graphics and HD video capabilities enhance the appeal of applications − such as arcade, casino, digital signage and more. With the industry’s only embedded graphics chip that offers DirectX 10.1 and UVD 2.0 support, the ATI Radeon E4690 enables competitive advantages for AMD’s embedded customers.”
E3’09: Eagle eyed users of Bungie’s forum spot reference to ‘Halo:Reach’
Aside from the known appearance of Tony Hawk and the possibility of a Wii-rivalling Xbox 360 motion-tech reveal, word is spreading of a possible new Halo game making its debut at Microsoft’s E3 showcase at 18:25 tonight.
CVG reports that users of Halo developer Bungie’s forum have spotted reference to something called Halo: Reach in one of the site’s drop-down menus.
It could be absolutely nothing. It could be some sort of community art project. But it could, just could, be a surprise new Halo title to compliment the upcoming FPS Halo: ODST.
And with Microsoft seemingly set to show-off its brand new 360 gesture control, could the ‘Reach’ part of the title mean that the Halo universe is about to ditch the joypad? Check back here at 18:25 to find out.
Developer Ghostlight's International Athletics game is now available on iPhone and iPod touch, providing owners of the Apple devices with a version of the PSP and DS release of the same name.
Featuring fully 3D graphics, 11 athletic events and several different modes, as well as a decathlon that promises players a test of endurance, Ghostlight's game is available now for £5.99 through the App Store.
The included events are 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 meters, 110 meters hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, 1500 meters and hammer throwing.
The International Athletics iPhone build also offers access to several international stadiums, and is currently enjoying a number of favourable reviews with the press.
A Wii version is also due for release in 2009, though a final release date is yet to be confirmed.
E3'09: Though at least the long-awaited Gran Turismo PSP could soon be with us
With the new PSP Metal Gear Solid title catching most of the pre-E3 conference software hype for Sony’s portable at the moment, the fact that talk of Gran Turismo PSP has resurfaced has crept under many people’s radars.
The elusive racer was mentioned as part of John Koller’s leaked PSP Go video – which, incidentally, you should watch ASAP if you’ve not done so already as the numerous YouTube videos are disappearing fast.
MCV’s is still up and running for now, at least.
Interestingly, VG247 now claims that journalists lined up to speak with Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo mastermind Kazanori Yamauchi have been told that no mention of GT5 is to be made – presumably as Sony will want all of the focus on the PSP version.
Gran Turismo PSP was first mentioned in the pre-launch hype for the PSP way back in 2004. Since then, the game has seemingly taken a development back to seat to Gran Turismo 4, Gran Turismo HD, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Gran Turismo Online.
E3'09: Though at least the long-awaited Gran Turismo PSP could soon be with us
With the new PSP Metal Gear Solid title catching most of the pre-E3 conference software hype for Sony’s portable at the moment, the fact that talk of Gran Turismo PSP has resurfaced has crept under many people’s radars.
The elusive racer was mentioned as part of John Koller’s leaked PSP Go video – which, incidentally, you should watch ASAP if you’ve not done so already as the numerous YouTube videos are disappearing fast.
MCV’s is still up and running for now, at least.
Interestingly, VG247 now claims that journalists lined up to speak with Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo mastermind Kazanori Yamauchi have been told that no mention of GT5 is to be made – presumably as Sony will want all of the focus on the PSP version.
Gran Turismo PSP was first mentioned in the pre-launch hype for the PSP way back in 2004. Since then, the game has seemingly taken a development back to seat to Gran Turismo 4, Gran Turismo HD, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Gran Turismo Online.
Those of you who aren't lucky enough to attend E3, this is not the post for you. For the remainder of you, however, we would like to let you know that Namco Bandai would like to test your Tekken 6 mettle at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo through an open tournament.
The company will host a two-day "Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion arcade tournament" at its booth on Wednesday, June 3, and Thursday, June 4, with the company opening sign-ups on Tuesday, June 2, to anyone passing through Namco's area on the show floor. Namco Bandai mentions a "grand prize," though the details of what this undoubtedly spectacular prize will be were not given. We have a feeling the only thing people participating in this tournament will win is less time with the other great games at the show
Those of you who aren't lucky enough to attend E3, this is not the post for you. For the remainder of you, however, we would like to let you know that Namco Bandai would like to test your Tekken 6 mettle at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo through an open tournament.
The company will host a two-day "Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion arcade tournament" at its booth on Wednesday, June 3, and Thursday, June 4, with the company opening sign-ups on Tuesday, June 2, to anyone passing through Namco's area on the show floor. Namco Bandai mentions a "grand prize," though the details of what this undoubtedly spectacular prize will be were not given. We have a feeling the only thing people participating in this tournament will win is less time with the other great games at the show
Want to see a real skateboarder on a fake skateboard? Check out Microsoft's E3 keynote tomorrow. Skateboard legend and video game mascot Tony Hawk just tweeted about his involvement in MS's conference. He'll show off Tony Hawk Ride -- wearing makeup, even!
"Just practiced my part for Microsoft's E3 keynote tomorrow (introducing #thride)," Mr. Pro Skater said. "First time I've ever had to wear make-up for a rehearsal."
We can't promise he'll actually get on the stationary board, but he'll at least be there showing it off. Mr. Hawk's presence at he MS conference suggests that there could be some component of the game that is Xbox-exclusive, like DLC or green skateboard decals or ... something.
Want to see a real skateboarder on a fake skateboard? Check out Microsoft's E3 keynote tomorrow. Skateboard legend and video game mascot Tony Hawk just tweeted about his involvement in MS's conference. He'll show off Tony Hawk Ride -- wearing makeup, even!
"Just practiced my part for Microsoft's E3 keynote tomorrow (introducing #thride)," Mr. Pro Skater said. "First time I've ever had to wear make-up for a rehearsal."
We can't promise he'll actually get on the stationary board, but he'll at least be there showing it off. Mr. Hawk's presence at he MS conference suggests that there could be some component of the game that is Xbox-exclusive, like DLC or green skateboard decals or ... something.
Alien Havoc marks the company's first release for the DSi digital download service
Massachusetts developer Creat Studios is to publish Alien Havoc for Nintendo's DSiWare, marking the company's first release for the DSi digital download service. “Alien Havoc is a true return to the classic arcade games from the 1980s with simple, yet wildly entertaining gameplay,” said Vladimir Starzhevsky, CEO of Creat Studios.
Activision Blizzard also confirms a 2009 release date for StarCraft II
The boss of Activision Publishing boss Mike Griffith has stated that total sales of the Call of Duty titles have now hit an eye-watering 35m units worldwide.
Gamespot adds that 11m of those sales have come from the latest release, World at War.
In addition, the exec also stated that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has managed to keep on selling at full price for six successive sales quarters – which is probably why none of you can ever find it cheap second hand.
Elsewhere in the Activision world, Blizzard’s Mike Morhaime has confirmed that his studio hopes to get upcoming PC RTS StarCraft II onto the market by the end of the year – though he adds that the game will not be released until the team is perfectly happy with it.
As part of its broad strategy to expand on the number of things residents can do on PlayStation Home, Sony has announced it will be streaming footage of E3 into its virtual world.
Home users will be able to watch the Sony press conference, virtually together, in front of a jumbo screen.
However Sony will only begin to offer video footage from June 2, the day of its conference and one day after Microsoft’s own.
If a consumer purchases a PS3, downloads Home and decides to use it to obtain E3 info, is it not likely that this person is utterly enthusiastic about videogames, and would want to see more than one perspective on the biggest event in the gaming calendar?
Perhaps it’s unfair to disapprove of Sony’s ambition to succeed against the competition, but if people want to know about what Nintendo and Microsoft is up to, they will inevitably find out for themselves.
In removing important E3 events from Home, Sony may have missed a real chance on channelling new users into its intriguing online world.
Home users can watch and discuss Sony’s E3 happenings in the PlayStation Events Space’s Presentation Podium.
As part of its broad strategy to expand on the number of things residents can do on PlayStation Home, Sony has announced it will be streaming footage of E3 into its virtual world.
Home users will be able to watch the Sony press conference, virtually together, in front of a jumbo screen.
However Sony will only begin to offer video footage from June 2, the day of its conference and one day after Microsoft’s own.
If a consumer purchases a PS3, downloads Home and decides to use it to obtain E3 info, is it not likely that this person is utterly enthusiastic about videogames, and would want to see more than one perspective on the biggest event in the gaming calendar?
Perhaps it’s unfair to disapprove of Sony’s ambition to succeed against the competition, but if people want to know about what Nintendo and Microsoft is up to, they will inevitably find out for themselves.
In removing important E3 events from Home, Sony may have missed a real chance on channelling new users into its intriguing online world.
Home users can watch and discuss Sony’s E3 happenings in the PlayStation Events Space’s Presentation Podium.
This E3 must be more exciting, say publishers – without descending into costly mayhem...
E3 2009 has to strike the delicate balance between showbiz and circumspection to secure its future as the global industry’s central showcase.
After two years of publicly-acknowledged disappointment, the global publishing community has come together to demand a return to the ‘glamour’ of expos gone by.
Following comments from EA Sports’ Peter Moore, THQ’s Ian Curran and Sony’s Jack Tretton, Sega Of America boss Simon Jeffery told MCV:
“E3 2009 needs to have life and soul. It needs to have a controlled level of noise and spectacle – but the control is very important. We can’t get back to the days of the E3 circus/carnival that got in the way of real business being done.”
Ubisoft executive director Alain Corre added: “We want to impress and make people dream of our games. For that to happen, you need big lights, big music and a lot of attendees.”
And Eidos life president Ian Livingstone commented: ““It should just do what it is supposed to: Demonstrate and celebrate all that is happening and is going to happen in the ever-changing and exciting world of games.
“In addition, it has to be a focal point for an international market – a convenient meeting place with lots of areas where people can meet without hassle, getting lost or eardrum-bursting noise. Oh, and it should bring back the booth babes…”
But those bankrolling the event know this re-evaluation as a glitzy spectacle comes with a hefty price-tag – and they will be keeping close tabs on the return on their investment.
The ESA has promised that this year’s Expo will be in marked contrast to the disappointing, dramatically scaled-back E3 2007 in Santa Monica – and last year’s lacklustre, eerily empty LA event. Yet it has also vowed to run the ‘best value trade
show in the world’.
The CEO of the Entertainment Software Association Mike Gallagher told MCV:
“With today’s economic challenges, this is the best value event that European business will see all year. And it’s a departure from the previous two years, which were exclusively for the North American market.”
The body has welcomed worldwide media and retail to this year’s event with open arms, increasing floorspace and even removing the ban on the infamous ‘booth babes’.
However, to ensure E3’s continued support, the ESA must walk the tightrope of amplifying the excitement of the show, whilst avoiding the cash-swallowing excess of the 2005 and 2006 outings.
Over $120 million was sunk into each of those exhibitions, with many publishers suffering hefty losses – an implausible outcome for most in today’s recession-hit industry.
The recent re-emergence of Sam Fisher from the shadows of ... uh, awkward stealth game metaphors has prompted several questions: Where has the gravelly voiced assassin been for the last few years? Is Ubisoft still toying with social stealth? And is the game still exclusive to the Xbox 360?
A partial answer to the last question may be evident in the large Splinter Cell: Conviction banner draped across the Los Angeles Convention Center. It's notable not only for the distinct lack of self-pitying scruff, but for being the only banner to prominently display only the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live logos. Of course, as we've learned in the time since the game was first announced, "exclusive" doesn't always mean what we think it means.
E3’09: Modern Warfare 2, Sony and Crackdown all trumpeted via bite-sized chat tool
Few things get the hype juices flowing as readily as E3, but this year has seen many of gaming’s big names turn to communications revolution Twitter to crank up the excitement ahead of their big reveals.
For instance, in the last few hours alone we’ve had the likes of:
Sony rep Jake Osuwah
“Pre-E3 announcements or not! There’s still lots of shockers planned for you guys @ E3, stay tuned…”
Link
Spike TV’s Geoff Keighley
“Gloomy day in LA, but it's off to the Xbox press briefing I go. Modern Warfare 2 fans won't want to miss it.”
Link
And you might want to check out this TwitPic courtesy of Ruffian Games. What could they be excited about, you wonder? MCV thinks that maybe a Crackdown 2 announcement could be on the way this evening…
Over the weekend, Sony "leaked" the PSP Go and a couple game announcements onto the latest eits own videomag Qore. Those thinking Sony already shot its E3 load, think again says a company PR guy.
Rather, tweets a Sony PR guy. "Pre-E3 annoucements or not! There's still lots of shockers planned for you guys @ E3," Sony Computer Entertainment's Jake Osuwah, "stay tuned..."
Be sure to check back on Tuesday at 11am PDT for our liveblog of the Sony press conference. Wonder what "shockers" Sony has in store...
Over the weekend, Sony "leaked" the PSP Go and a couple game announcements onto the latest eits own videomag Qore. Those thinking Sony already shot its E3 load, think again says a company PR guy.
Rather, tweets a Sony PR guy. "Pre-E3 annoucements or not! There's still lots of shockers planned for you guys @ E3," Sony Computer Entertainment's Jake Osuwah, "stay tuned..."
Be sure to check back on Tuesday at 11am PDT for our liveblog of the Sony press conference. Wonder what "shockers" Sony has in store...
Evolution Studios has announced two new downloadable expansion packs for MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, called SPEED and ADRENALINE.
YES, IN CAPITALS.
SPEED consists of three new tracks (Quicksands, Engorged and Dark Fire Swamp), three new track variants, four new vehicles and a new 48-event Mini Festival, "Speed Weekend".
ADRENALINE, meanwhile, also has three tracks (Reefrunner, Brimstone and Hollowed Earth), five new track variants, four more vehicles, six new characters and a load of new paintjobs for existing vehicles.
"Between these two packs, we're almost DOUBLING the track count in the game, giving you plenty more locations for online races, plenty more Time Attack ghosts to chase, and plenty more settings for split screen fun with your buddies," says game director Jed Ashforth.
The Starcraft II beta starting this summer is a sign of things to come. A release date is a sign of we things come to all of us. We don't have a release date.
Though, we do have Blizzard's Mike Morhaime saying that Starcraft II will be release in 2009 as long as it "meets our standards and the expectations of our players".
Blizzard has high standards and so do Starcraft players. We hope they're able to see eye-to-eye this year. If not, hey, we'll wait. Better late than rushed.
In a world where dreams and nightmares become reality, a band of powerful warriors from across dimensions must come together to stop their worlds from being consumed by evil incarnate. Harness the power of characters from such series as Disgaea, Ar tonelico, and DarkStalkers! Utilize the dynamic battle system to unleash powerful special skills and team combos, and choose your destiny!
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aka. Astonishia Story 2
Several enhancements to the classic JRPG combat system – Ambushes and chained critical hits add additional layers of complexity to what gamers will immediately find to be a solid, triedand- true combat engine.
