Hi Guys,
Here is the release of AVEC GPS V3 (1.50 kernel) version.
I'm still looking for a company to sponsor me with a PSP-290 GPS accessory so newer
firmware versions can be supported with a live GPS mode.
This one can track your position on the map in real time with any serialy connected
GPS device compatible with the MapThis! program, including Garmin and Hollux brand recievers.
V3 also has a "Find Place by Name" feature that will find any place on the map.
The text entry system for this feature has auto complete like commercial GPS units.
A Windows MP Conversion Tool is included with this release for producing files
of the new MPI type which allow fast searching for real time GPS navigation.
MP files can also be converted with AVEC on the PSP, but the PC program is much faster.
Keep an eye out for updates, and please vote for AVEC in the Neoflash 2009 Coding Competition.
If I win any cash prize, it will be used to purchase the PSP-290 USB GPS so support for it
can be implemented in a future version.
Cheers, Art.
Oh Nintendo, you tease. You still won't give us that jet black Wii console bound for Japan, but you've got no problem giving us in North America a taste of the dark side with a black Wiimote and Motion Plus bundle, coming this holiday along with a black nunchuk sold separately. With any luck this is just the sign of things to come, and should the Wii's sales momentum drop, we're sure quite a few new colors will start shipping their way over here (light blue, anyone?). On the more portable side of things, the DSi will be adding pink and white to its repertoire on September 13th. Unless the House that Mario Built is feeling particularly nasty, prices should be the same as their pre-existing color counterparts -- you wouldn't put a premium on a palette swap, right Nintendo?
Edge reports that Sony and Nintendo are both expanding their anti-piracy operations in an effort to reduce piracy rates on the PSP and the DS respectively. Nintendo has hired Neil Boyd, who handled anti-piracy operations for Warner Brothers, to help them demonstrate their "willingness to take action against criminals who are making money out of the infringement of games developers' copyright." Sony has taken a more direct approach, choosing to alter the hardware used in the PSP Go so that things like the Pandora battery can no longer be used to alter the firmware
Batman: Arkham Asylum is this week's UK number one.
According to GfK-ChartTrack data for the week ending August 29th, the Eidos-published and Rocksteady-developed game has toppled Wii Sports Resort from its throne.
Batman was the only significant release of last week - the new Wii Sports had to make do in second place.
Elsewhere in the charts, Ashes 2009 held its spot at third, with last week's new entry Wolfenstein already down to No.4.
There was otherwise little other change in the charts - except LEGO Batman did move into the top ten, no doubt buoyed by the release of the more 'grown up' counterpart.
The full top ten for the week is as follows:
1. BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM
2. WII SPORTS RESORT
3. ASHES CRICKET 2009
4. WOLFENSTEIN
5. WII FIT
6. CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR
7. MARIO KART WII
8. TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 10
9. LEGO BATMAN: THE VIDEOGAME
10. CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE
Google has signed a deal with Sony to incorporate its Chrome internet browser into the Japanese technology giant's personal computers.
This is the first such deal that Google has signed with a PC maker.
Google said it plans to tie up further deals as it looks to promote the browser it launched last year.
Chrome lags well behind Microsoft's market-leading Internet Explorer and Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browsers in market share.
Internet Explorer is used by more than two-thirds of all internet users, while Chrome is used by less than 3%, according to web firm Net Applications.
"User response to Google Chrome has been outstanding, and we're continuing to explore ways to make Chrome accessible to even more people," Google said.
Some Sony PCs are already running Chrome as a result of the deal.
Lightning Fish on Natal and the return of in-game video footage
In a Develop guide to creating high quality video-content for games, Lightning Fish's creative director Phil Marley has suggested that the technology offers huge potential as the likes of Natal loom on the horizon.
"In a self-improvement title we often want to have a character demonstrate something and show the player how they’re doing at the same time" said Marley. "The logical solution, with Natal and the EyeToy Wand on the horizon, is to show live video of the player. A CG trainer overlaid on top will look strange. A video blends perfectly."
Lightning Fish's own fitness title NewU is built around live-action footage, which Marley describes as "a better blend with the future" in contrast to CG for many projects. Developing the game has given the studio a wealth of experience working with actors, rehearsals, cameras and the other elements inherent in the technique.
Live action footage found fashion with the games industry in the 1990s, as laser disk technology and systems like the Phillips CDi painted a misguided vision of the future. However, with exercise titles like Wii Fit continuing to court high sales, the technique could make a return.
"Of course, I’m talking specifically about self-improvement titles here," admitted Marley, adding: "Video certainly isn’t suitable for most genres."
In Marley's feature written specifically for Develop, he shares his experience working with live-action footage, offering a detailed run-down of the advantages the technology delivers and a list of pointers for those embarking on a live-action project.
Software giant holds regular meetings with consultants, dubbed ‘Screw Google’
It has been alleged that Microsoft’s Washington lobbyist, Fred Humphries, has been hosting regular meetings with the vendor’s consultants to discuss how to best discredit internet search giant Google.
According to DailyFinance, the meetings congregate as often as once a week and have earned the title ‘Screw Google’ meetings from multiple sources, due to their aggressive focus.
“Microsoft is at the centre of a group of companies who see Google as a threat to them in some combination of business and policy,” said an anonymous source. “The effort is designed make Google look like the big high-tech bad guy here.
“This is textbook Microsoft. Microsoft has got some of the best, highest-priced lobbyists that money can buy in Washington.”
However, although Microsoft spokesperson Ginny Terzano acknowledges the existence of policy meetings, she vehemently denies that the aim is to discredit Google.
Platform holder Nintendo has stated that its highly anticipated fitness sequel Wii Fit Plus will be released in North America on October 4th. In addition, the hardware manufacturer is also brining some new colour options to both its handheld and home console range.
Clearing up some ongoing confusion, Nintendo says that its new fitness title will replace the current game at retail. It will carry an SRP of $99.99 when bundled with the Wii Balance Board, but will also be available standalone for $19.99.
In addition, the DSi is to be made available in two new colours – white and pink, which will sell alongside the current blue and black models.
Furthermore, black variants of both the WiiMote and nunchuck – as well as the Wii Motion plus – are also heading to retail.
There’s no word yet on the European dates for any the above.
The PS3's newest firmware upgrade, 3.0, is now officially going out to all the consoles in the land.
Go to "System Update" in the XMB to get the update, which replaces the Information Board with an icon-based system called "What's New," plus premium themes, trophy displays, and a status indicator at the top that shows things like number of friends online and messages. Check it out and let us know of anything else you find hidden in the update.
Mad Catz has announced that it will be bringing a special limited edition of its Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition Fightsticks to the Penny Arcade Expo. And when we say limited, we mean it: Only 1,000 sticks will be made available -- 650 for Xbox and 350 for PS3 -- and the majority of them will be available exclusively from the Capcom booth at PAX. For those unable to attend, a "very limited stock" will be available at the Capcom and GameShark online stores.
The "Femme Fatale" joystick, as you can see above, is decked out with the ladies of Street Fighter IV, including Sakura, Crimson Viper, Chun-Li, Cammy and Rose. It's also packs a lilac color scheme, which seems appropriate given the bumps and bruises players will be doling out with it (virtual bumps and bruises, of course). The sticks will go on sale this Friday, September 4, on a first-come-first-serve basis, limited to two per customer.
Opera 10 has been released. It now supports rich text email, the 'turbo' Opera proxy server feature, some HTML 5 support, XML 'pretty printing', extra skinning features, and a 100/100 score in the Acid3 test. There has been no official announcement as ye
Sony Worldwide Studios president, Shuhei Yoshida, has told GamesIndustry.biz that he's relieved that the corporation finally cut the price of the PlayStation 3 - and that had that not happened it could have had a negative impact on the sales of key titles being released this year.
Yoshida, who succeeded Phil Harrison in the role early last year, agreed that the cut has come at the right time for some of the more mainstream games to be published in the next few months.
"My honest answer is that we're so excited about the products we're working on for release this year, but if there was one thing that could have prevented the success of our titles we felt that would be the price point - so we're relieved to see it finally happen," he explained during an interview at Gamescom this year.
"Games like MAG, or those hardcore games, we have no concerns over. But games like EyePet, or Heavy Rain, or ModNations - they're targeted to grow the audience, and it's crucial to make the hardware more approachable to those consumers."
But while he was quick to applaud the hardware team for their work in reducing the size and cost of the flagship console, he also explained that while the PlayStation is regarded for its chic design, once people have made their purchase they're more concerned about what happens on-screen.
"Well, our hardware design guys will totally talk about design philosophies and differentiation, and all that," he said. "But from a software side, I think once people purchase, the hardware almost falls away from their vision, and all that they see is what's on the TV.
"So it's nicer that it takes up less space - and also less power... it's eco-friendly, so you can be happier about that. But other than that, I like the new design, but as far as the game experience is concerned it'll offer exactly the same functionality."
Nintendo has dropped any fees for the Wii Internet Channel as of today, with the service free to all users.
Users who have previously paid the 500 Wii Points to download the channel will be offered a free NES game, to be launched in October.
The Wii Internet Channel was originally free when the console first went on sale, and became a paid-for download once the browser and service had been finalised following consumer feedback.
The channel users the Opera browser, a version of which is also used for internet access on the DS handheld.
Doritos is to team up with Microsoft to once again offer aspiring game designers the chance to have their ideas made into an Xbox Live Arcade game.
The contest, which began in 2007, comes with a grand prize of USD 50,000 and also gives its winner a game consultancy position with Doritos as well as the chance to see their idea made into a full XBLA downloadable game.
"We are always looking for new ways to connect with fans and give them unique opportunities to express their creativity in a way only Doritos and our partners can deliver," said Ann Mukherjee, group vice president of marketing, Frito-Lay. "Many of the people who love Doritos also love gaming, and this innovative program gives our fans a chance to live their dreams."
"By bringing their brand to the Xbox Live audience, Doritos has the opportunity to reach a subscriber base of more than 20 million." added Mark Kroese, general manager of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Advertising Business Group. "The first 'Doritos Dash of Destruction' game was a record breaker in terms of first week downloads. We're excited to see what this round of creativity brings."
The submission stage of the competition has just opened, requiring entrants submit a two minute video of their pitch. From these submissions, two will ultimately be chosen and given the opportunity to produce their game into a full XBLA title, which will be made available for download over the service. The one with the most votes at the end of the process will win the overall prize.
Last year's consumer-created winner became the fastest XBLA title to reach one million downloads. Entry to the competition is only open to those in North America and will close on October 4.
For every rags-to-riches story in Apple's App Store, every amazing tale of Joe Coder in his basement turning a dead-simple idea into a few thousand dollars a day, there are... well, zero in the Android Market. At least, that's the impression we're getting by digging into revenue stats published this week by mobile game house Larva Labs, lamenting the stark disparity in the economics between the two mobile distribution platforms. Despite having two apps prominently featured on the Market's home screen and racking up sales rankings of 5 and 12 overall, Larva Labs' $4.99 RetroDefense and Battle for Mars games are grossing between about $30 and $110 a day for the company -- with a scant $62 average. As they wryly note, it's "very difficult to buy the summer home at this rate." Sure, granted, there's plenty of garbage in the hopelessly overcrowded App Store -- stuff that'll never earn a dime -- but what's a little shocking here is that both of these apps are Android Market superstars and they're still not able to cover the rent.
The problem is twofold: first, the target audience is smaller. Android simply hasn't achieved the global market penetration that the iPhone has -- at least, not yet. Globally, Android sales to consumers have totaled in the seven figures -- 5 million might be a reasonable guess -- whereas Apple's pushed another order of magnitude worth of devices, something on the order of 25 million iPhones, and if you tack on the iPod touch (which you should for the purpose of running these numbers) you're totaling over 30 million. Second, Larva Labs mentions a number of systematic problems with the Market -- teething problems that Google's yet to address -- including a lack of screenshots in app descriptions, a dearth of payment methods, the seemingly preferential treatment free apps receive, and a litany of miscellaneous bugs and issues (Android owners will fondly recall the inability to find updated apps a couple months back, for instance).
And now the million-dollar question, if you'll forgive our pun: will the Market get to the point where it's a logical business proposition for devs? In all likelihood, yes -- but it's going to take plenty of additional commitment from manufacturers, carriers, and Google itself to make the place a friendly joint for buyers and sellers alike. In the meantime, thanks to the wonders of modern capitalism, Android's app variety is fated to place a distant second, third, or fourth.
Guitar Hero and Rock Band's plastic axes aren't exactly behemoths in their own right, but if you need something even tinier, little-known game accessories company NEXiLUX looks to have a more portable solution in the works. The video for its mini guitar isn't the clearest, but from we can see, the body is about the same size as the retracted neck, which expands from behind the touch-sensitive pads to reveal the infamous quintet of colored buttons. D-pad, navigation buttons, whammy bar, and pickup selection have all survived the compression, and to make each unit as universal as possible, there's a switch on the bottom for choosing between either Guitar Hero for Wii or Rock Band for Wii, PlayStation 2, and PS3. Both black and white models are seen here, but there's no mention either in-video or on the company's website of price or release date. See it for yourself after the break.
While the Xbox 360 has already gotten a price reduction in the States, it hasn't yet in Japan. That will changed tomorrow when the company shaves the console's price tag for the region.
According to Microsoft Hong Kong, the Japanese arm of the company is holding a press conference in Tokyo tomorrow to announce the Xbox 360 price cut. The lower priced consoles won't hit Asian retails until September 10th.
Last last month, Microsoft announced that the 120GB Xbox 360 Elite will sell for $299.99, while the popular 60GB Xbox 360 Pro will be cut to $249.99. What's more, production of the the Xbox 360 Pro has already stopped, despite being Microsoft's current top selling model.
Microsoft has denied that the price-cuts are in anyway related to the PS3 price-cut Sony announced earlier this past August. "I think it's a bit coincidental," Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg told Kotaku, "but it's also somewhat logical with both (Sony and Microsoft) making price adjustments at this time of the year because we are turning the corner of the holiday season."
Like last generation's dominant console, the PS2, the Wii has come in for a bit of criticism over the amount of shovelware available for the system. But are things really as bad as they seem?
Research firm EEDAR have compared 2008's review scores (for the first six months of the year) for all three consoles to 2009's scores, and found that while the PS3 and 360 have remained largely steady, there's been a marked improvement in the average review score for Wii games, rising from 60% in 2008 to 66% in 2009.
You, I and 100 other people could have 102 opinions on just why that is, but does the why really matter when the result is so clear? Wii games are getting better, accept it, be thankful.
With official Sony Skype Microphone, you can take advantage of your new slimline PSP’s Skype capabilities. With your PSP connected to the internet, you can make ultra-cheap phone calls to friends all over the world using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), the very latest in telephony.
Newly released today at Superufo.com (who ship worldwide- good for importers)
The fourth generation of hardware released for the PlayStation 3 entertainment platform, the PlayStation 3 120GB system is the next stage in the evolution of Sony's console gaming powerhouse. Loaded with a mix of multimedia features and functions available on earlier PlayStation 3 models, as well as a series of new advancements and refinements, the PlayStation 3 120GB system is destined to push the envelope in the realm of Next-Generation entertainment.
HDMI + Bravia Sync functionality
A new 33% slimmer, 36% lighter PlayStation 3 entertainment system
Includes a Dualshock 3 wireless controller and a built-in 120GB HDD
Built-in Wi-Fi for connectivity anywhere
Free membership and access to all the events
Newly released today at Superufo.com (who ship worldwide- good for importers)
Official Dual Shock 3 wireless controller
Connects via bluetooth (wireless) or USB (wired)
Lithium Ion rechargeable battery pack built-in
Play & Charge technology: Recharge battery pack when connecting via USB
Newly released today at Superufo.com (who ship worldwide- good for importers)
Official Dual Shock 3 wireless controller
Connects via bluetooth (wireless) or USB (wired)
Lithium Ion rechargeable battery pack built-in
Play & Charge technology: Recharge battery pack when connecting via USB
Featuring the best variety and biggest rock stars of today combined with classic rock anthems, Guitar Hero 5 cranks it up again for video game rockers. For the first time ever, players can customize the make-up of their band by rocking with any combination of instruments in-game: whether it be two guitars and two drums, or three guitars and a microphone, any combination is possible, allowing players to experience music their own way.
Software compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour peripherals.
Jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly, without interrupting their jam session
Play with any in-game instrument combination in any game mode
Features new in-game artists and rock legends
The entire 85 song set list is available from the beginning of the game.
features
Large, highly detailed cities with over 500 different buildings.
Realistic simulation of behaviour of all inhabitants.
Different playing options offering great variety.
Endless games and campaigns.
Buses, trams, local railways, mag-lev railways and monorails.
features
Includes an easy-to-use map editor for creating your own maps.
50 endless maps for one and more players.
Over 200 real products from the 20th and 21st centuries.
70 different modes of tranportation, over land, on water and in the air.
Game operation and empire building are easy using the inturitive on-screen menu system.
features
With the opportunity to place the hotel in virtually any location and with total control over the look and atmosphere of your foyer, guest rooms and all the other components that go into making a top hotel, success or failure is only a holiday-season away.
Created by Trevor Chan , designer of "Seven Kingdoms" and "Capitalism"
Design your dream hotel based on over 26 different basic types (urban, suburb, resort, theme park hotel...)
Design stylish hotels in over 23 international cities such as Tokyo, New York, Sydney, Paris, London, Las Vegas, Copenhagen, Vienna...
Build hundreds of different rooms out of 8 completely customizable base types (guest room, restaurant, bar, fitness center, business center, game center, pool, library)
Use more then 600 moveable pieces of interior (Carpets, Furniture, Decoration, Lamps etc.)
Watch your guests from 3 different perspectives (3D, Isometric and Top-down views) to best satisfy their needs and react on their complaints
Advertise for your dream hotel with self created campaigns in TV, radio and newspaper advertisements
description
Now Players can prove their managerial and planning skills within the hotel industry. Keep paying guests happy, and success will be the reward!