Stunning 2-D art design — Featuring artwork and a beautiful presentation designed to take full advantage of the PSP’s high-resolution screen, Crimson Gem Saga delivers the crisp character designs, sweeping background art, and stunning special effects gamers have come to expect from elite JRPGs
description
With beautiful, high-resolution 2-D artwork, novel battle mechanics, and a classic tale of fantasy, adventure, and heroism, Crimson Gem Saga delivers the pure, classic Japanese RPG play experience PSP owners have been clamoring for since the hardware’s launch. Taking full advantage of the crisp, clear PSP screen and boasting a colorful, catchy musical score, Crimson Gem Saga is a blast from the past presented just as you’d expect a modern RPG to be.
The Pitt allows you to travel to the post-apocalyptic remains of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and become embroiled in a conflict between slaves and their Raider masters.
Explore a sprawling settlement ravaged by time, neglect, nuclear radiation, and moral degradation. The Pitt is filled with morally grey choices, shady NPCs, new enemies, new weapons, and much more.
The Pitt opens with a desperate radio message, and a meeting with its sender, an escaped slave named Wernher.
Wernher claims that the leader of “The Pitt” has created a cure for mutations… and he needs you to go in and retrieve it.
From there, the player can proceed in a number of ways, in true Fallout 3 style. Do you fight your way in, or disguise yourself as a slave? Ally with the slaves, or join their Raider overlords?
The Pitt is very morally ambiguous – there’s no real right or wrong, just choices to be made, sides to be chosen, and a mystery that could send shockwaves throughout the entire Wasteland.
The Pitt allows you to travel to the post-apocalyptic remains of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and become embroiled in a conflict between slaves and their Raider masters.
Explore a sprawling settlement ravaged by time, neglect, nuclear radiation, and moral degradation. The Pitt is filled with morally grey choices, shady NPCs, new enemies, new weapons, and much more.
The Pitt opens with a desperate radio message, and a meeting with its sender, an escaped slave named Wernher.
Wernher claims that the leader of “The Pitt” has created a cure for mutations… and he needs you to go in and retrieve it.
From there, the player can proceed in a number of ways, in true Fallout 3 style. Do you fight your way in, or disguise yourself as a slave? Ally with the slaves, or join their Raider overlords?
The Pitt is very morally ambiguous – there’s no real right or wrong, just choices to be made, sides to be chosen, and a mystery that could send shockwaves throughout the entire Wasteland.
features
Play through all five episodes, plus an all new original episode made specifically for Jake Hunter on Nintendo DS™!
Get ready for some hilarious and suspicious misadventures in five “Jake Hunter Unleashed!” comic episodes! Also included is an original comic episode added for this DS iteration of Jake Hunter!
Uncover more passwords than before and unlock short stories, interviews with the developers, and much, much more!
description
Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past features three brand new stories, one made exclusively for Nintendo DS™. Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past also includes a brand new mode, Jake Hunter Unleashed, which incorporates brand new art direction and six mind-boggling comedic stories. As an added bonus, Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past includes the first three stories from Jake’s original adventure, all re-localized with creative imagination and flare.
Evolving the shooter genre with its unique and exhilarating combination of fluid action and combat, Damnation will feature huge, open environments, frenetic combat, daredevil acrobatics and high-octane vehicle-based stunts. Presenting players with an intense test of reflexes, quick thinking and rapid-fire conflict, Damnation will feature vast, breathtaking landscapes, each covering miles of distance and thousands of vertical feet.
Billed as a ‘shooter gone vertical’ and visually inspired by iconic elements of American history, these massive streaming landscapes will form the battlegrounds for a post-industrial conflict between humanity and an unstoppable arms dealer hell-bent on total world domination.
Players will be able to choose their own paths and navigate the world by performing daredevil feats on the edge of human ability. However, players aren’t the only ones with mind-blowing acrobatic skills; intelligent enemies will give chase and engage players in frantic gun fights and attacks that can come from any direction – in Damnation’s world there’s no safe place to hide.
With up to three hours of actual gameplay stretching out in front of them per level, players will need more than just muscle power to get across each level safely. Damnation will offer players a selection of awe-inspiring vehicles, from motorbikes capable of launching across seemingly infinite chasms, to huge, armour-piercing marvels that will induce mayhem with every huge shell.
The high action will be supported with an epic and in-depth story which, while focusing on the exploits of the hero character Rourke, is truly an ensemble piece. Players will meet and become involved in intricate story plots that reveal much more than the obvious.
In addition to the single player experience, Damnation comes complete with a unique set of multiplayer options that take full advantage of the game’s expansive levels.
Never go into battle alone! EA's new next-gen boutique development studio is changing the face of how people will play games. Delivering a groundbreaking strategic 3rd person co-op shooter unparalleled in the action genre, EA Montreal's ARMY OF TWO™ focuses on gameplay centered around TWO man missions, TWO man strategies, TWO man tactics and a TWO man advantage
Today, the United States is awarding an unprecedented number of contracts to Private Military Corporations (PMC) in an effort to maintain its presence worldwide. Since the Vietnam War, this number has increase ten fold and is only rising. As the clear cut flow of the chain of command blurs and the military responsibilities of a nation slipping out of its own control, it is getting hard to tell who really holds the power.
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Cinematic single-player experience: A deep campaign loaded with attitude follows a wayward band of ordinary soldiers who risk it all on a quest for personal gain.
War your way: Battlefield: Bad Company environments are nearly 100 percent destructible, meaning that any structure can be demolished down to its foundation
New vehicles, weapons, and toys: Whether on land, air, or sea, there are dozens of new tools waiting for your explosive experimentation
Genre-defining multiplayer: Support is provided for 24 players online in an all new game mode, Gold Rush
description
Set in the near future, the Battlefield: Bad Company single-player campaign drops gamers into a dramatic Eurasian conflict. As part of a squad of four soldiers, players risk it all to go AWOL on a personal quest, fighting their own war within the war. Featuring a dramatic storyline flavored with attitude, Battlefield: Bad Company leads gamers far from the traditional frontlines on a wild ride with a group of renegade soldiers who decide that sometimes the gratitude of a nation just isn’t enough.
The Battlefield: Bad Company cinematic single-player experience captures the freedom and intensity of the franchise’s legendary multiplayer sandbox gameplay in a dynamic world where nearly everything is destructible. Gamers have total freedom to be daring and innovative, adapting to and tackling challenges in unexpected “Battlefield-style” ways. Create sniping positions by blowing out a piece of a wall or drive your tank straight through a small house. The ever-changing battlefield forces players, their teammates and enemies to react accordingly.
The game also features a full suite of the franchise’s trademark multiplayer gameplay, supporting 24 players online.
Battlefield: Bad Company is the first game built from the ground up for next-generation consoles using DICE’s bleeding-edge Frostbite™ game engine, delivering unrivaled graphics, effects and gameplay.
Evolving the shooter genre with its unique and exhilarating combination of fluid action and combat, Damnation will feature huge, open environments, frenetic combat, daredevil acrobatics and high-octane vehicle-based stunts. Presenting players with an intense test of reflexes, quick thinking and rapid-fire conflict, Damnation will feature vast, breathtaking landscapes, each covering miles of distance and thousands of vertical feet.
Billed as a ‘shooter gone vertical’ and visually inspired by iconic elements of American history, these massive streaming landscapes will form the battlegrounds for a post-industrial conflict between humanity and an unstoppable arms dealer hell-bent on total world domination.
Players will be able to choose their own paths and navigate the world by performing daredevil feats on the edge of human ability. However, players aren’t the only ones with mind-blowing acrobatic skills; intelligent enemies will give chase and engage players in frantic gun fights and attacks that can come from any direction – in Damnation’s world there’s no safe place to hide.
With up to three hours of actual gameplay stretching out in front of them per level, players will need more than just muscle power to get across each level safely. Damnation will offer players a selection of awe-inspiring vehicles, from motorbikes capable of launching across seemingly infinite chasms, to huge, armour-piercing marvels that will induce mayhem with every huge shell.
The high action will be supported with an epic and in-depth story which, while focusing on the exploits of the hero character Rourke, is truly an ensemble piece. Players will meet and become involved in intricate story plots that reveal much more than the obvious.
In addition to the single player experience, Damnation comes complete with a unique set of multiplayer options that take full advantage of the game’s expansive levels.
features
Half Life 2: Episode Two - the second chapter in Valve's award-winning trilogy, taking gamers beyond the walls of City 17 for the first time.
Portal - A groundbreaking new kind of action game that will forever change the way gamers interact with their environment, much like Half Life 2's gravity gun rewrote the rules for how gamers manipulate in-game objects and use physics.
Team Fortress 2 - The long-awaited return of the legendary king of role-based online multiplayer games, Team Fortress 2 pushes the Source Engine to new heights with a daring new art style and deep multiplayer gameplay for nine distinct roles.
description
The Orange Box delivers five innovative action games from Valve®- creators of the blockbuster Half Life® franchise, in one box.
Available for the PC, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360™ video game and entertainement system, The Orange Box includes Half Life® 2: Episode Two, PortalTM and Team Fortress® 2 in addition to full versions of award-winning Half Life 2 and Half Life 2: Episode One for an engrossing first-person action experience.
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Survive the Canyon: Leave the streets to battle rival bosses in the canyons outside the urban center. All-new Canyon Duel and Drift race modes are the ultimate test of skill and nerve, where one wrong turn could cost you more than the race.
The City Is Yours for the Taking: Race for control of the city block-by-block by taking down rival crews on their turf, then defeat their crew leaders in life-or-death races in Carbon Canyon.
Customize Your Dream Car: The revolutionary new Autosculpt™ car customization tool gives you the power to design and morph your car in every way imaginable.
Represent a Class: Affiliate with the Tuner, American Muscle, or Exotic car classes and prove once and for all who makes the best set of wheels. An all new physics engine makes each car handle and drive differently.
Build Your Crew: Strategically choose your crew members and use their skills on the road and in your garage to help you win races and customize your cars. Designate any member of your crew as a wingman and trigger his special skill to knock out your rivals.
Over 50 Real-World Licensed Cars: Featuring over 50 licensed cars including the all new Ford Shelby GT500 and Mazda Mazea speed 3. Each and every car is tuneable so you can customize their look and performance to suit your crew.
description
The battle for the city is won in the canyon as Need for Speed™ Carbon immerses you in the world’s most dangerous and adrenaline-filled form of street racing.
As the police turn up the heat and force the races to the outskirts of the city, the battle ultimately shifts to Carbon Canyon, where territories and reputations can be lost on every perilous curve. Racing has never felt so dangerous where every turn is a matter of life or death.
For the first time in a Need for Speed game, build a crew and race in an all-out war for your city against rival crews and opposing car classes. You’ll risk everything to take over rival neighborhoods one street at a time.
Each crew member has unique skills that you trigger during races to give you the winning edge over opponents. Call on a Blocker to create a distraction and slow down other racers or activate a Scout to lead you to shortcuts on the track.
Use your creativity to design your crew’s cars with the revolutionary new Autoscuplt™ car customization tool that gives you the power to turn every vehicle into the car you’ve always wanted. Using next generation morphing technology every car can have its own unique look like never before.
Need for Speed Carbon features a fresh new story line using full motion capture technology. Unlock the mystery of what happened “that fateful night” and reclaim your reputation. The game features star talent Emmanuelle Vauiger as Nikki, your ex-girlfriend who will help you on your journey to uncover the past.
Compete at the highest level of street racing with Need for Speed™ ProStreet. It's no longer good enough to simply rule your local neighbourhood you need to dominate on a global stage. Build the ultimate battle machine, take it to multi-disciplinary showdowns and pit your skills and reputation against the world's best street racers. This is your chance to prove that you have what it takes to be crowned the next street king.
This is a strategy game in which players lead a group of mercenaries into battle to gain control of a fictional tropical island. From an overhead prospective, players can maneuver units on a grid-based landscape to combat enemy forces using various firearms and explosives. One description of a character named "Larry Roachburn" contains an implied reference to the drug L.S.D. Some expletives (e.g., "b*tch" and "hell") can also be heard in dialogue.
There are apparently an awful, awful lot of people out there with shoe boxes full of spare SATA drives. Somebody is buying all these new HDD docks, and while most surpass the previous editions by adding support for another obscure format of memory card, Brando's latest seems like an actually useful update, adding HDMI and component ports through which it can output video at either 1080i or the always popular 576p. Standard resolutions may not be its strong point, and sadly there's no mention of which video codecs it can unravel, but it does at least support the major flavors of audio files (MP3, WMA, AAC, etc.) and of course will read memory cards and thumb drives to boot. No, a bare drive may not look particularly appealing while rattling away on your entertainment center, and at $69 you're not far from the price of a Windows Media extender or the like, but don't let such practical concerns dissuade you from adding this unique focal point to your home theater.
The picture of Nyko's Zoom Case for the DSi says it all, no?
Nicking a bright idea from Brando, Nyko's Zoom Case utterly obliterates portability and reason in exchange for 8x of zoomglory—because we all know zoom is what's missing from the DSi's 640x460 camera.
You can detach the lens from the Zoom Case. You know, if for some reason you wanted to. Sadly, Nyko hasn't given us a price or date for this marvelous kit of awesome, but whenever it comes out, it's not soon enough—there are celebrities to be stalked, upskirts to be snapped, out there, waiting.
There are Wiimote peripherals. And then there is the Type Pad Pro.
Attaching to the Nyko Wand (the Wiimote is semi-incompatible because it lacks Nyko's proprietary Trans-Port Technology), the Type Pad Pro transforms an ordinary Nintendo controller into a testicularly spaceshippy full QWERTY keyboard. Through Trans-Port communication, the A and B buttons on the Wand are relocated to the Type Pad while the pad itself integrates with the Wii through a wireless USB dongle. (Yeah, it's a tad confusing. Basically, the pad is incapable of piggybacking its signal onto the Wand's.)
The result is a QWERTY keyboard capable of surfing the internet on the Wii. The other result is the zaniest but most ambitious Wii peripheral we've seen this side of Nyko's unreleased Party Station.
There's a mad, mad man at the helm of Nyko's design team. And we really want to go drinking with him.
Jumping on the completely unconfirmed rumor bandwagon it seems that there have been photos leaked for the new iPhone which include things like an auto-focus camera, video capture, and a compass. The photos were originally displayed (and then quickly removed) on a Chinese forum and quickly spread to many other sites including a complete human translation on the MacRumors forum. Looks like Apple security may have to break a few more pocket protectors to keep employees in line.
Talk to iPhone games developers, and the feature they're most excited about in the new iPhone 3.0 software is the ability to do in-game micro-transactions. And while you might wonder if this is just an excuse to get iPhone gamers to dip into their wallets even more often, it's actually a hugely positive thing for several reasons. Downloadable content, virtual items, subscription billing and fast-track social advancement are some of them, so Pocket Gamer looks into a bit more depth about what you can expect on the micro-payments side once iPhone 3.0 debuts
The redesigned PSP is due for release this autumn, according to Sony's US hardware marketing boss John Koller.
Official details of the new hardware leaked yesterday, confirming the system drops the UMD disc drive, and now boasts a new 3.8-inch screen, 16 gigabytes of flash memory and Bluetooth support.