From a small, family-owned bed-and-breakfast to large, secluded mega-hotels catering to the rich and famous: Hotels come in all shapes and styles. Be at the forefront of the tourism industry: Own and manage your own hotel! Starting out small with a small hotel for business travelers, players are challenged to build a successful business, overcoming all obstacles that the world of business management can throw at them. With over 26 different hotel complexes to choose from, you can create a tailor-made hotel that exactly meets your dreams... and the needs of your virtual guests as well.
features
Do More! Build additional buildings to cope with the people’s needs for power, food and water.
Power More! Earn enough money to keep the nation afloat and enough fuel to power the various power stations
Earn More! Export excess fuel such as oil or coal to bring in extra money to the nation’s coffers.
Learn More! Use the 7 Government Advisors to gain helpful advice on finance, energy, farming, politics, the environment, mining and research.
Hit key ecological targets while working towards an ultimate goal at the end of the time limit or be voted out of office if your popularity falls too low due to bad economical and ecological decisions
Set up government policies such as introducing a carbon tax, subsidizing domestic solar panels and encouraging the use of public transport to try to cut down CO2 emissions and save money.
Watch out for natural disasters including earthquakes, tsunamis, oil spills and nuclear waste – they are a direct result of your performance.
description
It’s up to you to balance the nation’s economy, power levels, food supplies, water supplies, and natural resources while working to reduce CO2 levels and keeping population happy. B(eco)me greener!
track listing
A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan
Back Round - Wolfmother
Cigarettes, Wedding Bands - Band Of Horses
Deadbolt - Thrice
Demon(s) - Darkest Hour
Fame - David Bowie
Gamma Ray - Beck
Gratitude - Beastie Boys
Hurts So Good - John Mellencamp
In My Place - Coldplay
L.A. - Elliott Smith
Lonely Is The Night - Billy Squier
Lust For Life (Live) - Iggy Pop
Make It Wit Chu - Queens Of The Stone Age
Runnin' Down A Dream - Tom Petty
Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon
Six Days A Week - The Bronx
Sneak Out - Rose Hill Drive
Song 2 - Blur
Woman From Tokyo ('99 Remix) - Deep Purple
No One To Depend On (Live) - Santana
Done With Everything, Die For Nothing - Children Of Bodom
Scatterbrain (Live) - Jeff Beck
description
Living room legends will rock any way they want in Guitar Hero® 5.
The entire set list is at your finger tips from the start, featuring genre-defining hits from some of the biggest rock artists and bands of all time, including The Rolling Stones, The White Stripes, Kings of Leon, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Santana and Vampire Weekend.
You will take complete control as Guitar Hero 5 allows you to personalize and customize how you experience music by being able to play with any in-game instrument combination -- multiple vocalists, guitarists, bassists and drummers, in any game mode.
With the game’s all-new Party Play Mode, getting the band back together has never been easier. You can now jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly, without interrupting their jam session. Elevating the Guitar Hero® series to new heights with unmatched social gameplay, an enhanced style, new in-game artists and more rock legends, Guitar Hero 5 features new surprises and challenges that will fire-up long-time fret board fanatics and create a new generation of addicts.
track listing
A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan
Back Round - Wolfmother
Cigarettes, Wedding Bands - Band Of Horses
Deadbolt - Thrice
Demon(s) - Darkest Hour
Fame - David Bowie
Gamma Ray - Beck
Gratitude - Beastie Boys
Hurts So Good - John Mellencamp
In My Place - Coldplay
L.A. - Elliott Smith
Lonely Is The Night - Billy Squier
Lust For Life (Live) - Iggy Pop
Make It Wit Chu - Queens Of The Stone Age
Runnin' Down A Dream - Tom Petty
Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon
Six Days A Week - The Bronx
Sneak Out - Rose Hill Drive
Song 2 - Blur
Woman From Tokyo ('99 Remix) - Deep Purple
No One To Depend On (Live) - Santana
Done With Everything, Die For Nothing - Children Of Bodom
Scatterbrain (Live) - Jeff Beck
description
Living room legends will rock any way they want in Guitar Hero® 5.
The entire set list is at your finger tips from the start, featuring genre-defining hits from some of the biggest rock artists and bands of all time, including The Rolling Stones, The White Stripes, Kings of Leon, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Santana and Vampire Weekend.
You will take complete control as Guitar Hero 5 allows you to personalize and customize how you experience music by being able to play with any in-game instrument combination -- multiple vocalists, guitarists, bassists and drummers, in any game mode.
With the game’s all-new Party Play Mode, getting the band back together has never been easier. You can now jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly, without interrupting their jam session. Elevating the Guitar Hero® series to new heights with unmatched social gameplay, an enhanced style, new in-game artists and more rock legends, Guitar Hero 5 features new surprises and challenges that will fire-up long-time fret board fanatics and create a new generation of addicts.
track listing
A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan
Back Round - Wolfmother
Cigarettes, Wedding Bands - Band Of Horses
Deadbolt - Thrice
Demon(s) - Darkest Hour
Fame - David Bowie
Gamma Ray - Beck
Gratitude - Beastie Boys
Hurts So Good - John Mellencamp
In My Place - Coldplay
L.A. - Elliott Smith
Lonely Is The Night - Billy Squier
Lust For Life (Live) - Iggy Pop
Make It Wit Chu - Queens Of The Stone Age
Runnin' Down A Dream - Tom Petty
Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon
Six Days A Week - The Bronx
Sneak Out - Rose Hill Drive
Song 2 - Blur
Woman From Tokyo ('99 Remix) - Deep Purple
No One To Depend On (Live) - Santana
Done With Everything, Die For Nothing - Children Of Bodom
Scatterbrain (Live) - Jeff Beck
description
Living room legends will rock any way they want in Guitar Hero® 5.
The entire set list is at your finger tips from the start, featuring genre-defining hits from some of the biggest rock artists and bands of all time, including The Rolling Stones, The White Stripes, Kings of Leon, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Santana and Vampire Weekend.
You will take complete control as Guitar Hero 5 allows you to personalize and customize how you experience music by being able to play with any in-game instrument combination -- multiple vocalists, guitarists, bassists and drummers, in any game mode.
With the game’s all-new Party Play Mode, getting the band back together has never been easier. You can now jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly, without interrupting their jam session. Elevating the Guitar Hero® series to new heights with unmatched social gameplay, an enhanced style, new in-game artists and more rock legends, Guitar Hero 5 features new surprises and challenges that will fire-up long-time fret board fanatics and create a new generation of addicts.
Play Asia are doing one of their weekly special offers, heres the details:
From the publisher: Join Ice Age's unlikely herd of prehistoric pals for their most exciting adventure yet!
Embark on a rescue mission across melting snow to the mysterious Dinosaur World - an all new, fur-raising jungle of carnivorous plants, lush foliage and fierce dinosaurs!
Ice Age is an icy theme park with fun rides that can prove to be fatal. Meet all the dinosaurs. They are gigantic, with sharp teeth and a sense of humour. Gather your family and friends to take on them.
Find the summer unbearably hot? Cool down now with Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Chosen as our weekly special, the game is available at an unbeatable bargain price of US$ 24.90 only.
As an Asian version, the game is not only region free, but have a large array of language options. Read the in-game text and listen to the animals speak in English, French, German and Spanish.
Play-Asia's summer deals are so sweet they even attract bees. Drop your ice-cream, we are opening up our flower gardens, with incredible bargains blossoming everywhere. No matter if you look for consoles, video games, CDs, DVDs or toys, surely you will feel like a bee in a flower field - hard to decide where to fly first.
And, oh! Bring your VISA card with you.
In partnership with VISA, from now until September 6th, all in-stock items except those that have been released during the last 30 days, are discounted by 20%. Please be reminded that this is a VISA exclusive promotion, only valid for orders paid with your VISA card directly at Play-Asia.com. Make sure to watch out for the 20% off discount logo on the final payment page.
John Logan has released a new game for Dingoo Linux:
Heres the details:
While continuing my education in the very excellent SDL library I came across a tutorial on a website called cone3d which I thought wouldn't take much to turn it into a game on the Dingoo. So a few little images, a drop of sound and a few tweaks here and there until i got bored and this was the result. I have included the source code for anyone else out there who is looking for some examples.
To install just drop the dballs folder onto your dingux folders someplace and add the usual menu item for dballs.
John Logan has released a new game for Dingoo Linux:
Heres the details:
Sopwith for Dingux
==================
Note: First time players you have to press left on the dpad to launch upwards. You will get the hang of it.
Also Note: set your volume to Low , there is no in game volume control and its very very loud.
START = Start (press a couple of times)
SELECT = Quit
LEFT = Pull Up
RIGHT = Pull Down
DOWN = Flip
A = Fire
B = Bomb
Y = Go Home
L = Throttle Down
R = Throttle Up
p.s. If anyone can tell me how to adjust the volume of a single channel using just basic SDL audio (no SDL_mixer) if would be very grateful and might even build it into this game
xzakox has released a new version of the music tracker for the Dingoo:
Hi, having finished the last porting steps (hw volume control), and some fixes, I'm releasing this first version of LGPT for dingux
There's a readme inside, but for the impatient:
Quote:As usual unpack the folder in the zip somewhere inside local in your dingux SD card, for example local/apps/lgpt, and add an entry to your dmenu config like this:
MenuItem LGPT
{
Icon = "/usr/local/apps/lgpt/lgpt.png"
Name = "LGPT"
Executable = "./lgpt.dge"
WorkDir = "/usr/local/apps/lgpt"
Selector = no
}
put songs in the same folder,
enjoy!
Controls are the same as GP2X LGPT but X and Y control HW Volume (X up, Y down).
A600 has released GP2Xpectrum 1.7.2 for the Dingoo A320, spectrum emulation
Heres the release details:
GP2Xpectrum 1.7.2 for the Dingoo A320 ported by A600
This is a port of the excellent Spectrum emu for Dingux.
DEFAULT CONTROLS:
Pad: Kempston Joy
B: Fire
Select: GP2Xpectrum Menu
Start: Virtual Keyboard
Power+Up: Volume Up
Power+Down: Volume Down
NOTES:
- Read the included readme from the GP2X version for more help. Keep in mind that the buttons aren't the same and some options have been removed (sorry, but as you already guessed, I hate to (re)write readmes)
- Most games I tried are fullspeed at 200 MHz with the memory contention off.
THANKS:
- rlyeh, Hermes/PS2R, Metalbrain, Seleuco and all the emu authors involved.
- booboo for Dingux. Without him, this port wouldn't have been possible.
GPH is producing its own games for the GP2X Wiz. Most games will be originals, meaning they are not simply ports from other systems but developed specifically for the Wiz. A lot of time has been spent by the developers to guarantee these games to be of high quality. GPH has put down some serious funds to make this happen but believes it will turn out to be a worthy investment.
The games that are planned to be released first are the following:
Over the next year other games have been planned for release as well. A list of those contains:
1) Wiz Party
2) Wiztern 2
Many games are being made ready to offer the best support to both users as well as developers. Many different types of games are planned, which GPH hopes will interest and reach out to a lot of different people.
All these games will be provided through FunGP (http://www.fungp.com - a not yet launched website) to make sure everyone can get a hold of a copy easily. These downloads will be managed with GP Money, a special payment system developed by GPH.
The Triple Triad Team has released a new update (v0.3) for Triple Triad PSP, porting of Final Fantasy VII's mini-game. The homebrew was totally rewritten in C++.
Here is the changelog:
.:Changelog v0.3:.
- Added Wall rule
- Added Same/Plus-Wall rule
- "Press START" indication at the end of a game
- Game option + languages save by using option menu (saves like commercial game in PSP/SAVEDATA)
- Game language choice with flags and homelanguage [Italian - English]
- Modified loading screen with a black font
- Changed "V" and "X" with "V yes" e "X no" in game
- Added Vertical card flipping
- Help update (with Plus-Wall rule)
.:Features v0.3:.
- Quick Match against CPU
- All rules can be used in game (also Plus-Wall which isn't in original minigame)
- Random cards choice by level
- Available FF8, FF7, FFX and FF DISSIDIA decks
- Original minigame musics
- Italian and English languages
Final Burn Alpha is an emulator specializing in emulating arcade video game machines based on M68000 and Z80 CPUs.
The Dingoo's FBA320 port is a combination of the GP2X and PSP ports of Final Burn Alpha - think of it as part Linux (GP2X heritage) and part MIPS (PSP/Dingoo CPU).
Standard in-game FBA320 controls. For the sake of consistency, these are similar to that of MAME4ALL Dingoo (new version coming soon!).
Horizonal games:
UP UP
DOWN DOWN
LEFT LEFT
RIGHT RIGHT
A FIRE 1
B FIRE 2
Y FIRE 3
X FIRE 4
L FIRE 5
R FIRE 6
SELECT+START COIN
START START
SELECT+L Volume Down
SELECT+R Volume Up
SELECT+Y Show FPS
L+R+START Exits from emulator
L+R+SELECT Enter Service mode
Vertical games: (as for horizontal with the following changes)
UP LEFT
DOWN RIGHT
LEFT DOWN
RIGHT UP
L FIRE 1
R FIRE 2
Please be sure to read the "readme.txt" - it contains a lot of useful information about running FBA320 - including how to make FBA cache files which are necessary for many of the larger games.
The ScummVM Team have released a new version of ScummVM for just about every system ever, firstly heres some info about scummVM:
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!
Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.
Now heres a screenshot or two:
Heres todays release news:
Did you hear about our plans for 1.0.0? This is going to be the best ScummVM release ever! And to make it even more remarkable, we decided to put out a Release Candidate, which is awaiting you here.
It is the usual stable and supported release so don't let the name of 'Release Candidate' or 'RC1' throw you off, however we encourage you to test thoroughly. We have a release testing wiki page, which we would like to see turn into a mass of green indicating successful removal of any issues in the titles supported, and thus we need your help, our dear users of ScummVM. It would be really great to test as many games as possible on all variety platforms our project is ported to.
The list of changes which are prepared for you in this release is quite long. The most outstanding ones are:
Added support for Discworld
Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?
Added support for Return to Zork
Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Added support for The Manhole
Added support for Rodney's Funscreen
Added support for Cruise for a Corpse
Improved GUI vastly: added quick search, introduced per-game options, improved mass-add dialog
Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes
Increased The 7th Guest microscope puzzle difficulty to match original
Major improvements to PSP, PS2 and WinCE ports
New port for GP2X Wiz handheld game console.
Finally heres whats new:
1.0.0rc1 (2009-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for Discworld.
- Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?.
- Added support for Return to Zork.
- Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2.
- Added support for The Manhole.
- Added support for Rodney's Funscreen.
- Added support for Cruise for a Corpse.
General:
- Added experimental AdLib emulator from DOSBox.
- Added quick search to Launcher.
- Improved modern GUI theme look.
- Added per-game GUI options.
- Improved Mass Add dialog.
New Ports:
- Added GP2X Wiz port.
AGI:
- Increased compatibility for Sierra games.
- Implemented all 'unknown' commands.
Beneath a Steel Sky:
- Changed the game speed to match the original game (previously
it ran too fast).
Broken Sword 1:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Broken Sword 2:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Dropped support for playing cutscene sound without the video.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Gob:
- Introduced a new savegame format to fix a fatal flaw of the old one,
breaking compatibility with old savegames made on big-endian systems.
Groovie:
- Increased microscope puzzle difficulty to match original.
KYRA:
- Added support for PC Speaker based music and sound effects.
- Added support for 16 color dithering in Kyrandia PC-9801.
PSP port:
- Added support for sleep mode (suspend/resume).
WinCE port:
- Speed optimized versions of low-res Smartphone and 2x scalers.
- New aspect correction scaler for VGA (or higher) devices.
- Dropped support for MPEG-2 and FLAC.
The ScummVM Team have released a new version of ScummVM for just about every system ever, firstly heres some info about scummVM:
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!
Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.
Now heres a screenshot or two:
Heres todays release news:
Did you hear about our plans for 1.0.0? This is going to be the best ScummVM release ever! And to make it even more remarkable, we decided to put out a Release Candidate, which is awaiting you here.
It is the usual stable and supported release so don't let the name of 'Release Candidate' or 'RC1' throw you off, however we encourage you to test thoroughly. We have a release testing wiki page, which we would like to see turn into a mass of green indicating successful removal of any issues in the titles supported, and thus we need your help, our dear users of ScummVM. It would be really great to test as many games as possible on all variety platforms our project is ported to.
The list of changes which are prepared for you in this release is quite long. The most outstanding ones are:
Added support for Discworld
Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?
Added support for Return to Zork
Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Added support for The Manhole
Added support for Rodney's Funscreen
Added support for Cruise for a Corpse
Improved GUI vastly: added quick search, introduced per-game options, improved mass-add dialog
Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes
Increased The 7th Guest microscope puzzle difficulty to match original
Major improvements to PSP, PS2 and WinCE ports
New port for GP2X Wiz handheld game console.
Finally heres whats new:
1.0.0rc1 (2009-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for Discworld.
- Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?.
- Added support for Return to Zork.
- Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2.
- Added support for The Manhole.
- Added support for Rodney's Funscreen.
- Added support for Cruise for a Corpse.
General:
- Added experimental AdLib emulator from DOSBox.
- Added quick search to Launcher.
- Improved modern GUI theme look.
- Added per-game GUI options.
- Improved Mass Add dialog.
New Ports:
- Added GP2X Wiz port.
AGI:
- Increased compatibility for Sierra games.
- Implemented all 'unknown' commands.
Beneath a Steel Sky:
- Changed the game speed to match the original game (previously
it ran too fast).
Broken Sword 1:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Broken Sword 2:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Dropped support for playing cutscene sound without the video.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Gob:
- Introduced a new savegame format to fix a fatal flaw of the old one,
breaking compatibility with old savegames made on big-endian systems.