"It's a 3.8-inch screen, it's 43 percent lighter than the PSP-3000, 16 gigs flash memory, Bluetooth support and all digital content so the UMD drive goes away so it's going to be something a lot of consumers like - download straight to a hard drive," said Koller, according to our sister site, Eurogamer.net.
Koller said that firm details of Gran Turismo for PSP will be announced during E3 this week, and he also mentioned a new Metal Gear Solid title, as well as stating that continued integration with Sony's other consoles is increasingly important.
"Integration with PSP is very important to us. And it works just like PSP-3000... A lot of people like to be able to take their content from PS3 with them on the go."
Details of the PSP Go were accidentally leaked via Sony's own Qore gaming show, prematurely posted online before being pulled. A price for the system has not yet been detailed.
Sony's E3 press conference takes place on Tuesday at 7pm BST / 8pm CET .
THQ is to bring its third game based on the Cars animated movie to all the major console and handheld formats.
Due for a worldwide release in autumn 2009, Cars Race-O-Rama includes never-before-seen characters and a number of new tracks, and is due for release on DS, Wii, Xbox 360, PSP and both the Sony consoles.
Based around the universe of the feature film, Race-O-Rama is pitched as a high-speed racing adventure game, and will also include a number of multiplayer minigames based on the 'Cars Toons' television series currently being screened on the Disney Channel.
Additionally, Race-O-Rama allows for the customisation of vehicle parts, and lets players show off their skills with 'Kachow' poses designed to appeal to the reporters and fans that populate the game.
So far the THQ-published titles based around the licence of the Disney-Pixar created movie have sold 13 million units worldwide, which suggests a large potential market for Race-O-Rama.
Last week we noticed the German USK rating board had a listing for The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition on Xbox Live Arcade and PC. Today LucasArts confirmed the remake and announced it will have updated, high definition graphics, voice acting, and a re-mastered musical score. If fancy pants graphics aren't your thing, you'll have the ability to toggle between the modernized and classic visuals. The Special Edition is being developed internally at LucasArts.
Originally released in 1990, Monkey Island is a hilarious point-and-click adventure that follows the mishaps of wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood. LucasArts says this is just the start of its plans to unearth its classic franchises and games.
Look for The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition this summer.
505 Games bringing title to Europe this Christmas on DS
505 Games will publish Cooking Mama 3 on DS across Europe this Christmas.
The game will boast over 80 recipes, 200 mini-games and a four-player multiplayer from one cart.
“Mama provides a truly unique gameplay experience which can’t be replicated and always delivers,” commented Ian Howe, Managing Director of 505 Games. “Cooking Mama remains our most successful series to date and we know Cooking Mama 3 will only serve to build upon its existing legacy.”
The title will also offer two new game modes: ‘What dish can you make’, in which players choose ingredients from a list and Mama will come up with a tasty recipe containing them both for you to cook; and ‘Lets go shopping’, which challenges your memory as Mama sends you out to the shops with a list of ingredients to buy.
Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS) today announced that more than a dozen of its globally popular toy and game properties will land on various video game platforms in the second half of this year through licensing alliances with video game leaders Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) (EA), Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI), and Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU). The new wave of video games builds on the momentum achieved by EA in the past 18 months with its release of nearly 40 Hasbro-inspired titles across 16 brands and 13 platforms, several of which have held top sales rankings by platform. Additionally, through an extended licensing agreement with Performance Design Products (PDP), a new line of Hasbro-branded video game accessories will land at retail in 2009.
This summer will kick off with major action and adventure based on the launch of Activision's TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN in June on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, Wii, PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Windows PC, PSP (PlayStation Portable), and Nintendo DS. Glu Mobile is also on deck to release the game on a variety of mobile devices as well as a mini-application on the iPhone. EA will then heat up the month of August with the launch of G.I. JOE The Rise of Cobra on the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION3, Wii, PlayStation2, PSP, Nintendo DS and mobile devices.
For board game fans, EA has turned up the fun dial with releases of BATTLESHIP, YAHTZEE, CONNECT 4, SCRABBLE*, BOGGLE and SORRY! on Xbox LIVE Arcade. These releases come on the heels of spring launches including SCRABBLE* and LITTLEST PET SHOP Spring on the Nintendo DS; TRIVIAL PURSUIT on the Wii, Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION3, PlayStation2; MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition, TRIVIAL PURSUIT Daily 20 and YAHTZEE! Party on Pogo.com; and CRANIUM, YAHTZEE, THE GAME OF LIFE, and CLUE on an array of mobile devices.
"Through our strategic alliances with the world's most talented video game developers and publishers such as EA, Hasbro has continued to re-invent the play experience of its brands in a way that is meaningful to today's digital consumer," said Mark Blecher, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media and Gaming at Hasbro. "Hasbro-inspired video games are all about creating an interactive entertainment-based social connection with family and friends anytime, anyplace – from the living room to the dorm room, an airport or the back seat of the car."
Moving into the fall timeframe, EA also has several exciting games in development that will entertain the entire family. MR. POTATO HEAD will be called back into duty as the M.C. of fun in HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT 2 for the Wii. The new Wii version will showcase a collection of five games including OPERATION, JENGA, BOP-IT, PICTUREKA, and CONNECT 4X4. For on-the-go players, a Nintendo DS version called HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT will feature CONNECT 4, BATTLESHIP, SORRY! Sliders, OPERATION, and BOP-IT.
Big fun is also on the horizon for LITTLEST PET SHOP fans kicking off with LITTLEST PET SHOP FRIENDS on the Wii and Nintendo DS. The new game -- set in a party-like atmosphere -- will include new and exclusive pets, party-planning activities, special mini-games and fun, new environments to explore. Adding to the digital LITTLEST PET SHOP collection will also be the fall launch of LITTLEST PET SHOP ONLINE, an incredible, all-new online world where girls can play games and customize and create their own LITTLEST PET SHOP pets while connecting with friends and exploring the expansive and fun-filled world of LITTLEST PET SHOP.
Recognizing that every gamer needs cool gear, PDP will create a new line of Hasbro-branded video gaming accessories and products for the Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION3, PlayStation2, iPod and a variety of mobile phones. Licensed accessories will feature TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE in support of the movie and video game launches this summer as well as LITTLEST PET SHOP and NERF.
Hasbro will showcase several of the EA and Activision video games slated for summer releases as well as select PDP accessories at the International Licensing Expo in Las Vegas on June 2-4, 2009 in Hasbro Booth #1825. EA and Activision are also set to showcase their respective Hasbro-branded video game lineup at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles on June 2-4, 2009.
EA’s Play label is to publish a new range of games aimed at young female players.
Titled Charm Club Girls, the new franchise is to debut with Wii release Pajama Party, and three original titles for the DS. Each of the games will focus on completing tasks and collecting charms in a world that is designed to be sassy, fun, and relevant to the world of the intended audience.
"Charm Club Girls celebrates everything that's fun about being a girl," said Sarah Handley, senior director of marketing at EA Play. "Girls are gamers too and EA wants to provide them with games that are fun, fabulous and appeal to their interests."
"With Charm Club Girls, we're providing girls with quality games that emphasise cool characters, fun challenges, customisation and lots of collectible charm rewards that can be shared across products," added EA Play’s senior producer. Dyan Williams, "Girls are really excited about a new line of games made just for them."
Across three DS games, My Perfect Prom, My Fashion Mall and My Fashion Show, players can tackle fashion dilemmas, plan for the perfect date, and handle a range of shopping-related mishaps. Meanwhile, the Wii version offers 30 minigames addressing activities such as pillow fighting and speed hair teasing.
Distributed by EA Casual Studios, the games are currently scheduled for release in autumn 2009, and have not yet been rated by PEGI or the ERSB.
Sami Vuori (our forum member Sera) seems to be the last person still creating software for Series 80 based Communicators (Nokia 9210, 9500, 9300 and their variants) but he just doesn't give up! After Dodgin' Diamond 2 a month or so ago, he has just released The Periodic Table of Elements for Series 80. Keep up the good work, Sera! Considering that our Download counters in the S80 section still slowly increase, there must be still some Series 80 users around desperately looking for new software releases!
Why settle for 8-bit or 16-bit retro gameplay when you can run the whole gamut from 4 to 128 in Bplus' newly announced WiiWare title Bit Boy!!
From the creators of Niki – Rock 'n' Ball, PLÄTTCHEN – twist 'n' paint and Vektor Tank comes Bit Boy, an adventure starring a one-pixel hero Kubi on a quest that takes him through the history of gaming, from 4-bit dungeons to 128-bit worlds, all in the name of saving his pixilated friends. It sounds crazy but it just might work. Take if from Bplus art director Bernd Geiblinger.
With Bit Boy!!, we created a fantastic new arcade adventure that is delivered together with all its never-before-seen prequels from the different videogame eras. From ages 14 to 40, each Bit Generation will spark true retro feelings in all players when they set off in the ultimate pursuit of fruits and highscores."
And that right there is what video games are all about - fruit and high scores. No word on when this will actually drop, but so far it looks interesting enough to get me to be there to catch it when it does.
This edition features improved on screen visibility in comparison to its 1st print. That and various other features make the game less hard to allow a more accessible gameplay experience. It comes with DVD casing and enhanced 12 page manual.
If you do not know this website, you say that is a great community where users register and publish their source code for free. Most authors are Francophone, but there are also plenty of interesting games and programs, and some of them easily portable for the Dreamcast
This week I wanted to make a case for card games and I was able to meet with several games on the web. I have also practiced a lot with the Allegro library of Dreamcast and the truth is that it gives excellent results
Let's start with because the news! We offer a summary of each port, and for more information and download go to the download section (requires free registration).
- Videopoker 2: This game in SDL allows us to give us some rooms (virtual) simulating the behavior of a machine Videopoker. The game is simple and fun with music.
- BlackJak_Amk: A classic of the letters made with Allegro. Not bad for testing (the game is made in 2003), but if you play well you recommend blackjack next port ...
- BlackJack_Allegro: This version of blackjack is more polished and beautiful than the previous port. Is at work and I personally recommend. In addition is also made with Allegro: D
Well, we have sold all the fish today, just expect that you like, if you want to comment and give a big salute to all the community dreamcastera ^ ^.
The Yabause team have released a new version of the Sega Saturn emulator for windows, sadly no other ports compiled at this time:
Heres whats new:
software video core:
- Added line scroll emulation.
- Improved user clipping.
- Added some basic vertical scroll emulation, enough to get Sonic Jam working.
gtk port:
- Gtk port is now compiling on Mac OS X.
- Fixed full software screenshots.
- Fixed store function in transfer dialog.
windows port:
- Added 12 player support.
- Fixed a bug that was causing the memory transfer dialog to register the wrong filename after pressing "Browse".
- Fixed bugs in Goto Address dialog.
- Fixed a bug that was causing the vdp2 viewer dialog to register the wrong filename after pressing "Browse".
- Added MD saving in SCU DSP debug dialog.
- Added new Ram Watch dialog.
- Added video recording feature.
- Added move recording feature.
general:
- Added Lithuanian translation.
- New sound core using OpenAL.
- Added joystick core for Mac OS X.
- Added a joystick core for Linux.
- Added a PSP port.
- Added support for loading ELF binaries.
- Now using gettimeofday when available for better resolution.
- Added code to make SCSP emulation frame-accurate (optional, enabled with --enable-scsp-frame-accurate configure switch).
- Added a new 68000 emulation core.
- Fixed save states.
Just posted some news on the latest build of Yabause the Sega Saturn emulator for Windows, Dreamcast and even Wii.
Now a quick scan of whats new led me to this:
general:
- Added Lithuanian translation.
- New sound core using OpenAL.
- Added joystick core for Mac OS X.
- Added a joystick core for Linux.
- Added a PSP port.
Nice to see some news on emulation on the PSP these days , although full speed Sega saturn emulation will most likely never happen you should neversay never in the world of emulation.
Kojote has posted news of the entries into his Retro systems coding competition:
The deadline for this PDRC v4.01 is over in all timezones and we have recieved eight entries!
- Droplets by Herman Samso (GBA)
- Clem the Retarded Elf 2 by Scott Lininger, Maxwell Saal (GBA
- Factory Bots by Nicholas Scheltema (GBA)
- GemVenture (Beta) by by Tom Livak (NES)
- Gears Of Fate by Thor (NGPC)
- Poomania by Metalvotze (GBA)
- Skipp and Friends: Unexpected Journy by Mukunda Johnson (SNES)
- Shunting Puzzle by Philipp Klau Krause (ColecoVision)
The entries will be published by time as we need to prepare screenshots and description text.
Kojote has posted news of the entries into his Retro systems coding competition:
The deadline for this PDRC v4.01 is over in all timezones and we have recieved eight entries!
- Droplets by Herman Samso (GBA)
- Clem the Retarded Elf 2 by Scott Lininger, Maxwell Saal (GBA
- Factory Bots by Nicholas Scheltema (GBA)
- GemVenture (Beta) by by Tom Livak (NES)
- Gears Of Fate by Thor (NGPC)
- Poomania by Metalvotze (GBA)
- Skipp and Friends: Unexpected Journy by Mukunda Johnson (SNES)
- Shunting Puzzle by Philipp Klau Krause (ColecoVision)
The entries will be published by time as we need to prepare screenshots and description text.
Kojote has posted news of the entries into his Retro systems coding competition:
The deadline for this PDRC v4.01 is over in all timezones and we have recieved eight entries!
- Droplets by Herman Samso (GBA)
- Clem the Retarded Elf 2 by Scott Lininger, Maxwell Saal (GBA
- Factory Bots by Nicholas Scheltema (GBA)
- GemVenture (Beta) by by Tom Livak (NES)
- Gears Of Fate by Thor (NGPC)
- Poomania by Metalvotze (GBA)
- Skipp and Friends: Unexpected Journy by Mukunda Johnson (SNES)
- Shunting Puzzle by Philipp Klau Krause (ColecoVision)
The entries will be published by time as we need to prepare screenshots and description text.
The original Knight Lore is considered by many as a true classic game, which was the first to use the revolutionary isometric perspective. Developed and released by Ultimate Play the Game on the Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, and the BBC in 1984, we now have an MSX2 remake courtesy of Retroworks. As with the original game, the remake sees you controlling Sabreman as he treks through the isometric world searching for ingredients to a magic potion. The game features extras and improvements on the original game including different palettes for day/night, in game map that shows locations visited, improved music, torch animation, and much more. The Game Card can be found at the Retroworks' website, where you will find the game ROM download, PDF manual, packaging designs, and a game map. Also check out the YouTube clip to see the game in action. Thanks to Metalbrain for bringing us the news.
Retromags.com is proud to welcome an icon to the project. You may know him as the Game Doctor (most promintent in Video Games and Computer Entertainment for me, but the Doctor has been printed in many other magazines too, including a short run in Electronic Gaming Monthly and the 80's and 90's run of Electronic Games, a remake of sorts of the 80's Electronic Games, the magazine credited as starting this fine section of the gaming industry we enjoy here at Retromags. You may know him as Bill Kunkel from his various articles in many different magazines and also on the web having written quite a bit of material on games and the industry. Any way you know him, he has surely earned your respect and is now a member here with Retromags.
This is an automated message generated by ROMhacking.net’s RHDNBot.