Groovie:
- Increased microscope puzzle difficulty to match original.
KYRA:
- Added support for PC Speaker based music and sound effects.
- Added support for 16 color dithering in Kyrandia PC-9801.
PSP port:
- Added support for sleep mode (suspend/resume).
WinCE port:
- Speed optimized versions of low-res Smartphone and 2x scalers.
- New aspect correction scaler for VGA (or higher) devices.
- Dropped support for MPEG-2 and FLAC.
The ScummVM Team have released a new version of ScummVM for just about every system ever, firstly heres some info about scummVM:
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!
Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.
Now heres a screenshot or two:
Heres todays release news:
Did you hear about our plans for 1.0.0? This is going to be the best ScummVM release ever! And to make it even more remarkable, we decided to put out a Release Candidate, which is awaiting you here.
It is the usual stable and supported release so don't let the name of 'Release Candidate' or 'RC1' throw you off, however we encourage you to test thoroughly. We have a release testing wiki page, which we would like to see turn into a mass of green indicating successful removal of any issues in the titles supported, and thus we need your help, our dear users of ScummVM. It would be really great to test as many games as possible on all variety platforms our project is ported to.
The list of changes which are prepared for you in this release is quite long. The most outstanding ones are:
Added support for Discworld
Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?
Added support for Return to Zork
Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Added support for The Manhole
Added support for Rodney's Funscreen
Added support for Cruise for a Corpse
Improved GUI vastly: added quick search, introduced per-game options, improved mass-add dialog
Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes
Increased The 7th Guest microscope puzzle difficulty to match original
Major improvements to PSP, PS2 and WinCE ports
New port for GP2X Wiz handheld game console.
Finally heres whats new:
1.0.0rc1 (2009-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for Discworld.
- Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?.
- Added support for Return to Zork.
- Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2.
- Added support for The Manhole.
- Added support for Rodney's Funscreen.
- Added support for Cruise for a Corpse.
General:
- Added experimental AdLib emulator from DOSBox.
- Added quick search to Launcher.
- Improved modern GUI theme look.
- Added per-game GUI options.
- Improved Mass Add dialog.
New Ports:
- Added GP2X Wiz port.
AGI:
- Increased compatibility for Sierra games.
- Implemented all 'unknown' commands.
Beneath a Steel Sky:
- Changed the game speed to match the original game (previously
it ran too fast).
Broken Sword 1:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Broken Sword 2:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Dropped support for playing cutscene sound without the video.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Gob:
- Introduced a new savegame format to fix a fatal flaw of the old one,
breaking compatibility with old savegames made on big-endian systems.
Groovie:
- Increased microscope puzzle difficulty to match original.
KYRA:
- Added support for PC Speaker based music and sound effects.
- Added support for 16 color dithering in Kyrandia PC-9801.
PSP port:
- Added support for sleep mode (suspend/resume).
WinCE port:
- Speed optimized versions of low-res Smartphone and 2x scalers.
- New aspect correction scaler for VGA (or higher) devices.
- Dropped support for MPEG-2 and FLAC.
The ScummVM Team have released a new version of ScummVM for just about every system ever, firstly heres some info about scummVM:
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!
Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.
Now heres a screenshot or two:
Heres todays release news:
Did you hear about our plans for 1.0.0? This is going to be the best ScummVM release ever! And to make it even more remarkable, we decided to put out a Release Candidate, which is awaiting you here.
It is the usual stable and supported release so don't let the name of 'Release Candidate' or 'RC1' throw you off, however we encourage you to test thoroughly. We have a release testing wiki page, which we would like to see turn into a mass of green indicating successful removal of any issues in the titles supported, and thus we need your help, our dear users of ScummVM. It would be really great to test as many games as possible on all variety platforms our project is ported to.
The list of changes which are prepared for you in this release is quite long. The most outstanding ones are:
Added support for Discworld
Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?
Added support for Return to Zork
Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Added support for The Manhole
Added support for Rodney's Funscreen
Added support for Cruise for a Corpse
Improved GUI vastly: added quick search, introduced per-game options, improved mass-add dialog
Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes
Increased The 7th Guest microscope puzzle difficulty to match original
Major improvements to PSP, PS2 and WinCE ports
New port for GP2X Wiz handheld game console.
Finally heres whats new:
1.0.0rc1 (2009-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for Discworld.
- Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?.
- Added support for Return to Zork.
- Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2.
- Added support for The Manhole.
- Added support for Rodney's Funscreen.
- Added support for Cruise for a Corpse.
General:
- Added experimental AdLib emulator from DOSBox.
- Added quick search to Launcher.
- Improved modern GUI theme look.
- Added per-game GUI options.
- Improved Mass Add dialog.
New Ports:
- Added GP2X Wiz port.
AGI:
- Increased compatibility for Sierra games.
- Implemented all 'unknown' commands.
Beneath a Steel Sky:
- Changed the game speed to match the original game (previously
it ran too fast).
Broken Sword 1:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Broken Sword 2:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Dropped support for playing cutscene sound without the video.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Gob:
- Introduced a new savegame format to fix a fatal flaw of the old one,
breaking compatibility with old savegames made on big-endian systems.
Groovie:
- Increased microscope puzzle difficulty to match original.
KYRA:
- Added support for PC Speaker based music and sound effects.
- Added support for 16 color dithering in Kyrandia PC-9801.
PSP port:
- Added support for sleep mode (suspend/resume).
WinCE port:
- Speed optimized versions of low-res Smartphone and 2x scalers.
- New aspect correction scaler for VGA (or higher) devices.
- Dropped support for MPEG-2 and FLAC.
The ScummVM Team have released a new version of ScummVM for just about every system ever, firstly heres some info about scummVM:
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!
Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.
Now heres a screenshot or two:
Heres todays release news:
Did you hear about our plans for 1.0.0? This is going to be the best ScummVM release ever! And to make it even more remarkable, we decided to put out a Release Candidate, which is awaiting you here.
It is the usual stable and supported release so don't let the name of 'Release Candidate' or 'RC1' throw you off, however we encourage you to test thoroughly. We have a release testing wiki page, which we would like to see turn into a mass of green indicating successful removal of any issues in the titles supported, and thus we need your help, our dear users of ScummVM. It would be really great to test as many games as possible on all variety platforms our project is ported to.
The list of changes which are prepared for you in this release is quite long. The most outstanding ones are:
Added support for Discworld
Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?
Added support for Return to Zork
Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Added support for The Manhole
Added support for Rodney's Funscreen
Added support for Cruise for a Corpse
Improved GUI vastly: added quick search, introduced per-game options, improved mass-add dialog
Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes
Increased The 7th Guest microscope puzzle difficulty to match original
Major improvements to PSP, PS2 and WinCE ports
New port for GP2X Wiz handheld game console.
Finally heres whats new:
1.0.0rc1 (2009-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for Discworld.
- Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?.
- Added support for Return to Zork.
- Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2.
- Added support for The Manhole.
- Added support for Rodney's Funscreen.
- Added support for Cruise for a Corpse.
General:
- Added experimental AdLib emulator from DOSBox.
- Added quick search to Launcher.
- Improved modern GUI theme look.
- Added per-game GUI options.
- Improved Mass Add dialog.
New Ports:
- Added GP2X Wiz port.
AGI:
- Increased compatibility for Sierra games.
- Implemented all 'unknown' commands.
Beneath a Steel Sky:
- Changed the game speed to match the original game (previously
it ran too fast).
Broken Sword 1:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Broken Sword 2:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Dropped support for playing cutscene sound without the video.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Gob:
- Introduced a new savegame format to fix a fatal flaw of the old one,
breaking compatibility with old savegames made on big-endian systems.
Groovie:
- Increased microscope puzzle difficulty to match original.
KYRA:
- Added support for PC Speaker based music and sound effects.
- Added support for 16 color dithering in Kyrandia PC-9801.
PSP port:
- Added support for sleep mode (suspend/resume).
WinCE port:
- Speed optimized versions of low-res Smartphone and 2x scalers.
- New aspect correction scaler for VGA (or higher) devices.
- Dropped support for MPEG-2 and FLAC.
The ScummVM Team have released a new version of ScummVM for just about every system ever, firstly heres some info about scummVM:
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!
Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.
Now heres a screenshot or two:
Heres todays release news:
Did you hear about our plans for 1.0.0? This is going to be the best ScummVM release ever! And to make it even more remarkable, we decided to put out a Release Candidate, which is awaiting you here.
It is the usual stable and supported release so don't let the name of 'Release Candidate' or 'RC1' throw you off, however we encourage you to test thoroughly. We have a release testing wiki page, which we would like to see turn into a mass of green indicating successful removal of any issues in the titles supported, and thus we need your help, our dear users of ScummVM. It would be really great to test as many games as possible on all variety platforms our project is ported to.
The list of changes which are prepared for you in this release is quite long. The most outstanding ones are:
Added support for Discworld
Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?