The following Translations have been submitted and approved to the database (in submitted order oldest to newest):
Peacock King 2 (English)(Complete)
Super Ultra Baseball 2 (English)(Complete)
Robocco Wars (English)(Complete)
Devil Man (English)(Complete)
Breath of Fire II (English)(Complete)
Urusei Yatsura Lum’s Wedding Bell (English)(Complete)
Transformers - Mystery of Comvoy (English)(Complete)
Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible II (English)(Complete)
SD Snatcher (English)(Addendum)
Twinbee 3 (English)(Complete)
LucasArts is partnering with episodic gaming guru Telltale to revive the beloved Secret of Monkey Island adventure games. The first episode of Tales of Monkey Island will premiere July 7 on WiiWare with four additional episodes to follow. Telltale is well versed in the art of episodic gaming with series like Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People and the new Sam & Max adventures. The developer even has artists and designers that worked on the original Monkey Island games.
Tales of Monkey Island again stars Guybrush Threepwood in a story that sounds a bit reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean. Threepwood accidentally releases a voodoo pox that transforms pirates into monsters.
"The Monkey Island series set the standard for storytelling and character development in games," said Telltale CEO Dan Connors. "The next several months should be filled with all kinds of surprises as we continue the dramatic stories of Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck."
Harmonix and MTV Games today announced 22 tracks from artists including Alice Cooper, Taking Back Sunday, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Foreigner and Roy Orbison coming this week to the Rock Band Music Store catalog of downloadable content for the Wii system.
Wii Rock Band 2 owners will gain access this week to three tracks from Long Island-based alternative rockers Taking Back Sunday, as well as six songs each from pop legend Roy Orbison and shock rock legend Alice Cooper.
Blending heavy metal, vaudeville, horror movies and garage rock, Alice Cooper lays claim to multiple platinum albums and chart-topping hits, as well as unforgettable theatrical stage performances. "Under My Wheels (live)," "I'm Eighteen (live)," "Billion Dollar Babies (live)" and "School's Out (live)," all from Cooper's 1995 live album, Classicks, will be made available, as will "Poison," the lead single from 1989's Trash and "Vengeance is Mine," from his latest offering, Along Came a Spider (2008).
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy Award-winner Roy Orbison offers up six classic tracks to the Wii Rock Band Music Store this week. "Claudette," from 1965's There Is Only One Roy Orbison; "In Dreams," from the 1963 album of the same name; the 1963 single "Mean Woman Blues," "Oh, Pretty Woman," from 1965's album Orbisongs; "Ooby Dooby," from 1961's Roy Orbison at the Rock House; and "You Got It," from 1989's Mystery Girl.
These tracks come from the back catalog of Rock Band music already released to owners of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system. Wii fans can expect a rollout of previously released downloadable Rock Band content until the entire back catalog of more than 690 songs is available. With the addition of these tracks, there are now more than 290 tracks in the Wii Rock Band Music Store.
Release Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2009
** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **
Tracks:
Alice Cooper "Under My Wheels" (Live)
Alice Cooper "I'm Eighteen" (Live)
Alice Cooper "Billion Dollar Babies" (Live)
Alice Cooper "School's Out" (Live)
Alice Cooper "Poison"
Alice Cooper "Vengeance is Mine"
The All-American Rejects "Move Along"
Angels & Airwaves "It Hurts"
The Black Crowes "Hard to Handle" *
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Fortunate Son" *
Foreigner "Jukebox Hero" *
The Hives "Die Alright"
Queens of the Stone Age "3s & 7s"
Queens of the Stone Age "Little Sister"
Queens of the Stone Age "Sick Sick Sick"
Roy Orbison "Claudette"
Roy Orbison "In Dreams"
Roy Orbison "Mean Woman Blues"
Roy Orbison "Oh, Pretty Woman"
Roy Orbison "Ooby Dooby"
Roy Orbison "You Got It"
Taking Back Sunday "What's It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?"
Taking Back Sunday "Liar"
Taking Back Sunday "MakeDamnSure"
The Sounds "Song with a Mission" **
(*Denotes cover track)
Price: $2.00 (200 Wii Points) per track
Location: In-game Rock Band 2 Music Store (Wii Points must be purchased through Wii Shop Channel)
Rock Band 2 is available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 systems and the Wii system. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 system and Wii versions support downloadable content.
Downloadable content for Wii is purchased via the in-game Rock Band Music Store using Wii Points purchased through the Wii Shop Channel and can be downloaded to the system memory or to an SD card for additional storage. The tracks stream directly from the SD card for seamless play.
To view a complete list of the more than 680 tracks available in the Rock Band music back catalog, please visit www.rockband.com/music.
This week's downloadable game releases include a spellbinding new installment in the FINAL FANTASY series. This first true sequel to FINAL FANTASY IV is sure to get RPG fans' blood pumping. Nintendo DSiWare users will find a challenging new puzzle game to help keep their minds spinning. A slick new poker title from the WiiWare service raises the stakes for virtual card sharps, while the Virtual Console debut of a classic Commodore 64 game puts players in pursuit of precious gems. With so much variety on the Wii Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi Shop, your odds of having a humdrum summer are getting slimmer by the hour.
Nintendo DSiWare
Mighty Flip Champs!
Publisher: WayForward Technologies
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) -- Mild Suggestive Themes
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Are you ready to become a Mighty Flip Champ? Take control of Alta and page-flip through a series of action-packed mazes. The touch screen reflects a preview of the next chamber and shows Alta's projected destination within it. When it's time to flip, use Alta's Magical Warp Wand to replace her world with the next one. Will she land safely on solid ground or be crushed under it? By cycling endlessly through room after brain-busting room, you'll match wits with some of the most devious traps in puzzle/platforming history.
WiiWare
FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS
Publisher: SQUARE ENIX
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) -- Alcohol Reference, Mild Fantasy Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS is the sequel to the hit RPG FINAL FANTASY IV. The story takes place many years after the original and centers on a young man named Ceodore, son of the paladin Cecil and the white mage Rosa, who, along with their loyal and steadfast friends, once saved the world from evil born of the second moon. Now, monsters are reappearing in a world that had finally attained peace. The second moon has returned anew. What tidings does this ominous harbinger bring? Familiar faces and new allies join the battle to save the Blue Planet once more.
Texas Hold'em Tournament
Publisher: Digital Leisure, Inc.
Players: 1-6
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) -- Simulated Gambling
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: The deck is shuffled and the blinds are in -- it's your move. Call, raise or even bluff your way "all in" with Texas Hold'em Tournament. You'll start off in the small Nevada gaming halls and work your way up to the Las Vegas Championship. Multi-round, no-limit hold'em game play ensures hours of serious poker action. Think you're the best poker player out there? Using broadband Internet access and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, start climbing the worldwide rankings by winning online tournaments, and see how your poker skills stack up by viewing the online leaderboard. Texas Hold'em Tournament also lets you play multiplayer poker with up to five friends, and with full Mii character support, you can truly bring yourself to the table.
Virtual Console
Boulder Dash
Original platform: Commodore 64
Publisher: Commodore Gaming
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Originally released in 1984, Boulder Dash is one of the big computer-game classics. It is one of the very few computer games ever to be ported from home computers to arcades, not the other way around. The hero of the game is the brave prospector Rockford. He must dig through caves to collect diamonds while avoiding various types of dangerous creatures and obstacles such as falling rocks. He is in constant danger of being crushed or trapped by an avalanche or killed by an underground explosion. Strategy and planning are the keys to mastering Boulder Dash. Once enough jewels have been collected, the door to the mysterious escape tunnel is revealed and Rockford can explore another cave.
Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo DSi Shop and the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mondays. Users with broadband Internet access can redeem Wii Points or Nintendo DSi Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo DSi Points can be purchased in the Nintendo DSi Shop. A Nintendo Points Card can be purchased at retail locations. All points from one Nintendo Points Card must be redeemed in either the Nintendo DSi Shop or the Wii Shop Channel. They are not transferable and cannot be divided between the two systems.
Remember that both Wii and Nintendo DSi feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit Wii.com or NintendoDSi.com.
This week's downloadable game releases include a spellbinding new installment in the FINAL FANTASY series. This first true sequel to FINAL FANTASY IV is sure to get RPG fans' blood pumping. Nintendo DSiWare users will find a challenging new puzzle game to help keep their minds spinning. A slick new poker title from the WiiWare service raises the stakes for virtual card sharps, while the Virtual Console debut of a classic Commodore 64 game puts players in pursuit of precious gems. With so much variety on the Wii Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi Shop, your odds of having a humdrum summer are getting slimmer by the hour.
Nintendo DSiWare
Mighty Flip Champs!
Publisher: WayForward Technologies
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) -- Mild Suggestive Themes
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Are you ready to become a Mighty Flip Champ? Take control of Alta and page-flip through a series of action-packed mazes. The touch screen reflects a preview of the next chamber and shows Alta's projected destination within it. When it's time to flip, use Alta's Magical Warp Wand to replace her world with the next one. Will she land safely on solid ground or be crushed under it? By cycling endlessly through room after brain-busting room, you'll match wits with some of the most devious traps in puzzle/platforming history.
WiiWare
FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS
Publisher: SQUARE ENIX
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) -- Alcohol Reference, Mild Fantasy Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS is the sequel to the hit RPG FINAL FANTASY IV. The story takes place many years after the original and centers on a young man named Ceodore, son of the paladin Cecil and the white mage Rosa, who, along with their loyal and steadfast friends, once saved the world from evil born of the second moon. Now, monsters are reappearing in a world that had finally attained peace. The second moon has returned anew. What tidings does this ominous harbinger bring? Familiar faces and new allies join the battle to save the Blue Planet once more.
Texas Hold'em Tournament
Publisher: Digital Leisure, Inc.
Players: 1-6
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) -- Simulated Gambling
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: The deck is shuffled and the blinds are in -- it's your move. Call, raise or even bluff your way "all in" with Texas Hold'em Tournament. You'll start off in the small Nevada gaming halls and work your way up to the Las Vegas Championship. Multi-round, no-limit hold'em game play ensures hours of serious poker action. Think you're the best poker player out there? Using broadband Internet access and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, start climbing the worldwide rankings by winning online tournaments, and see how your poker skills stack up by viewing the online leaderboard. Texas Hold'em Tournament also lets you play multiplayer poker with up to five friends, and with full Mii character support, you can truly bring yourself to the table.
Virtual Console
Boulder Dash
Original platform: Commodore 64
Publisher: Commodore Gaming
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Originally released in 1984, Boulder Dash is one of the big computer-game classics. It is one of the very few computer games ever to be ported from home computers to arcades, not the other way around. The hero of the game is the brave prospector Rockford. He must dig through caves to collect diamonds while avoiding various types of dangerous creatures and obstacles such as falling rocks. He is in constant danger of being crushed or trapped by an avalanche or killed by an underground explosion. Strategy and planning are the keys to mastering Boulder Dash. Once enough jewels have been collected, the door to the mysterious escape tunnel is revealed and Rockford can explore another cave.
Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo DSi Shop and the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mondays. Users with broadband Internet access can redeem Wii Points or Nintendo DSi Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo DSi Points can be purchased in the Nintendo DSi Shop. A Nintendo Points Card can be purchased at retail locations. All points from one Nintendo Points Card must be redeemed in either the Nintendo DSi Shop or the Wii Shop Channel. They are not transferable and cannot be divided between the two systems.
Remember that both Wii and Nintendo DSi feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit Wii.com or NintendoDSi.com.
Today at the Microsoft Press Conference Rock Band Beatles was on display. The most notable part of the performance was that the three singers were on stage with the rest of the band (drums, bass, guitar) and they were singing harmonies that were being tracked separately at the top of the screen.
Set for a September 9 release, the game features 45 Beatles classics reworked specifically for the game. MTV Games revealed ten of the tracks:
I Saw Her Standing There
I Want to Hold Your Hand
I Feel Fine
Day Tripper
Taxman
I Am the Walrus
Back in the USSR
Octopus's Garden
Here Comes the Sun
Get Back
On top of the in-game songs, full Beatles albums will be made available for download. The first of these, Abbey Road, is expected shortly after The Beatles: Rock Band is released.
Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., today announced that Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals is currently in development for Wii, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system.
Sinister forces have deceived you to believe that your destructive behavior will save an epic hero. In reality, you're working for evil. Take control of a dynamic tornado as you tear through open environments, chewing up the landscape and spitting out everything in your path. The more you destroy, the bigger you grow as you work against time based, collection and point challenges in the search for hidden elements and enemies from another world. Zephyr provides expansive sandbox type gameplay and real time destruction allowing gamers to destroy what they want, when they want, where they want!
Zephyr delivers humor filled missions and varying objectives, ranging from blustery mischief at a local trailer park to gale force feats in the middle of sprawling cityscapes. Diverse action packed gameplay provides both casual and hardcore gamers the ability to tear through towns in beautifully stylized high definition action! Double the destructive power by playing co-operative multiplayer where two players drive through environments picking up and tossing everything standing in their way in an effort to do battle against the evil Omegaton. The items in a player's path range from the usual rusted tractors and rustic farms, to the strange and unexpected as you tear your way through increasingly complex and crowded areas around the world. Through large open worlds, users can take control of how objects are damaged and destroyed with the active destruction game mechanic. For added replayability, players can complete multiple missions and destroy different objects within environments to maximize each level and earn extra points.
Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals is being developed by Loose Cannon Studios and will be released in North America this Fall, for more information, please visit: www.konami.com/zephyr
Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., today announced that Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals is currently in development for Wii, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system.
Sinister forces have deceived you to believe that your destructive behavior will save an epic hero. In reality, you're working for evil. Take control of a dynamic tornado as you tear through open environments, chewing up the landscape and spitting out everything in your path. The more you destroy, the bigger you grow as you work against time based, collection and point challenges in the search for hidden elements and enemies from another world. Zephyr provides expansive sandbox type gameplay and real time destruction allowing gamers to destroy what they want, when they want, where they want!
Zephyr delivers humor filled missions and varying objectives, ranging from blustery mischief at a local trailer park to gale force feats in the middle of sprawling cityscapes. Diverse action packed gameplay provides both casual and hardcore gamers the ability to tear through towns in beautifully stylized high definition action! Double the destructive power by playing co-operative multiplayer where two players drive through environments picking up and tossing everything standing in their way in an effort to do battle against the evil Omegaton. The items in a player's path range from the usual rusted tractors and rustic farms, to the strange and unexpected as you tear your way through increasingly complex and crowded areas around the world. Through large open worlds, users can take control of how objects are damaged and destroyed with the active destruction game mechanic. For added replayability, players can complete multiple missions and destroy different objects within environments to maximize each level and earn extra points.
Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals is being developed by Loose Cannon Studios and will be released in North America this Fall, for more information, please visit: www.konami.com/zephyr
Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., today announced that Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals is currently in development for Wii, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system.
Sinister forces have deceived you to believe that your destructive behavior will save an epic hero. In reality, you're working for evil. Take control of a dynamic tornado as you tear through open environments, chewing up the landscape and spitting out everything in your path. The more you destroy, the bigger you grow as you work against time based, collection and point challenges in the search for hidden elements and enemies from another world. Zephyr provides expansive sandbox type gameplay and real time destruction allowing gamers to destroy what they want, when they want, where they want!
Zephyr delivers humor filled missions and varying objectives, ranging from blustery mischief at a local trailer park to gale force feats in the middle of sprawling cityscapes. Diverse action packed gameplay provides both casual and hardcore gamers the ability to tear through towns in beautifully stylized high definition action! Double the destructive power by playing co-operative multiplayer where two players drive through environments picking up and tossing everything standing in their way in an effort to do battle against the evil Omegaton. The items in a player's path range from the usual rusted tractors and rustic farms, to the strange and unexpected as you tear your way through increasingly complex and crowded areas around the world. Through large open worlds, users can take control of how objects are damaged and destroyed with the active destruction game mechanic. For added replayability, players can complete multiple missions and destroy different objects within environments to maximize each level and earn extra points.
Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals is being developed by Loose Cannon Studios and will be released in North America this Fall, for more information, please visit: www.konami.com/zephyr
THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) today announced its new, original intellectual property, World of Zoo is currently in development to make its scheduled debut for Wii, Nintendo DS and Windows PC this fall. World of Zoo takes players beyond the fences and into their own zoo, allowing them to care for and build relationships with numerous animals through hands-on interactive gameplay. Packed full of customization features, players will be able to experience their own personalized virtual zoo creating an experience unlike any other animal-based simulation game. In addition, the game will be showcased at the upcoming E3 Expo 2009 being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
"We are excited to introduce this game to animal lovers and zoo fans of all ages," said Randy Shoemaker, vice president, global brand management at THQ. "This game expands the real-world zoo experience, giving players an all-access pass to interact with the world's most amazing animals up close and personal."
World of Zoo is a family-friendly game that will open the gates for gamers to freely roam their zoo in ways they have only imagined. With more than 90 different animals spanning 11 families to care for, players will have ample opportunities to engage with all types of species. The Animal Creator feature will allow players to create an unlimited number of animals and be able to customize each one. They can even add animals to any of the 20 different exhibits available in the game utilizing the Animal Adoption Network feature. Players can also learn about their animals through fun animal facts provided by National Geographic. Each animal is completely unique with different personalities and behaviors. It will be up to the player to determine ways to gain their trust and keep their animals happy, ultimately earning a Magic Moment from their animal.
World of Zoo is being developed by Blue Fang, creator of the highly successful Zoo Tycoon series. For more information on this game, please visit www.worldofzoo.com. Information on the rest of THQ's line-up of family-friendly titles is also available on www.playthq.com.
THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) today announced its new, original intellectual property, World of Zoo is currently in development to make its scheduled debut for Wii, Nintendo DS and Windows PC this fall. World of Zoo takes players beyond the fences and into their own zoo, allowing them to care for and build relationships with numerous animals through hands-on interactive gameplay. Packed full of customization features, players will be able to experience their own personalized virtual zoo creating an experience unlike any other animal-based simulation game. In addition, the game will be showcased at the upcoming E3 Expo 2009 being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
"We are excited to introduce this game to animal lovers and zoo fans of all ages," said Randy Shoemaker, vice president, global brand management at THQ. "This game expands the real-world zoo experience, giving players an all-access pass to interact with the world's most amazing animals up close and personal."
World of Zoo is a family-friendly game that will open the gates for gamers to freely roam their zoo in ways they have only imagined. With more than 90 different animals spanning 11 families to care for, players will have ample opportunities to engage with all types of species. The Animal Creator feature will allow players to create an unlimited number of animals and be able to customize each one. They can even add animals to any of the 20 different exhibits available in the game utilizing the Animal Adoption Network feature. Players can also learn about their animals through fun animal facts provided by National Geographic. Each animal is completely unique with different personalities and behaviors. It will be up to the player to determine ways to gain their trust and keep their animals happy, ultimately earning a Magic Moment from their animal.
World of Zoo is being developed by Blue Fang, creator of the highly successful Zoo Tycoon series. For more information on this game, please visit www.worldofzoo.com. Information on the rest of THQ's line-up of family-friendly titles is also available on www.playthq.com.
Heres a press release that will no doubt amuse some and may offend too:
Perturbed over Sony’s “Hanuman: Boy Warrior” videogame and further vexed by stiff-necked attitude of Sony officials, various Hindu groups have given worldwide boycott call against Sony PlayStation products.
Spearheaded by acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who said that Hanuman game “trivializes the highly revered deity of Hinduism”; various Hindu groups/leaders who have jointly given the boycott call include Bhavna Shinde of Forum for Hindu Awakening in USA; Vamsi Krishna of Sanatan Sanstha of Australia; Hindu Janajagruti Samiti headquartered in India; Jawahar L. Khurana, Chairperson of Hindu Alliance of India; Lila D. Sharma, President of India Heritage Panel; Dharam Loonaa, Executive Director of Universal Society of Hinduism; and Rakesh Nagpal, General Secretary of Shri Ramayan Pracharini Sabha. Besides Hindus, they have also urged other religious/spiritual people/groups of the world also not to buy Sony PlayStation products.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, in an earlier statement, said that in a video game set-up, the player controlled the destiny of Lord Hanuman while in reality the believers put the destinies of themselves in the hands of their deities. Zed further said that immature handling of the issue by Sony, which is said to be a socially responsible and ethical corporation, saddened them. He also urged Sony to create a high-level check system so that denigrations like this did not happen in the future.
According to Shinde, Hindu leaders communicated their displeasure to Sony and tried to resolve the issue through discussions, but callous attitude of Sony officials frustrated their efforts, leaving them with no other alternative except the boycott call. She said that they would re-evaluate their protest movement in the near future and look into requesting the major wholesalers and retailers of videogames, in India and wherever else this videogame was launched, not to carry it. They would also consider boycotting all Sony products during this re-evaluation.
Hindus have been demanding the withdrawal of recently launched Sony PlayStation2 video game “Hanuman: Boy Warrior” and apology from Sony for creating it by May 21, arguing that reimagining Hindu scriptures and deities for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees. Controlling and manipulating Lord Hanuman with a joystick/ button/keyboard/mouse was denigration.
Lord Hanuman is greatly revered and his worship is very popular among Hindus and there are numerous temples dedicated to him. Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents. Sony, with Howard Stringer as Chairman and headquartered in Tokyo, is one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world.
Heres a press release that will no doubt amuse some and may offend too:
Perturbed over Sony’s “Hanuman: Boy Warrior” videogame and further vexed by stiff-necked attitude of Sony officials, various Hindu groups have given worldwide boycott call against Sony PlayStation products.
Spearheaded by acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who said that Hanuman game “trivializes the highly revered deity of Hinduism”; various Hindu groups/leaders who have jointly given the boycott call include Bhavna Shinde of Forum for Hindu Awakening in USA; Vamsi Krishna of Sanatan Sanstha of Australia; Hindu Janajagruti Samiti headquartered in India; Jawahar L. Khurana, Chairperson of Hindu Alliance of India; Lila D. Sharma, President of India Heritage Panel; Dharam Loonaa, Executive Director of Universal Society of Hinduism; and Rakesh Nagpal, General Secretary of Shri Ramayan Pracharini Sabha. Besides Hindus, they have also urged other religious/spiritual people/groups of the world also not to buy Sony PlayStation products.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, in an earlier statement, said that in a video game set-up, the player controlled the destiny of Lord Hanuman while in reality the believers put the destinies of themselves in the hands of their deities. Zed further said that immature handling of the issue by Sony, which is said to be a socially responsible and ethical corporation, saddened them. He also urged Sony to create a high-level check system so that denigrations like this did not happen in the future.
According to Shinde, Hindu leaders communicated their displeasure to Sony and tried to resolve the issue through discussions, but callous attitude of Sony officials frustrated their efforts, leaving them with no other alternative except the boycott call. She said that they would re-evaluate their protest movement in the near future and look into requesting the major wholesalers and retailers of videogames, in India and wherever else this videogame was launched, not to carry it. They would also consider boycotting all Sony products during this re-evaluation.
Hindus have been demanding the withdrawal of recently launched Sony PlayStation2 video game “Hanuman: Boy Warrior” and apology from Sony for creating it by May 21, arguing that reimagining Hindu scriptures and deities for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees. Controlling and manipulating Lord Hanuman with a joystick/ button/keyboard/mouse was denigration.
Lord Hanuman is greatly revered and his worship is very popular among Hindus and there are numerous temples dedicated to him. Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents. Sony, with Howard Stringer as Chairman and headquartered in Tokyo, is one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world.
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 Wii Remote controller. 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.
Changelog
Version 0.6
Buttons have a rollover sound
New cursors for HOME menu, player 2 cursor is disable
Wii Remote two could use the HOME button
Opacity of the cursor changes while waiting for AI to play
Minishlink has released the new MLlib development library.
The MLlib (or Minishlink's Library) is a simple library to develop on Nintendo Wii. Technically, it's a wrapper of libogc and others librairies. Coding with this lib on Wii is way easier and faster now ! :-) I created this because I needed a library with I could code with easy functions. It uses GX for drawing, libpng for handling PNG, and libs of libogc...
Features
Proper code so that it's nice to see;
Easy for all;
Friendly functions;
Handles drawing (lol);
Sprite system;
Handles PNG images, BMP soon;
Write graphically text;
MP3 system;
MOD system;
Input (Wiimote, Nunchuk, and extensions...) system;
And much more...
Skeezix has released a new version of his AtariST Emulator for Wiz, heres the release notes:
A bunch of fixes and improvements relative to alpha 001.
- audio is in
- it should throttle down to 60fps; I'd buggered something up in last one to make it slow.. unthrottled this is running crazy fast
- it will pick up notaz mmuhack kernel module if its present (not needed, but included in the zip)
- menu is usable
So overall pretty good.. but still a couple issues
- floppy access indicators aren't showing up
- hitting Start while in the emu often crashes it
- ^- these are related to what looks like some memory corruption, that never occured in gp2x or palm or psp etc builds; all new for the wiz, despite no changes to the emu core :/
- joystick might 'stick' a little due to how I handled diagonals
Overall though, looks pretty good.
I'll see if I can get some time to track down the issue causing the crashes, since it annoys me; I should just finish my Hatari port, but I have a fondness for OutcaST
This is the gp2x version minus the zoom feature. It also only supports 320x240(200) games. If you run something outside this size expect bad results.
The files are setup for /mnt/sd/dosbox, so make sure to change all paths if you do something different.
The setup is a little different, I moved the calling gpe script to the dosbox folder instead of in the game folder. I did this because of the shared libs. If I put it in the game folder the shared libs have to be there too. That means a copy of the shared libs would have to be in every game folder.
This causes some other side effects mainly the location of the mapper.txt. If you want to use the mapper.txt in the game folder the path in the dosbox.conf must be change i.e. ./mygame/mapper.txt You could also put the mapper.txt in the dosbox folder and maybe give a unique name, then you wouldnt need the path i.e mapper=mapper_duke.txt
Also remember no stick press, so change your mapper as needed.
Setting up dosbox isnt for the faint hearted. If you run into problems be very specific in what your doing and how your setup. I would prefer people who test the beta have had used it on the gp2x before.
Moonlight has released a new version of the Shell/Multimedia player for the Nintendo DS, heres whats new:
Changelog:
Fixed fatal error #15203 with DPG playback
Added Arabic language support
Update Korean's manuals
Added "StpEvery.txt" and "DisScCap.txt"
Supported Exif2.1/DCF
Renewed language selector
Fixed: mistake external switch key mapping
Fixed: cannot return from resume bug
Fixed: can not start bug with 2kbyte cluster FAT16 disk
crazygoth also presents an application to the Wii Dev Nintendomax Competition 2009, this is "resistorWii" which allows you to calculate the value of a resistance.
t4ils launches for the Wii Nintendomax DEV Competition 2009, the 1.0 version of "StillAliveWii" StillAliveDS port which is a puzzle game inspired by the flash version of Portal.
Quote:
Presentation:
StillAliveWii (or SaWii his pet name) is a port of StillAliveDS on Wii. Like his colleague,
you must catch all of the cakes before they can reach the exit of it.
To do this, you will be equipped with your PortalGun which allows launching portals in the walls in order to teleport elsewhere.
Throughout your journey, you will be guided by a robot you learn the mechanisms of the game
Morukutsu also participates in the Nintendomax Wii Dev Competition in 2009 with "StarPlot.
Quote:
StarPlot is a puzzle game that takes place in space. The hero, astronaut, stars must recover in order to activate his flying saucer. For that, you have a jetpack and a missile launching.
The character moves around various small planets. There is no vacuum, you are constantly attracted to the center of the planet! The same goes for your missiles and other items ...
Therefore you use the gravitational pull of planets wisely
minishlink makes an adaptation of the game of tic-tac-toe for the Wii, "TicTacToe" which submits to the Dev Nintendomax Wii Competition 2009.
Quote:
J'hésitais to introduce this game to this component, but since it lacks a few participants, I decided. It was originally just an example to my library dev 'Wii, the MLlib. It will also release soon Wink (every day I discover a new opportunity to implement (or bugs to fix), which is why it took so long!: P)
troudki offers the Alpha version of his homebrew "ARCADE COBRA", a set of shots, presented at the Nintendomax Wii Dev Competition 2009. The project is only the beginning of the motion where Alpha.
Quote:
At the moment there is only a simple presentation of a game (Version Alpha) on the universe of COBRA PSYCHOGUN TERASAWA BUICHI.
libpurple contains the core IM support for IM clients such as Pidgin and Finch. libpurple supports a variety of messaging protocols including AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Jabber, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ, IRC, Novell Groupwise, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, Simple and Zephyr.
Pidgin allows you to talk to anyone using a variety of messaging protocols including AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Jabber, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ, IRC, Novell Groupwise, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, Simple and Zephyr. These protocols are implemented using a modular, easy to use design. To use a protocol, just add an account using the account editor. Pidgin supports many common features of other clients, as well as many unique features, such as perl scripting, TCL scripting and C plugins. Pidgin is not affiliated with or endorsed by America Online, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Yahoo! Inc., or ICQ Inc.
MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. When used in conjunction with an arcade game's data files (ROMs), MAME will more or less faithfully reproduce that game on a PC. The ROM images that MAME utilizes are "dumped" from arcade games' original circuit-board ROM chips. MAME becomes the "hardware" for the games, taking the place of their original CPUs and support chips. Therefore, these games are NOT simulations, but the actual, original games that appeared in arcades. MAME's purpose is to preserve these decades of video-game history. As gaming technology continues to rush forward, MAME prevents these important "vintage" games from being lost and forgotten. This is achieved by documenting the hardware and how it functions, thanks to the talent of programmers from the MAME team and from other contributors. Being able to play the games is just a nice side-effect, which doesn't happen all the time. MAME strives for emulating the games faithfully. NOTE: This version includes an unsupported patch that adds the ability to display games at their original (-nativeres) resolution in fullscreen mode. Users of this version are not eligible for support on the official forum. Get support for this version here: http://forums.ps3bodega.com
* Fri May 29 18:00:00 2009 - Bill Blake <billb{%}ydl{*}net> 0.131u3-1.ydl6.bdg
- Updated to 0.131u3
DOSBox is a DOS-emulator using SDL for easy portability to different platforms. DOSBox has already been ported to several different platforms, such as Windows, BeOS, Linux, Mac OS X... DOSBox emulates a 286/386 realmode CPU, Directory FileSystem/XMS/EMS, a SoundBlaster card for excellent sound compatibility with older games... You can "re-live" the good old days with the help of DOSBox, it can run plenty of the old classics that don't run on your new computer!