Added support for Return to Zork
Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Added support for The Manhole
Added support for Rodney's Funscreen
Added support for Cruise for a Corpse
Improved GUI vastly: added quick search, introduced per-game options, improved mass-add dialog
Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes
Increased The 7th Guest microscope puzzle difficulty to match original
Major improvements to PSP, PS2 and WinCE ports
New port for GP2X Wiz handheld game console.
Finally heres whats new:
1.0.0rc1 (2009-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for Discworld.
- Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?.
- Added support for Return to Zork.
- Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2.
- Added support for The Manhole.
- Added support for Rodney's Funscreen.
- Added support for Cruise for a Corpse.
General:
- Added experimental AdLib emulator from DOSBox.
- Added quick search to Launcher.
- Improved modern GUI theme look.
- Added per-game GUI options.
- Improved Mass Add dialog.
New Ports:
- Added GP2X Wiz port.
AGI:
- Increased compatibility for Sierra games.
- Implemented all 'unknown' commands.
Beneath a Steel Sky:
- Changed the game speed to match the original game (previously
it ran too fast).
Broken Sword 1:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Broken Sword 2:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Dropped support for playing cutscene sound without the video.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Gob:
- Introduced a new savegame format to fix a fatal flaw of the old one,
breaking compatibility with old savegames made on big-endian systems.
Groovie:
- Increased microscope puzzle difficulty to match original.
KYRA:
- Added support for PC Speaker based music and sound effects.
- Added support for 16 color dithering in Kyrandia PC-9801.
PSP port:
- Added support for sleep mode (suspend/resume).
WinCE port:
- Speed optimized versions of low-res Smartphone and 2x scalers.
- New aspect correction scaler for VGA (or higher) devices.
- Dropped support for MPEG-2 and FLAC.
The ScummVM Team have released a new version of ScummVM for just about every system ever, firstly heres some info about scummVM:
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!
Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.
Now heres a screenshot or two:
Heres todays release news:
Did you hear about our plans for 1.0.0? This is going to be the best ScummVM release ever! And to make it even more remarkable, we decided to put out a Release Candidate, which is awaiting you here.
It is the usual stable and supported release so don't let the name of 'Release Candidate' or 'RC1' throw you off, however we encourage you to test thoroughly. We have a release testing wiki page, which we would like to see turn into a mass of green indicating successful removal of any issues in the titles supported, and thus we need your help, our dear users of ScummVM. It would be really great to test as many games as possible on all variety platforms our project is ported to.
The list of changes which are prepared for you in this release is quite long. The most outstanding ones are:
Added support for Discworld
Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?
Added support for Return to Zork
Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Added support for The Manhole
Added support for Rodney's Funscreen
Added support for Cruise for a Corpse
Improved GUI vastly: added quick search, introduced per-game options, improved mass-add dialog
Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes
Increased The 7th Guest microscope puzzle difficulty to match original
Major improvements to PSP, PS2 and WinCE ports
New port for GP2X Wiz handheld game console.
Finally heres whats new:
1.0.0rc1 (2009-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for Discworld.
- Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?.
- Added support for Return to Zork.
- Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2.
- Added support for The Manhole.
- Added support for Rodney's Funscreen.
- Added support for Cruise for a Corpse.
General:
- Added experimental AdLib emulator from DOSBox.
- Added quick search to Launcher.
- Improved modern GUI theme look.
- Added per-game GUI options.
- Improved Mass Add dialog.
New Ports:
- Added GP2X Wiz port.
AGI:
- Increased compatibility for Sierra games.
- Implemented all 'unknown' commands.
Beneath a Steel Sky:
- Changed the game speed to match the original game (previously
it ran too fast).
Broken Sword 1:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Broken Sword 2:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Dropped support for playing cutscene sound without the video.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Gob:
- Introduced a new savegame format to fix a fatal flaw of the old one,
breaking compatibility with old savegames made on big-endian systems.
Groovie:
- Increased microscope puzzle difficulty to match original.
KYRA:
- Added support for PC Speaker based music and sound effects.
- Added support for 16 color dithering in Kyrandia PC-9801.
PSP port:
- Added support for sleep mode (suspend/resume).
WinCE port:
- Speed optimized versions of low-res Smartphone and 2x scalers.
- New aspect correction scaler for VGA (or higher) devices.
- Dropped support for MPEG-2 and FLAC.
The ScummVM Team have released a new version of ScummVM for just about every system ever, firstly heres some info about scummVM:
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!
Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.
Now heres a screenshot or two:
Heres todays release news:
Did you hear about our plans for 1.0.0? This is going to be the best ScummVM release ever! And to make it even more remarkable, we decided to put out a Release Candidate, which is awaiting you here.
It is the usual stable and supported release so don't let the name of 'Release Candidate' or 'RC1' throw you off, however we encourage you to test thoroughly. We have a release testing wiki page, which we would like to see turn into a mass of green indicating successful removal of any issues in the titles supported, and thus we need your help, our dear users of ScummVM. It would be really great to test as many games as possible on all variety platforms our project is ported to.
The list of changes which are prepared for you in this release is quite long. The most outstanding ones are:
Added support for Discworld
Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?
Added support for Return to Zork
Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Added support for The Manhole
Added support for Rodney's Funscreen
Added support for Cruise for a Corpse
Improved GUI vastly: added quick search, introduced per-game options, improved mass-add dialog
Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes
Increased The 7th Guest microscope puzzle difficulty to match original
Major improvements to PSP, PS2 and WinCE ports
New port for GP2X Wiz handheld game console.
Finally heres whats new:
1.0.0rc1 (2009-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for Discworld.
- Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?.
- Added support for Return to Zork.
- Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2.
- Added support for The Manhole.
- Added support for Rodney's Funscreen.
- Added support for Cruise for a Corpse.
General:
- Added experimental AdLib emulator from DOSBox.
- Added quick search to Launcher.
- Improved modern GUI theme look.
- Added per-game GUI options.
- Improved Mass Add dialog.
New Ports:
- Added GP2X Wiz port.
AGI:
- Increased compatibility for Sierra games.
- Implemented all 'unknown' commands.
Beneath a Steel Sky:
- Changed the game speed to match the original game (previously
it ran too fast).
Broken Sword 1:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Broken Sword 2:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Dropped support for playing cutscene sound without the video.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Gob:
- Introduced a new savegame format to fix a fatal flaw of the old one,
breaking compatibility with old savegames made on big-endian systems.
Groovie:
- Increased microscope puzzle difficulty to match original.
KYRA:
- Added support for PC Speaker based music and sound effects.
- Added support for 16 color dithering in Kyrandia PC-9801.
PSP port:
- Added support for sleep mode (suspend/resume).
WinCE port:
- Speed optimized versions of low-res Smartphone and 2x scalers.
- New aspect correction scaler for VGA (or higher) devices.
- Dropped support for MPEG-2 and FLAC.
The ScummVM Team have released a new version of ScummVM for just about every system ever, firstly heres some info about scummVM:
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!
Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.
Now heres a screenshot or two:
Heres todays release news:
Did you hear about our plans for 1.0.0? This is going to be the best ScummVM release ever! And to make it even more remarkable, we decided to put out a Release Candidate, which is awaiting you here.
It is the usual stable and supported release so don't let the name of 'Release Candidate' or 'RC1' throw you off, however we encourage you to test thoroughly. We have a release testing wiki page, which we would like to see turn into a mass of green indicating successful removal of any issues in the titles supported, and thus we need your help, our dear users of ScummVM. It would be really great to test as many games as possible on all variety platforms our project is ported to.
The list of changes which are prepared for you in this release is quite long. The most outstanding ones are:
Added support for Discworld
Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?
Added support for Return to Zork
Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Added support for The Manhole
Added support for Rodney's Funscreen
Added support for Cruise for a Corpse
Improved GUI vastly: added quick search, introduced per-game options, improved mass-add dialog
Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes
Increased The 7th Guest microscope puzzle difficulty to match original
Major improvements to PSP, PS2 and WinCE ports
New port for GP2X Wiz handheld game console.
Finally heres whats new:
1.0.0rc1 (2009-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for Discworld.
- Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?.
- Added support for Return to Zork.
- Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2.
- Added support for The Manhole.
- Added support for Rodney's Funscreen.
- Added support for Cruise for a Corpse.
General:
- Added experimental AdLib emulator from DOSBox.
- Added quick search to Launcher.
- Improved modern GUI theme look.
- Added per-game GUI options.
- Improved Mass Add dialog.
New Ports:
- Added GP2X Wiz port.
AGI:
- Increased compatibility for Sierra games.
- Implemented all 'unknown' commands.
Beneath a Steel Sky:
- Changed the game speed to match the original game (previously
it ran too fast).
Broken Sword 1:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Broken Sword 2:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Dropped support for playing cutscene sound without the video.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Gob:
- Introduced a new savegame format to fix a fatal flaw of the old one,
breaking compatibility with old savegames made on big-endian systems.
Groovie:
- Increased microscope puzzle difficulty to match original.
KYRA:
- Added support for PC Speaker based music and sound effects.
- Added support for 16 color dithering in Kyrandia PC-9801.
PSP port:
- Added support for sleep mode (suspend/resume).