Changelog
* Tue Mar 31 18:00:00 2009 Bill Blake <billb{%}ydl{*}net> - 0.73-1
- Updated to release 0.73
Vavoom is an enhanced open-source port of Doom. Allowing you to play not only the classic 3D first-person shooter Doom, but also the Doom derived classics Heretic, Hexen and Strife. Compared to the original games it adds extra features such as translucency and freelook support and ofcourse the capability to play these classics under Linux.
An unknown Japanese coder releases a new homebrew for PSP. These PCE and is nothing but an emulator on the PC Engine. Unfortunately the changelog in Japanese does not allow us to get to know the characteristics of this release.
heres a timely update...
from the readme's changelog:
Quote:
Added A HEN Check, If it returns possitive it will boot into a HEN restriction mode.
Added A Function To Flash Custom Gameboots.
Added A Function To Restore Custom Gameboots.
if you wish to boot into this without the HEN restrictios, you will have to remove h.bin from ms0:/
There were some rumblings about this last week, but today at E3 Microsoft has confirmed the details: Xbox owners will be able to access all the video content on the Zune Marketplace. Playback is enhanced by what Microsoft is calling "Smooth Streaming" - video playback starts very quickly at a low bit-rate, then ramps up in bit-rate for maximum quality. This means that, assuming you have a decently fast Internet connection, there shouldn't be much in the way of "Please Wait: Buffering" messages. The video pushed down the pipe are glorious 1080p, and will have 5.1 surround sound. I haven't ordered many movies off the Xbox Marketplace, but aren't they all in 720p? If so, this is a big jump in quality - nice! There's also going to be enhanced search functionality to make finding things easier - that's a good thing, because the Xbox Marketplace was a very manual affair, and now that the Zune Marketplace is going to be offering scads more content, being able to find it easily is important.
Sony Ericsson already tipped its hand by including nothing but plain old microSD in its recently announced Satio, Yari and Aino phones (not to mention the K850 even further back), but it looks like TrustedReviews has now gotten the official word straight from the source: SE is dropping Sony's own Memory Stick Micro format (or M2) in favor of the decidedly more standard microSD. While it's not clear if that'll be a clean break from here on out or not, Sony Ericsson Global Marketing Director Fortuné Alexander did say that the company is "moving in that direction," and at least a few more still unannounced handsets have apparently already made the switch. Next thing you know Sony will be dumping UMD. Oh wait.
4GB to 32GB -- that's one hell of a range, but we're hearing from a trusted source that new iPhones in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities just garnered approval by the PCS Type Review Certification Board, the standards body responsible for certificating handsets for use with some carriers (AT&T, for instance). If true, this would lend credence to the belief that Apple will be introducing at least two new models this summer -- ostensibly at WWDC, until we're told otherwise -- because it seems unlikely that the company would be looking to wrap high-end hardware around ridiculously light storage or vice versa. If this means AT&T's going to be able to sell sub-$100 iPhones, it reinforces a precedent set by devices like the E71x that consumers can (and should) expect hot smartphone hardware for shockingly little cash. We'll drink to that.
Microsoft's E3 keynote was so jam-packed the company decided to wait until afterwards to announce what might be the biggest new feature of them all: on-demand access to full retail games. The service will launch in August with 30 titles to start, and new games will be added weekly, with pricing to match retail. The best part? Purchases can be made directly with a credit card, no pesky Xbox points required. More pics of the system after the break.
Update: Don't get your hopes up, MS tells us that the point system isn't going anywhere, it's just being supplemented with credit card purchases. Also, game rentals aren't happening yet, but they said it "sounds great for the future."
Square Enix just announced that Final Fantasy XIII will be out on Xbox 360 in North America during "Spring 2010".
Note that's a hopeful date, not a firm one. 2010 is a while away, and hey, this is Final Fantasy. But still! That's a whole season you can circle in your reddest red pen.
Yes, it's real. Now you'll be able to change a tire... virtually. At E3 today, Microsoft finally took the wraps off the that rumored motion controller we'd been hearing about. Apparently the small, black device -- codenamed "Natal" -- will allow for an astoundingly wide range of actions by utilizing a group of sensors (the box itself sits beneath your TV), and the accessory will be capable of juggling multiple users during a single session. The demo Microsoft showed off included a skateboarding game (replete with a young man "air" ollie-ing), and a family playing a racing game (the dad was changing a tire, the daughter driving).
The add-on will offer features such as auto sign-in for players to Xbox Live (based on complex facial recognition), and sports extremely detailed body tracking which will be able to follow the individual movements of separate limbs. During the press event, the company demoed a painting app, which lets you use your entire body to handle virtual painting supplies, allowing you to do things like throw buckets of paint onto a canvas. Another title was shown off which featured a woman interacting with a young boy on the screen -- one of the company's creepier demos in recent memory. Unfortunately for us, Microsoft says the device won't be released during 2009. We're working on snagging some face time (literally!) with a demo unit, so stay tuned... E3 is off to a wild start!
Microsoft just showed off a bunch of trailers. Some for all-new games! Like Crackdown 2 and Left 4 Dead 2.
Crackdown 2 seems to take a different approach than the first, with the city infected with some kind of plague that's turning people into zombies/monsters. You, naturally, have to kill them.
Left 4 Dead 2 features an all-new cast, will include a range of melee weapons (like frying pans and chainsaws!) and will be out on November 17.
Finally a collector's edition that isn't complete fanboy exploitation: This "exclusive" controller is bundled in the $99 collector's edition of Halo 3 ODST, and it's markedly less tacky than the original overly glossy Halo 3 pads. But um, wasn't Microsoft busy killing the controller about an hour ago?
Sure, the Microsoft fact sheet for Project Natal explains that the XBox 360's answer to Wii motion control has a special sensor, an RGB sensor, a depth sensor, a multiarray microphone and a special processor, but what's that name mean?
Here's how the company explains it:
"Alex Kipman, who incubated the project and is from Brazil, chose Natal, a city along the northeastern coast of Brazil, as a tribute to his country. In addition, he knew that Natal also means "to be born" in Latin. Given the new audiences "Project Natal" will bring to Xbox 360, this felt right."
Despite what you just read, do not pronounce the word as you would the "natal" in pre-natal care. Pronounce it as you would the Natal in Natalia.
Besides announcing full retail games on demand, meaning you'll be able to download full retail games from the comfort of your own smelly dungeon instead of trekking to Gamestop's smelly dungeon, Microsoft filled out details on some of the other new Xbox Live hotness
For you social networking fiends who need to use Facebook or Twitter on every screen possible, Microsoft announced Facebook and Twitter integration will be arriving on Xbox Live this fall.
The next installment of the popular Forza racing series is heading to the Xbox 360 this fall, with a new engine, a video editor, and more cars than you can shake a stick-shift at.
Shipping in October from Turn Ten, Forza 3 will feature a brand-new engine that runs at a sliky-smooth 60 frames-per-second. And you'll need all of those frames for the new video editing feature, which will allow players to create and edit their own HD driving videos, uploading and sharing them with the Forza community.
The producer for the game took the stage at today's Microsoft E3 2009 press conference, delivering these details as well as promising "hundreds of cars", after initially mentioning the word "400" and then backpedaling.
Either way, that's a ton of cars, and the only thing racing gamers like more than racing cars is showing off to others, so it sounds like Forza 3 will be a win on all fronts.
EA Sports boss Peter Moore has unveiled the company's next big sports franchise - MMA.
That stands for Mixed Martial Arts, don't you know. It was announced at EA's E3 press conference, but there was no word on release date or platforms.
Moore did promise "an authentic and broad mixed martial arts experience". He was standing in front of a funky logo and a picture of a man's muscly back, complete with tattoo. "We are more than ready for the fight," said Moore.
Here's hoping we'll get to see a bit more of MMA once E3 proper gets underway.
EA Sports Active seems to be quite the hit! So much so that, like the resistance bands that ship with the disc, the game is due for expansion. Even though the game just came out May 19, EA has already announced the first expansion pack. It's coming "this holiday, just in time to help you with your New Year's resolutions."
If you resolve to buy more fitness games this year, EA wants to help! Peter Moore did say EA Sports Active was a "platform."
BioWare's Ray Muzyka has revealed Star Wars The Old Republic will be "the first ever fully-voiced massively multiplayer online game".
Speaking at EA's E3 press conference, Muzyka said every class and character in SWTOR "will have his, her or its own unique voice".
"We think this changes everything for MMOs," he added. "We believe this could be one of the largest voiceover projects in the history of games - and maybe the rest of entertainment."
Muzyka went on to say that every class in SWTOR will have its own unique story. "So if you play as a bounty hunter in the Empire, then as a trooper in the Republic class, the experience will be different," he explained.
A trailer with a spooky voiceover was then shown. "Our time has come. For 300 years we prepared we grew stronger, while you rested in your cradle of power, believing your people were safe and protected," said the spooky voice. Meanwhile, a Sith Lord and his mate were slicing their way into a Republic building, lightsabering everyone in their path.
"You were trusted to lead the republic but you were deceived," The voiceover continued. "Finally, we have returned." An epic battle between a big group of Jedi knights and a bundle of Sith lords ensued, with red, green and blue lightsabers flying all over the place. The Sith Lord ended up striding out and leaving the building burning behind him, cloak flapping in the breeze. But do you get to play as Jar-Jar Binks?
Star Wars: The Old Republic is yet to be given a release date.
Blizzard president Mike Morhaime confirmed in an investor webcast that StarCraft II has been planned for release later this year. "We're targeting an end of year release this year for StarCraft II," said Morhaime. "But as always, we won't release it until it meets our standards and the expectations of our players."
With the beta opening this summer, it looks like there will be more than enough StarCraft for fans to sink their Zerg-like talons into.
At today's Electronic Entertainment Expo press briefing, Microsoft unveiled Project Natal, a technology that eliminates the controller from gaming on the Xbox 360. In one demo, a player used her arms and legs to hit balls in an attempt to destroy a brick wall, and in another game, an employee threw virtual "paint" on a canvas to create a painting, even drawing an elephant using a silhouette feature. An accompanying video also demonstrated automatic login using facial recognition, videoconferencing with other Xbox Live members, and participating in a gameshow against another family through the Internet using speech recognition
If you have ever played Mario Paint for the SNES, then you have probably played the Gnat Attack game (also known as Coffee Break). My game is a spinoff of this, created for the Wii. I took many creative liberties with it, including redoing all of the sound effects with my brother and my girlfriend, and switching up the game modes just a bit.
There are two main game modes, the "Classic" mode, which is level based much like the original. There is also a "Swarm" mode which features endless enemies.
Controls are simple: use the wiimote's IR pointer to control the swatter and then just press the A or B button to swat at the bugs. If you hit home during the game, it will take you back to the main menu, and from there you can exit the app or change game modes.
All comments and criticisms are welcome, and if you find a bug (one that isn't supposed to be there lol, I've heard plenty of jokes about this already) let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.
Other than that, enjoy the game! I hope at least a few of you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed making it. Also, keep your eye out for updates, I have many more levels in mind, as well as a multiplayer mode and a few other features that will be added in time. Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out the first release below.
V1.1 - 05/31/2009:
Added high score table.
Fixed levels to be a bit easier.
Skeezix has released a new version of his Atari ST Emulator for Wiz:
- audio is in
- it should throttle down to 60fps; I'd buggered something up in last one to make it slow.. unthrottled this is running crazy fast
- it will pick up notaz mmuhack kernel module if its present (not needed, but included in the zip)
- most menus are usable (a few are still scrolling too fast to use
- floppy access indicators are back and working
- main outstanding odditiy is the joystick may 'stick' when crossing from diagonals to ordinal directions; I'll fix that soon.
This one seems solid!
(yes, there was for a good 30 mins a version 002, but it had some issues I luckily found quick, so nab this one instead!)
As some people know I have been hacking around with the Wiz on and off for some time now (in addition to the Pandora) and while I got ScummVM running on the Wiz quite some time ago I have been holding off on a release so that I could get a little more time to fix issues with the Wiz backend.
Well time has been rather cruel of late and I have not had as much time as I would like to clean up things and add funky features so rather then leave a half completed ScummVM backend languishing on my hard disk and rotting I decided to find a few hours to trim down the code, bring it up to date and put aside all the non working bits for now (mostly scaling support, OpenGLes parts, better controls, that sort of stuff) and get a ‘raw and ready’ ScummVM release out so people can start to give me feedback etc.
This release is mostly untested and is built from mainline (HEAD) ScummVM revision 41101. Expect odd issues and things not to quite be working correctly yet. If your not happy with the odd crash and bit of unexpected behavior then this build is not for you.
Anyway, onto what you get in this release and what you need to do to get it running.
You can download the release here - Don’t forget to check the README-GP2XWIZ text file in the zip.
Once you have downloaded the release you need to extract the contents of the zip to the ‘game’ folder on your SD card. Once extracted you should have a ‘scummvm.ini’ file in the game folder and a separate ‘scummvm’ folder with all the actual files needed by the Wiz.
Pop the SD card into your Wiz and select ScummVM from the SD games menu. If all goes well after a few seconds you should be greeted with the ScummVM game launcher. From this point it behaves very much like any other ScummVM release.
Controls are very similar to the GP2X F200 release (including touchscreen support) with a few notable exceptions. Menu now brings up the game menu and Left trigger + Menu now brings up the global main menu for ScummVM.
Other then that things pretty much match the layout of the GP2X F200 release. If you want to refresh yourself of the control mappings I have included full details in the README-GP2XWIZ text file in the zip.
Known Issues:
No scaling support so only 320*xxx games run. Games that need a bigger screen then the Wiz will just crash ScummVM. Scaling support is on the TODO.
Save support may be erratic. Not quite sure of the cause yet but some of my testers had the odd issues with saves not writing correctly.
Speed. For most games speed is quite good but I have noticed a few points when performance really gets bad. Still looking into that.
OGG Vorbis support: One tester mentioned that games he used that had OGG Vorbis audio did not work. Still looking into that.
v0.75:
# Changed delayed IRQ handling to fix minor graphical bugs in Final Soldier.
Thanks to Ryphecha for the heads up.
# Changed colors to reflect original RGB color generation better hopefully.
# New compatability mode. Use for Sidearms Special and Elite, possibly
others.
# Fixed a bug causing BRAM saves to not work.
# Fixed transfer operation bug that caused Shadow of the Beast and Steam
Hearts to not work.
# Added back timer IRQ acknowledgement on IRQ enable read, seems to fix
Afterburner II.
@ Expanded idle loop detection to handle some more games, meaning more speed
in a few with the option on (Sapphire, Blazing Lasers, etc)
@ Wrote sprite rendering in ARM ASM, improvement of up to 1ms or more in
frame rendering.
@ Wrote line fill in ARM ASM, small improvement sometimes (0.2ms in Blazing
Lasers title screen)
@ Accidentally had something in the video rendering that shouldn't have been
there, frees up 1.3ms per frame.
+ Added the ability to width scale the screen from 256 to 320. See options
section for more details.
+ Added the ability to not limit the number of sprites per scanline. See options
section for more details.
The WizardingWorldHarryPotter,com website has posted some great new pictures showing off the themed buildings under construction at the nearby Nassal site where previously themed building facades have been spotted before. In addition to smaller buildings it looks like they’re putting together some of the castle spires and even the outer walls of the castle itself maybe. They are all very detailed and impressive looking at the factory site, so imagine how well they will look once installed into the park.
SanDisk, the company famous for making device-specific SD cards that are actually just regular SD cards with stupidly high prices tags, is back again -- and this time, things are just too offensive to laugh off. Designed to provide "extra storage" to netbooks with a multicard reader, these Netbook SDHC cards are priced at $39.99 for 8GB and $79.99 for 16GB. Isn't this kind of stuff criminal in some countries?
To give its latest Hero franchise a solid berth, Activision lined up quite a special night last evening --you know you're in for a good party when the opening act is a percussion overload courtesy of Travis Barker and DJ AM. Once the rafters stopped vibrating, attendees were treated to the first glimpse of DJ Hero being played in public, and we caught it on video (embedded below), showing the new (and repetitive-stress inducing) scratch and fade mechanic. It looks to be familiar enough that Guitar Hero fans should be able to get into it, but different enough to deliver would-be mixers a challenge. Think you can carry the beat? We'll see when it ships in October.
Last night Microsoft held an E3 2009 post-press conference event, and while Natal wasn't anywhere within our reach, we did happen upon Harmonix's Beatles Rock Band stage, an appropriately cliché setup on the rooftop of The Standard Hotel. We'll be getting more thorough hands-on time with the instruments later in the week, but for now, enjoy a glimpse at the concert ensemble, blasting forth with (confirmed!) three-part harmony.
Acer's been straightforward with the fact that it's been dabbling with Android on netbooks. In fact, the entire industry seems to be. Now we've got word that Acer will in fact launch an Android-based netbook in the 3rd quarter of 2009. The move was announced by Acer's global president for IT products, Jim Wong. The Android netbooks will run Atom (sorry Tegra hopefuls) and presumably cost less than Windows XP-based netbooks that require an estimated $25 tithe to Microsoft. Acer will continue to offer Windows-based netbooks along side the Android builds. Whether Android, an OS designed for smartphones, will succeed in gaining back market share lost to Microsoft remains to be seen. But if Microsoft's boasting about consumers wanting netbooks offering the same OS experience they're used to, well, how can Android succeed where those early Linux distros failed?
We're itching to get our own, uh, body time with Microsoft's Project Natal real time motion-capture accessory for the Xbox 360, but until that happens we're eagerly soaking up every last bit of footage we can -- like this teaser video shown during this morning's keynote. Lots of little tidbits here, like voice and face recognition, custom texture scanning and mapping, video chatting, and all sorts of use-your-whole-body gameplay applications. Of course, we don't know how much of this is real and how much is TV magic, but it certainly seems like Natal's got tons of potential -- check the video after the break.
Two days ahead of the Tiananmen Square 'incident' several high profile Internet sites have been blocked in mainland China, these include Twitter.com, Flickr.com, Live.com, and Bing.com. While Internet blocks in mainland China, blocking such high profile sites is unusual. In addition, blog reports suggest even state-owned television broadcasts are suffering multiple instances of muting lasting several seconds (again, not unusual for some foreign stations broadcast over cable, but unusual for local state-owned media) suggesting state security, online or through other technology, has tightened significantly, perhaps in anticipation or discovery of protest plans
Despite all the hype surrounding new browsers being released pushing the limits of what can be done on the Web, Firefox 3 has only this past month overtaken IE6. Furthermore, if you take the previous report and snap on the Corporate America filter, IE6 rules the roost and shows no signs of leaving anytime soon. Sorry web developers, for those of you who thought the ugly hacks would soon be over, it appears they will linger on for quite a bit — especially if you develop for business sites
With Microsoft's Project Natal due in 2010, gamers watching last night's Microsoft E3 press conference would be forgiven for thinking they had a long wait before they get their hands on new game-camera technology.
However, Ubisoft has just revealed that it is releasing its own camera accesory for the Wii, which is to be used in conjunction with the publisher's new fitness game, Your Shape. The device should be available later this year, well ahead of Project Natal.
While the news is likely to attract a great deal of interest thanks to the camera add-on, with so many Wii fitness games already destined for the Wii, Ubisoft's title may struggle to stand out at retail.
Ubisoft's vice president of sales and marketing Tony Key obviously feels different, and said the game and hardware represented "a new era in fitness gaming".
"There's lots more innovation to be hand in this young genre," he said, pointing to the fact that that Wii Fit, and Ubisoft's own My Fitness Coach have spearheaded growth in the category.
Designed to support new fitness game Your Shape, the camera helps create a fitness game that requires no other peripherals except for other exercise equipment.
Electronic Arts revealed EA Sports Active has achieved worldwide sales of over 600,000 units in less than two weeks.
This accomplishment was announced during the company’s E3 press conference, with EA Sports president Peter Moore declaring the publisher was “delighted by the overwhelming response” to the Wii fitness game.
“This is, by far, the most successful launch of any Wii title in EA history, and even more encouraging is that our second week sales worldwide were as strong as our first week. We are off to a great start at retail.”
Film director lauds Microsoft’s Natal, but is currently working with Ubisoft for the upcoming Tintin title
Though Steven Spielberg announced he is working with Microsoft to deliver Natal-based games, a videogame edition of the director’s upcoming Tintin movie is being developed by Ubisoft.
Speaking at its E3 conference, Ubisoft announced that its Montpellier studio will be working on a game based on the upcoming Tintin movie.
Ubisoft said it is collaborating with Spielberg, who’s directing the movie, as well as producers Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy.
The game is scheduled to launch in-line with the film, set for release in the fourth quarter of 2011.
"We're incredibly excited to have the opportunity to work on the Tintin game,” said Christian Salomon, VP of worldwide licensing at Ubisoft.
"We're honoured to bring one of the world's most iconic comic characters to life in this new title.”
The Tintin movie will be animated in 3D with a strong reliance on cutting-edge motion-capture tech. Similarly, Ubisoft stated that the game will be using “state-of-the-art, next-generation performance capture.”
Ubisoft Montpellier was the outfit responsible for the game edition of Peter Jackson’s King Kong, a title which received generally favourable reviews upon its release.
Apple has released v8.2 of its desktop software in preparation for upcoming OS update.
The iTunes release comes ahead of the company's big announcements at WWDC on June 8th, at which it will launch v3.0 of its iPhone OS and probably some new versions of the device itself.
It's the latest piece in the iPhone 3.0 jigsaw, after Apple said earlier this month that it would no longer be accepting app submissions for the current version of the OS.
Apple first unveiled iPhone 3.0 back in March, with new features including copy and paste text and content subscriptions.
The new version of iTunes also irons out a few bugs.
E3’09: Silver screen legend gives very public backing to Microsoft’s new tech
Acclaimed film director and current EA employee Steven Spielberg has given a huge thumbs up to Microsoft’s Natal motion tech system, claiming that the technology has changed the way he will approach the games genre.
“Natal changes the paradigm of what I would have written last week, now all that has been thrown away and it’s a whole new world, a whole new beginning,” he stated in an interview with the BBC alongside Microsoft’s Don Mattrick.
“This is going to try to bring those that are intimidated or scared of technology, with what the buttons do or what the controller does.
"This is going to give people that don’t usually play video games access to a whole new world that we know is compelling but they haven’t quite discovered yet. I think they’ll discover it through Natal."
Details have leaked of a new Konami title named Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation, which is apparently being created with involvement from Kojima Productions.
A game entitled simply Lords of Shadows was first announced at Game Convention in August 2008 from Spanish developer Mercury Steam. However, new information leaked ahead of Konami's E3 conference on Wednesday suggests that the game has become part of the long-running Castlevania series.
When originally announced the game was described as being a "third person-viewed adventure" set "in Southern Europe during the middle ages" and telling a "dark fairy tale". In retrospect not only does the gameplay appear similar to the Castlevania series but the production art is highly reminiscent of the franchise.
Madrid-based studio Mercury Steam is best known for previous titles American McGee presents: Scrapland and Clive Barker's Jericho. However in information mistakenly released ahead of time Kojima Productions is now listed as the developer of the game. Konami producer Koji "IGA" Igarashi has previously been producer on the last several iterations of the Castlevania series.
Details have leaked of a new Konami title named Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation, which is apparently being created with involvement from Kojima Productions.
A game entitled simply Lords of Shadows was first announced at Game Convention in August 2008 from Spanish developer Mercury Steam. However, new information leaked ahead of Konami's E3 conference on Wednesday suggests that the game has become part of the long-running Castlevania series.
When originally announced the game was described as being a "third person-viewed adventure" set "in Southern Europe during the middle ages" and telling a "dark fairy tale". In retrospect not only does the gameplay appear similar to the Castlevania series but the production art is highly reminiscent of the franchise.
Madrid-based studio Mercury Steam is best known for previous titles American McGee presents: Scrapland and Clive Barker's Jericho. However in information mistakenly released ahead of time Kojima Productions is now listed as the developer of the game. Konami producer Koji "IGA" Igarashi has previously been producer on the last several iterations of the Castlevania series.
A number of new features for Xbox 360 avatars have been announced by Microsoft, including in-game items as rewards, animated props and a new microtransaction-based Avatar Marketplace.
Due to start "this summer", new clothing and items for avatars will be given as rewards for completing certain objectives in forthcoming games. An extension of the achievements and gamerscore concept, the new feature is referred to as Avatar Awardables.
Also announced is a new series of animated props and full costumes, introduced as a result of customer requests.
Finally, Microsoft is introducing the Avatar Marketplace, where premium clothing and interactive props will be available to download as paid-for microtransactions. Previously all new avatar clothing has been available as a free download.
Microsoft announced a number of other additions to Xbox Live in its pre-E3 conference last night, including a new games-on-demand service, user ratings, promised performance updates and new partnerships with Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm.
Nintendo has announced that the latest iteration of its handheld hardware, the DSi, has hit 1 million in sales across Europe since launch, just eight weeks ago.
That puts it five weeks ahead of the pace set by its predecessor, the DS Lite, which continues to sell strongly and posted 500,000 sales of its own since the DSi launched.
The key selling points of the latest hardware include the ability to download games directly to the console, and an on-board camera.
With two weeks to go before The Sims 3 is due to appear in the weekly US PC charts, The Sims 2: Double Deluxe Deluxe (a bundle of the original game and two expansion packs) has already unseated World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King from the number one spot.
For the week ended May 23, NPD place Lich King at number two, followed by the original World of Warcraft at number three and expansion bundle World of Warcraft: Battle Chest at number four.
EA's Spore moves up one place to number five, as Sega's Empire: Total War drops three places to number six. Compilation Fallout 3 is up one place to number seven and Left 4 Dead is down three places to number eight.
Reel Deal Slots Adventure!, by publisher Phantom EFX, re-enters the top ten at number nine - although the semi-budget priced game was originally released in April 2009. Rounding out the charts at number ten is expansion pack The Sims 2: Apartment Life.
1. The Sims 2: Double Deluxe
2. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
3. World of Warcraft
4. World of WarCraft: Battle Chest
5. Spore
6. Empire: Total War
7. Fallout Trilogy
8. Left 4 Dead
9. Reel Deal Slots Adventure!
10. The Sims 2: Apartment Life
Ubisoft has revealed an all-new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for Wii, plus an arcade remake for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.
The all-new TMNT game, subtitled Smash-Up, will be made in collaboration with Peter Laird, who co-created the Turtles. GameArts, the team who helped make Super Smash Bros. Brawl, will also contribute, and we're promised four-player co-op across story, mini-game and multiplayer modes.
Smash-Up's out in the autumn and we've got an E3 trailer plus screenshots to look at.
The arcade remake, on the other hand, is called TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled. We first heard about this in May, remember, although nothing conclusive was offered.
Re-Shelled has side-scrolling, four-player action, just like the olden times but with better graphics. There's no word on price, but the release date is set as 22nd July.
Ubisoft has revealed an all-new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for Wii, plus an arcade remake for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.
The all-new TMNT game, subtitled Smash-Up, will be made in collaboration with Peter Laird, who co-created the Turtles. GameArts, the team who helped make Super Smash Bros. Brawl, will also contribute, and we're promised four-player co-op across story, mini-game and multiplayer modes.
Smash-Up's out in the autumn and we've got an E3 trailer plus screenshots to look at.
The arcade remake, on the other hand, is called TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled. We first heard about this in May, remember, although nothing conclusive was offered.
Re-Shelled has side-scrolling, four-player action, just like the olden times but with better graphics. There's no word on price, but the release date is set as 22nd July.
Ubisoft has revealed an all-new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for Wii, plus an arcade remake for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.
The all-new TMNT game, subtitled Smash-Up, will be made in collaboration with Peter Laird, who co-created the Turtles. GameArts, the team who helped make Super Smash Bros. Brawl, will also contribute, and we're promised four-player co-op across story, mini-game and multiplayer modes.
Smash-Up's out in the autumn and we've got an E3 trailer plus screenshots to look at.
The arcade remake, on the other hand, is called TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled. We first heard about this in May, remember, although nothing conclusive was offered.
Re-Shelled has side-scrolling, four-player action, just like the olden times but with better graphics. There's no word on price, but the release date is set as 22nd July.
NYKO Announces Product Line-up for E3 2009 and Launches the New Nyko.com
Type Pad Pro, SpeakerCom, Charger Grip, and Zoom Case Unveiled at Show
LOS ANGELES – June 2, 2009 – Leading gaming peripherals manufacturer, Nyko Technologies®, today announced the upcoming product line-up to be showcased this week at E3, taking place June 2nd–4th. The line-up includes innovative accessories for Wii™, Nintendo DSi™, Xbox 360®, and PSP®.
"Nyko has been a participant of E3 for 10 straight years and we're excited to be using the show as the launching pad for our 2009 products," said Chris Arbogast, Director of Marketing at Nyko Technologies. "We have been hard at work developing new patent pending technologies like Trans-Port™ that we feel add a unique gameplay experience that is not available elsewhere."
Nyko is exhibiting in the West Hall, booth #4512.
Type Pad Pro for Wii
The ergonomic wireless keypad for Wii features Nyko's Trans-Port Technology allowing players to control, type, and browse with ease. Nyko's Type Pad Pro cradles either the Nyko Wand or Wii Remote, allowing for pointer functionality while utilizing the full QWERTY Keyboard to chat, type, search and more. The Type Pad Pro communicates with the Wii wirelessly up to 25 feet away using a USB dongle and is fully compatible with applications that utilize keyboard functionality like the Opera® Browser and Wii friend messaging. When used with the Wand Wireless Controller, Trans-Port Technology allows for both the A and B buttons to be replicated directly on the Type Pad Pro for smoother and easier scrolling, zooming and clicking while browsing your favorite web sites.