WinCE port:
- Speed optimized versions of low-res Smartphone and 2x scalers.
- New aspect correction scaler for VGA (or higher) devices.
- Dropped support for MPEG-2 and FLAC.
The ScummVM Team have released a new version of ScummVM for just about every system ever, firstly heres some info about scummVM:
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!
Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.
Now heres a screenshot or two:
Heres todays release news:
Did you hear about our plans for 1.0.0? This is going to be the best ScummVM release ever! And to make it even more remarkable, we decided to put out a Release Candidate, which is awaiting you here.
It is the usual stable and supported release so don't let the name of 'Release Candidate' or 'RC1' throw you off, however we encourage you to test thoroughly. We have a release testing wiki page, which we would like to see turn into a mass of green indicating successful removal of any issues in the titles supported, and thus we need your help, our dear users of ScummVM. It would be really great to test as many games as possible on all variety platforms our project is ported to.
The list of changes which are prepared for you in this release is quite long. The most outstanding ones are:
Added support for Discworld
Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?
Added support for Return to Zork
Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Added support for The Manhole
Added support for Rodney's Funscreen
Added support for Cruise for a Corpse
Improved GUI vastly: added quick search, introduced per-game options, improved mass-add dialog
Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes
Increased The 7th Guest microscope puzzle difficulty to match original
Major improvements to PSP, PS2 and WinCE ports
New port for GP2X Wiz handheld game console.
Finally heres whats new:
1.0.0rc1 (2009-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for Discworld.
- Added support for Discworld 2 - Missing Presumed ...!?.
- Added support for Return to Zork.
- Added support for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2.
- Added support for The Manhole.
- Added support for Rodney's Funscreen.
- Added support for Cruise for a Corpse.
General:
- Added experimental AdLib emulator from DOSBox.
- Added quick search to Launcher.
- Improved modern GUI theme look.
- Added per-game GUI options.
- Improved Mass Add dialog.
New Ports:
- Added GP2X Wiz port.
AGI:
- Increased compatibility for Sierra games.
- Implemented all 'unknown' commands.
Beneath a Steel Sky:
- Changed the game speed to match the original game (previously
it ran too fast).
Broken Sword 1:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Broken Sword 2:
- Added support for the original cutscenes.
- Dropped support for the now obsolete MPEG2 cutscenes.
- Dropped support for playing cutscene sound without the video.
- Added support for the PlayStation version.
Gob:
- Introduced a new savegame format to fix a fatal flaw of the old one,
breaking compatibility with old savegames made on big-endian systems.
Groovie:
- Increased microscope puzzle difficulty to match original.
KYRA:
- Added support for PC Speaker based music and sound effects.
- Added support for 16 color dithering in Kyrandia PC-9801.
PSP port:
- Added support for sleep mode (suspend/resume).
WinCE port:
- Speed optimized versions of low-res Smartphone and 2x scalers.
- New aspect correction scaler for VGA (or higher) devices.
- Dropped support for MPEG-2 and FLAC.
Zodttd has updated the Snes emulator for the Iphone, heres his news:
Hi everyone!
Lots of ZodTTD activity behind the scenes as of late. The first to be reported on is snes4iphone. It received two major updates since I last reported on it.
As you may already know, snes4iphone is my port of the Super Nintendo emulator named PocketSNES to the iPhone and iPod Touch series of devices. I had recently updated it to v4.0.0. It was a nice update but I couldn't stop there. I was able to save and restore the R9 register properly within the assembly emulation "cores" used in PocketSNES (with credit due to Notaz for his great work writing the assembly CPU core).
So what does this all mean? It means I release v5.0.0 of snes4iphone which gives massive performance increases. The hand written assembly code produced very noticeable performance gains.
Even better, previous save states are compatible, SRAM saves now work, and the user interface has been made to match the gpSPhone updates. This means 1000's of ROMs can be loaded, and tons of other fixes. You also now have the option to smooth scale (hardware scaling filter) the screen. It does lower performance a bit though.
Any downsides? Well yes. Super Mario RPG is no longer compatible. I will look into this.
Note that enabling transparencies in the settings menu may be needed to overcome graphical glitches in games. It's disabled by default for performance reasons.
The Codemii guys have yet again released a new version of their excellent app for the Nintendo Wii, heres whats new:
Added repositories functionality
Redid SD/USB mounting method so it keeps trying to at least mount one of these
Cleaned up the text being printed a bit
The Homebrew Browser has been upgraded to v0.3.5. The main feature is the ability to choose another repository other than the official CodeMii one. There is only a test one for the time being which is hosted at bravenet.com to show that it can be hosted anywhere. I’m working on explaining how the listing file in HBB works here and hope to have it finialised in the next few days.
WiiXplorer is a multi device file explorer for the Wii with a GUI made with Libwiigui (by Tantric) and with graphics by NeoRame.
Features
SMB/USB/SD recursive copy/move/delete of files/directories with all files in it
Rename files
Properties of files/directories
Browse through SD/USB/SMB
Addressbar with path
Multilanguage support
Boot .dol/.elf files
Open TXT/XML/PNG/JPEG/GIF/MP3/OGG/ files
Unzip ZIP files (dont work on SMB)
iiii is a digital clone of the popular retail and pen-and-paper game "Connect 4". It is similar to Tic-Tac-Toe.
History
v2.1
fixed the file loading from SD. again. was broken since HBC 1.0.2
added USB support (?)
added gamecube controller support
bunch of behind the scenes changes
Dop-IOS MOD is a modification of the application Dop-IOS that allows you to choose which IOS you would like to use to install other IOSs (trucha bugged or not)
Changelog
v2:
-List of selectable IOSs is now grabbed from the Wii's NAND meaning you can no longer select IOSs that may not exist
-More sanity checks meaning you can no longer select IOSs that don't contain the trucha bug
Powder game is a port of the same name developed by Jeff Lait for GBA. The port has been done by the forero Hopez.
The game is the type roguelike: turn-based action RPG where the emphasis on the features (stats) of the characters and exploring dungeons with a high degree of randomness.
Over the past couple of months Micah Dowty, aka scanlime, has been hard at work on hacking the DSi. I checked out his photo stream on flickr today and noticed a lot of new pictures. There's some interesting stuff to look at here, regardless of whether you understand what's going on or not.
Have you heard all those rumors about DSi-exclusive games hitting retail? Well, they're no longer just rumors! Alpha Unit, a Japanese third party publisher, announced today the first such title, Monster Finder.
The exact nature of the game is somewhat of a mystery at present. We know that you use the DSi Camera in some capacity to capture monsters, which are then made use of in a battle system of some form. The use of the camera is presumably why the game is DSi-only.
Yes, Alpha Unit's announcement was rather lacking in the details department. In fact, we have a feeling that the publisher whipped together the announcement after hearing the DSi-exclusive reports that surfaced yesterday.
Whatever the case, this first DSi-only retail release is scheduled for Japanese release this Winter. We presume Alpha Unit won't be alone in releasing games in this fashion, so expect more announcements to follow.
Nintendo of America revealed that it will be releasing two additional colors for the Nintendo DSi line of systems. Joining the Blue and Black DSis in the US will be Pink and the much-requested White system that has been available in Japan since the launch of the updated system November 2008.
Both Pink and White will hit shelves in the US on September 13th, for the same MSRP of 169.99.
Aguilera_87 has released a new version of his Morseds app for the Nintendo DS, heres the release notes:
The homebrew in principle intended to be a Morse translator also add some images and examples to learn a bit forgotten that communication system.
- List of things that have / will have:
* Text-Morse translator. (added)
* Translator Morse Text. (added)
* Practice mode or test (added).
* Images of equivalence of signs or alphabet. (added)
* Click sounds completely customizable. (added)
* Tutorial / exercises for learning the Morse alphabet.
* Menus showy. (added)
* Clock on the top. (added)
* Language selector (ESP-ING-FRA). (added)
- Controls:
Touch screen: Press to enter points or stripes. Move between menus.
X: Navigate aid
B: Clear text
A: Insert space
Y: Clear space
L / R: Show / Hide script
Start: Change mode
Select: Show credits
Down: Clear text
Right: Insert space
Left: Clear space
Coding newcomer Nick7777 has posted a new release for the Nintendo DS, heres his news:
As a newbie (that i am).. i posted my game in the wrong place.. so here is the right place to share it..
i wrote :
Hi there,
I hesitate a long time before posting my game but after all i guess it can be fun to share it even if it is not the best game ever seen.
The story is simple, the forest near Peach castle is in fire , Mario, Luigi , Peach and Toads are trying to stop it.
The game is in basic version and does not have levels yet, but you can custom game parameters in option menu.
The gameplay and keys:
In menu mode:
use Arrow or stylus to select categories and Start to validate your choise.
use left or right in option menu to switch values.
In Game mode:
Start : pause menu
L : switch fireman
B: Trigger/Untrigger water
up : fireman goes north
down: fireman goes south
left: fireman goes west
rigth : fireman goes east
Use stylus to navigate on the map.