SpeakerCom 360
Xbox 360 gamers can now customize how they communicate over Xbox Live® with SpeakerCom 360, which provides the choice to talk and listen over a loud speaker or through a traditional headset, giving players two communication options in one device. In Headset mode, the SpeakerCom provides a comfortable, stereo, in-ear solution. When switched over to the Loud Speaker mode the self-muting microphone and volume-controlled speaker are activated so everyone in the room can hear and participate via one headset. The patent pending design allows for easy switching between both headset and loud speaker mode.
Zoom Case for Nintendo DSi™
Nyko's Zoom Case, a protective case with an 8x zoom lens for the DSi, significantly magnifies the handheld's external camera. The Zoom Case wraps around the DSi, protecting it from bumps and scratches while the removable 8x optical zoom lens allows for closer, clearer shots from a greater distance. The zoom lens easily locks onto the Zoom Case, and when not in use can be safely stored in its own hard case for easy travel. The case's textured grip provides a more comfortable hold for extended gameplay sessions.
Charge Grip Flex
A new level of comfort awaits the PSP 2000 and 3000 series with Nyko's Charge Grip Flex with built-in rechargeable battery. The Charge Grip Flex provides 1.5 times more play time and a more familiar, customizable grip. With a sleek black look that complements the PSP, the Charge Grip Flex features a unique fold-out, lightweight design making it ideal for travel.
Please visit the redesigned www.nyko.com to learn about, purchase, share testimonials, and read reviews about Nyko products.
To schedule a meeting with Nyko Technologies during E3, please email paula@triplepointpr.com, or stop by Nyko's booth in the West Hall at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
About Nyko Technologies, Inc.
Nyko Technologies ® develops, manufactures and markets innovative peripherals to enhance the digital lifestyle. The company's mission is to deliver products that solve problems and improve user experience for work and play. Nyko specializes in interactive entertainment, computing, consumer electronics, portable audio, as well as online and wireless technologies. The company has distribution through major U.S. and Canadian retailers, along with distributors worldwide. Founded in 1995, Nyko is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. Please go to www.nyko.com or call 1-888-444-6956 for more information.
Japan's Ethics Organisation of Computer Software has decided to stop production and sale of rape-based videogames, Kotaku reports.
It's not a government decision either, apparently, but rather a self-policing move endorsed by over 100 representatives from various erotic game companies.
Exact rules and regulations will be worked out at a later date, and the Ethics Organisation will work with individual companies to ease the transition.
Syrup Soft, for example, has had to delay "Gang Raped by the Entire Village: Girls Covered in Milky Liquid" in order to change the name to "The Trap Set by the Entire Village: Bodies Covered in Milky Liquid".
Just as expected, Sony just announced the PSP Go! at E3 just now -- Haz Kirai called it the "worst kept secret at E3." The slider handheld has a 3.8-inch LCD, built-in Bluetooth and 16GB of internal storage, all in a case 43 percent lighter than the PSP-3000 -- a weight savings we're guessing is directly attributable to the loss of the UMD drive. That's right, the Go! doesn't have a UMD drive -- games will instead load in through the Memory Stick Micro slot or over PlayStation Network. That's not the end of the classic PSP, though -- Sony says it will "live on."
We knew good and well the next iteration of Windows would be generally available this fall, but now we've a date to circle in our datebooks: October 22nd. Yep, the fourth Thursday in the tenth month of this year will mark the first date in which you -- the general consumer -- can purchase Win7, which gives you plenty of time to figure out which of the 94 variants will suit you best. Have fun!
And it looks like Nintendo's answer to Microsoft's Project Natal is... a pulse detector. Yep, Ninty's just announced the Wii Vitality Sensor, a finger sensor which attaches to the Wiimote to read your pulse. Details on how the accessory is going to be used in games are pretty vague, but it appears the idea is to check stress, help you relax, and just generally chill out and be groovy. That won't happen for a while yet, though: the Vitality Sensor was described as a "look into the future," so we're guessing we've got a wait in store.
25 years ago a Russian (Soviet) researcher thought of one of the world's most popular games. It is now that we celebrate its 25th anniversary. 'Twenty-five years ago, inside the bowels of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow, a young artificial intelligence researcher received his first desktop computer — the Soviet-built Elektronika 60, a copy of an American minicomputer called a PDP-11 — and began writing programs for it.
The original Xbox launched in November 2001, with the Xbox 360 following just four years later, the shortest console cycle ever. The four-year anniversary of the 360 is five months away, but yesterday Microsoft proclaimed that "the future of home entertainment has a new name: Xbox 360." Huh.
It became remarkably clear today that Microsoft sees more than months left in the Xbox 360—more like years. Microsoft's big ballyhoo, its motion control Project Natal, won't even arrive until 2010. And likely deep into 2010—think next summer. The Zune Video Marketplace will deliver 1080p instant streams; you'll be able to download full retail games come August, cutting out the Gamestop middleman; Netflix integration is even deeper; and Facebook and Twitter are now wrapped in. Why would Microsoft do all this for a console progressing into obsolescence in the next year or two? It's not simply pumping out new games or features—they're growing and entrenching the current platform.
Sure, there's a incentive to extend this console cycle simply because of the high costs of development—the time and money that goes into producing a major game for the Xbox and PS3 easily approaches that of a (small) Hollywood film because of their enormous complexity. There's still returns to be made on this generation. So perhaps Sony wasn't so foolish for declaring that the PS3 is a ten-year console. The Wii is markedly cheaper, simpler and less powerful, so part of me suspects you will see a new console from Nintendo more quickly than from Microsoft and Sony.
But it's more than that, especially when you consider how Microsoft and Sony are extending the life of their machines—they're turning them into platforms beyond gaming consoles. Xbox Live's Marc Whitten remarked at the Xbox party tonight that a big part of the reason behind the New Xbox Experience was to build the framework for these features. It's interesting to think about the NXE as not simply the UI overhaul and stuff we reviewed a few months ago—it's everything after that. We are squarely in Xbox 360 2.0.
The Xbox 360's updated Zune-branded video store and support for Last.fm got some folks' hopes up: the streaming radio service would be a great fit for the upcoming Wi-Fi Zune HD, and since Microsoft has already brokered a relationship with the company, such a feature isn't just desirable—it seems plausible. So BBG asked! And Microsoft answered.
PC game digital distribution company Metaboli is to release EA's The Sims 3 three hours ahead of the official release.
The offer means fans of the hugely popular Will Wright series who purchase the title through the Gameplanet download-to-own service can be among the first to receive the game. Metaboli will make The Sims 3 available at 9pm on June 4th, and has open a dedicated website to handle demand.
The Metaboli release will also give customers a number of special extras, including £12 worth of SimPoints for use in the Sims 3 Store, an exclusive poster and a unique cover.
“The Sims 3 has been the subject of numerous pre-orders on our platforms and this is undoubtedly one of the most attractive packages we’ve ever offered” said Jérôme Gayet, vice president of marketing and product of Metaboli.
Vendor unveils its version of the Radeon 4890 GPU
Gigabyte has launched its version of ATI's Radeon 4890, the memorably named GV-R489-1GH-B.
The new graphics card makes the most of ATI's core, utilising the advanced GDDR5 memory technology, TeraScale graphics engine, dynamic geometry acceleration, quad mode ATI CrossFireX multi-GPU support and PowerPlay to deliver a strong performance.
The TeraScale graphics engine allows the GPU to deliver over one TeraFLOPS of processing power and the gigabyte of GDDR5 memory to handle twice the amount of memory per pin as GDDR3 at the same clock speed.
Gigabyte claims that these applications, combined with the 24x custom filter anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, will give a true-tolife graphic quality and enable users to set graphic setting to maximum for even the most demanding software.
POWER PROCESSING
ATI's Stream technology allows the parallel processing for functions such as physics engines, AI and ray tracing, and can handle demanding tasks such as video transcoding with relative ease. Meanwhile, the inclusion of DirectX 10.1 graphic support enables the GPU to handle the latest in graphical effects.
The PowerPlay technology increases efficiency by varying power output depending on what's required and conserving it when it's not needed, offering a greener solution to the GPU sector.
E3'09: New title set to launch on the Wii, features four-player co-op, set for 'holiday 2009'
Nintendo has announced it is working on a new Mario game for the Wii.
New Super Mario Bros is a side-scrolling platformer akin to the DS edition of the game.
However, the unique selling point for the Wii version is how it allows four players to play at once, in a LittleBigPlanet-esque co-op set-up.
"We admit we haven't figured out how to move Mario into the fourth dimension," said Cammie Dunaway, NOA's executive vice president of sales & marketing. "But '4' is the key to Mario’s next surprise," she said, speaking of the game's 4-player features.
"Miyamoto had been thinking about a new way to play Mario for 15 years. His answer is New Super Mario Brothers for Wii," she added.
Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway has confirmed that a future software update for the DSi will allow the machine to upload photos taken with the built-in camera to social networking site Facebook.
Little else in the way of information was offered, though The news follows the annoucment earlier that Microsft is to provide Facebook access through the Xbox 360.
Will Sony complete the set by doing the same later tonight?
The announcement compliments other details given at the E3 show regarding enhanced multimedia features for the handheld, with a video editing suite said to be on the way to DSi. Such announcements are really helping to distinguish the DSi from its predecessor the DS Lite.
E3'09: The second in Nintendo's multi-million selling fitness franchise set for Christmas
Nintendo has announced Wii Fit Plus.
The game was unveiled during the firm’s pre-E3 press conference, and is scheduled to hit shelves towards the end of the year.
The game boasts new personalised options, extra modes and will be available as both a single SKU and bundled with the balance board.
“Some analysts have stopped looking at the balance board as an accessory, and is looking at it as a platform," said Nintendo's marketing boss Cammie Dunaway.
"That’s because, with 15 million units sold, it ranks up there with many platforms.”
E3'09: Reggie Fils-Aime lays down gauntlet to Microsoft and Sony
Nintendo has claimed that third-party publishers will find more success on Wii than Xbox 360 or PS3 this calendar year.
Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime told E3's crowd at the platform holder's conference in Los Angeles this morning that third-party developers were "flowing" to Wii and DS.
He showed off EA's new Tiger Woods game on Wii – which both take advantage of Wii Motion Plus technology – as well as Square Enix's Final Fantasy.
“More third party games were sold for Wii than any other platform last year," said Fils-Aime, "and DS was second. That trend will only grow this year."
E3'09: Reggie Fils-Aime lays down gauntlet to Microsoft and Sony
Nintendo has claimed that third-party publishers will find more success on Wii than Xbox 360 or PS3 this calendar year.
Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime told E3's crowd at the platform holder's conference in Los Angeles this morning that third-party developers were "flowing" to Wii and DS.
He showed off EA's new Tiger Woods game on Wii – which both take advantage of Wii Motion Plus technology – as well as Square Enix's Final Fantasy.
“More third party games were sold for Wii than any other platform last year," said Fils-Aime, "and DS was second. That trend will only grow this year."
E3’09: Nintendo enlists Team Ninja for edgier take on Metroid universe
Nintendo has unveiled Metroid: Other M, the latest instalment in the long-running Metroid series.
The game was revealed during Nintendo’s E3 pres conference has been developed in conjunction with Team Ninja, the studio behind the Ninja Gaiden and Dead Or Alive titles.
Metroid: Other M is a darker, “edgier” take on the series, according to Nintendo Of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.
“This will be a Metroid unlike any other,” he said. “It will take you deeper into Samus’ story and further into Metroid universe.”
It also marks the first time a 3D Metroid title has been in the third-person action genre – the previous titles by Retro Studios were more akin to first-person shooters.
Nintendo announced last month that all three Metroid Prime games will also be coming to Wii in a special Metroid Prime Trilogy set.
Metroid: Other M is due for release in 2010.
Global Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has revealed the newest piece of hardware from the platform holder at E3 – the Wii Vitiality Sensor.
No launch date was given for the device, which fits over the finger of the Wii user.
The WVS appeared to measure heart beat and other 'hidden' changes in the user's body.
Iwata said:
"What's next [in the future of gaming]? I though I should give you at least one potential answer. So I'd like to give you a sneak peek at an entirely different way of thinking about games."
'Brain Age was about training your brain, Wii Fit about balancing your body. Today, please look for the first time at the Wii Vitality Sensor.
"This measures the pulse – not just the heartbeat. It helps you visualise something which is invisible.
"How nervous am I? How focused am I on remembering my script? These things are normally invisible. We enable to see your body balance with Wii Fit. But the Wii Vitaity Sensor sees the information relating to the inner world of your body.
"You can use the product to achieve greater releaxaion. Maybe everyone under pressure in our stressful society could use this to relax.
"Currently, video games give us increased excitement or stimulation. But it will not be long before games are used to let people unwind or even fall asleep."
No price or launch date were given for the device.
E3’09: Multiplayer beta to go live in US tonight
Developer Naughty Dog has taken to the stage at Sony’s E3 press presentation to show off the game it claims will take the PS3 hardware to the next level – Uncharted 2.
In an energetic presentation, the audience were treated to a set-piece filled shootout with a helicopter.
Pleasingly for fans, it was also announced that a multiplayer beta of the game will go live tonight in North America.
E3'09: Zipper Interactive demonstrates a 256-player multiplayer battle
Sony and Zipper Interactive has revealed a live demonstration of the upcoming 256-player FPS, MAG.
It marks the first time the game has been shown with live in-game footage.
Otherwise known as Massive Action Game, Zipper Interactive walked the attendees at Sony’s E3 conference through what was claimed to be a live 256-player battle.
Sony Computer Entertainment of America CEO Jack Tretton stated that the game is set for release “this Fall.”
Nintendo has unveiled two new instalments in the Mario franchise with the announcement of New Super Mario Bros Wii, which introduces four-player multiplayer action onto the living room console, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
New Super Mario Bros will allow you to play either in solo or co-op mode, and includes the option of jumping between modes at will - it will be playable at E3, with a planned launch in time for Christmas this year. Meanwhile a brief video of gameplay for forthcoming Super Mario Galaxy 2, also for the Wii, was shown as well.
A new edition of Wii Fit, which has now sold over 15 million wordlwide - was also announced. Wii Fit Plus is to include six activities which users will be able to mix up to emphasis strength, tone or condition.
That title will also be out towards the end of 2009, and will be available as a standalone disc, or bundled with a Balance Board.
The conference also saw the Wii Motion Plus demonstrated at length, with several games within Wii Sports Resort played live on-stage.
Nintendo US exec Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that the peripheral will be bundled with EA's Tiger Woods Wii title, while Ubisoft's Red Steel 2 will only work with Motion Plus.
Other titles displayed included Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts from Square Enix, as well as the latest Mario & Luigi game that's already out in Japan.
Finally Fils-Aime revealed a new title from Nintendo, in collaboration with Team Ninja, called Metroid Other M, which will be aimed at a mature audience, set for release in 2010.
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