To stop fire , place your fireman next to a flame and throw water on it until the flame desepear.
Be carefull if you stay on a tree that start to burn your fireman will be stuck in place and you would need another firemen to rescue him by throwing water on him.If you are not fast enough .. the fireman die.
You win if you manage to stop fire before all trees and castle are burnt.
You loose if all of your firemen are killed by flames.
I provide the translation of the menu items because i developped my game in french Roll Eyes .
"nouvelle partie" -> New Game
"Difficulté" -> Difficulty
"Pompier" -> fireman
"Retour menu" -> back to main menu
"Menu principal" -> main menu
"Retour au jeu" -> back to game
So i just say enjoy and thanks to PaLib.
Do not hesitate to comment even if you think it is a poor game...
I am improving the game by changing all gameplay and graphismes .So if you apreciate that one you will love the next release..
wlapsp user of our forum and member of Team SHKDev, releases the first version of PSPInformation, developed homebrew LUA also compatible with the latest Custom Firmware 5.50GEN. The program lets you discover all the information about your PSP including the model of the console, the motherboard which is equipped, battery status and the MAC address.
The Jpcsp Team have released a new version of their PSP Emulator for windows written in Java, this emulator plays some commcercial games and homebrew.
Heres whats new:
Revision 1151: cb3: save/restore thread status when entering/exiting a callback
Rev1152: Improved Performance for reading VertexInfo: try to use elements directly in
OpenGL without prior conversion (when possible). This should improve the display
performance by a few FPS for 3D applications.
Rev1153: Forgot file
Rev1154: Reverted change done in r1063 as this seems to break a lot of 3D games (e.g.
Skate Park City).
Rev1155: Fixed handling of GU_VERTEX_16BIT in r1152
Rev1156: Fixed handling of GU_VERTEX_8BIT in r1152
Added Debug info to VertexInfo
Rev1157: Fix for "Twisted Metal: Head-On": trying to display VertexInfo with invalid
address
Rev1158: Update callback3 for the Compiler
Rev1161: Added missing display get mode to syscall handler
Rev1162: cb3:
Merged trunk -> callback3 r1139-1151 inclusive.
Fixed problem introduced in r1151. When unblockThread is called on a thread that
is inside a callback it now modifies the backed up status instead of the current
status. Added JR $ra when installing the thread exist handler, note this is still
inactive
Today, I release version 2.3 of my homebrew "PSPMoney".
PSPMoney is a homebrew for the PSP which calculates monetary amounts from one currency into another.
Available currencies:
US-Dollar
British Pound
Iraqi Dinar
Euro
Japanese Yen
gold value (oz)
German Mark (historical)
PSPMoney is available in two languages: English and German.
Changelog of v.2.3:
now running under the Phoenix Game Engine (PGE)
new intro screen
updating the exchange rates works now without the browser
bugs fixed
Over at Wiibrew Rako is porting the pc9801 emulator to the Nintendo Wii, heres the release notes:
This emulator is a port to Wii of NP2 (Neko Project II), NEC PC-9801 emulator, programmed by Yui. The policy of this port is the minumum change. You must not ask Yui about this wii version.
ClrMamePro (a ROM auditing tool) was updated yesterday. The new rename wizard was the focus of the update.
Here's the complete changelog for ClrMamePro 3.131:
changed analysis to 5-pass
1) unique set hash
2) single unique rom hash match
3) single unique chd hash match
4) description match
5) setname match
detecting removed, added and replaced sets
new layout, list control, sortable columns
acess via Profiler Button
keeping positions and options
added option for enable/disable parent rename
added option for enable/disable rename to multiple new name
detecting new, removed and replaced sets
export to clipboard, file and file (mamediff format)
diff button only reparses files if needed
ability to apply renames to a 3rd datfile (e.g. an artwork datfile)
You can select 'apply on sets' or 'apply on roms' method
'Apply On Sets' renames set name (description, year, manufacturer, romof, cloneof, sourcefile tags optionally), while 'Apply on Roms' renames rom name, rom merge tags. In case of roms, it checks the names with and without extensions, so you can easily have them as e.g. *.png
This 'Apply' option will only do the renames. Removed, added, replaced sets are not handled
Usage example:
Enter paths to a MAME .133 datfile as old and MAME .133u3 datfile as new
Hit 'diff' and see what the renames......now load a MAME flyersdatfile for .133 as 'Modify DatFile'. Enable 'Apply On Roms' and hit 'Apply Renames'. It will create you a *_new.dat with the updated roms
TecToy’s upcoming revamped edition of the classic SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis system is getting a modern-day upgrade with the addition of a Guitar Hero-inspired controller and accompanying game.
The Mega Drive 4 Guitar Idol edition will include not only a Mega Drive/Genesis gaming system, and a pair of old-school controllers, but bundles a guitar that would make current-gen console players happy too.
The system comes pre-loaded with a whopping 87 classic SEGA 16-bit games, including titles such as Altered Beast, Rainbow Island, Golden Axe III, along with the brand-spanking-new Guitar Idol and 50 music tracks from a number of popular artists. Everyone from The Ramones to Panic at the Disco to Billy Squier is represented on the diverse the track list.
No word on if or when you’ll be able to grab this system outside of Brazil, but for now, you can find out more over on TecToy’s website.
TecToy’s upcoming revamped edition of the classic SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis system is getting a modern-day upgrade with the addition of a Guitar Hero-inspired controller and accompanying game.
The Mega Drive 4 Guitar Idol edition will include not only a Mega Drive/Genesis gaming system, and a pair of old-school controllers, but bundles a guitar that would make current-gen console players happy too.
The system comes pre-loaded with a whopping 87 classic SEGA 16-bit games, including titles such as Altered Beast, Rainbow Island, Golden Axe III, along with the brand-spanking-new Guitar Idol and 50 music tracks from a number of popular artists. Everyone from The Ramones to Panic at the Disco to Billy Squier is represented on the diverse the track list.
No word on if or when you’ll be able to grab this system outside of Brazil, but for now, you can find out more over on TecToy’s website.
You may remember reports of Sony's flashy Aino phone earlier this year which can, among other things, connect to a PS3 via Remote Play, giving you full access to your XMB through its tiny screen. Well, Sony's revealed that the Aino is now just weeks away from release in October, and spewed all the details prospective buyers need to know about the device. ... Remote Play with Aino lets you turn your PS3 on and off, browse and control the XMB and access the internet browser from anywhere in the world. Remote Play also lets you control and access the hard drive's media content on the PS3 using the built-in WiFi or 3G connections via Aino. You can also access the PlayStation Store via Remote Play or chat with friends via the PlayStation Network. It is also possible to buy and download a new game from the Store via Aino so it is ready and waiting for you when you get home
Playing Tetris increases the density of the cortex and improves the efficiency of some parts of the brain, according to researchers investigating video games and other complex spatial tasks."
Unfortunately, storing a half million copies of the song negates any practical functional gains beyond loading your trunk very efficiently.
Online backup startup BackBlaze, disgusted with the outrageously overpriced offerings from EMC, NetApp and the like, has released an open-source hardware design showing you how to build a 4U, RAID-capable, rack-mounted, Linux-based server using commodity parts that contains 67 terabytes of storage at a material cost of $7,867. This works out to roughly $117,000 per petabyte, which would cost you around $2.8 million from Amazon or EMC. They have a full parts list and diagrams showing how they put everything together. Their blog states: 'Our hope is that by sharing, others can benefit and, ultimately, refine this concept and send improvements back to us
Death Metal writes with this excerpt from ComputerWeekly.com about the UK's national ID card scheme:
"Privacy advocates have reacted angrily to reports that the government plans to link national identity records to criminal records for background checks on people who work with children and vulnerable people. Up to 11 million such workers could be affected immediately if the plan goes ahead. Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of privacy advocates NO2ID, said the move was consistent with the various forms of coercion strategy to create so-called volunteers for national ID cards. 'Biometrics are part of the search for clean, unique identifiers,' Phil Booth said. He said the idea was patently ridiculous when the Home Office was planning to allow high street shops and the Post Office to take fingerprints for the ID card."
Developers may no longer be bound to 1280x720 resolution
In the latest of his regular tech columns for Develop, Black Rock Studio's David Jefferies has suggested that Microsoft has dropped the requirement put in place that demands developers' games made for the 360 feature 1280x720.
In his article Jefferies addresses the relative merits of screen resolution and anti-aliasing – two disciplines that are hard to achieve simultaneously without unrealistic GPU demands.
"We are making a trade-off and saying that the screen resolution is more important to us than the quality of the anti-aliasing," said Jefferies, when discussing the fact that while both HD consoles can output both 4xMSAA and 2xMSAA, the demands of 1280x720 make the former option very difficult.
"This isn’t necessarily an entirely voluntary move because, until recently, Microsoft had a TCR insisting that games run at 1280x720 – providing you weren’t one of the lucky ones like Halo, who got it waived and ran at 1152x640, that is," he added.
In the same feature, Jefferies discusses the fact that while 1920x768 screens are increasingly common in the home, most still deliver a 1366x768 image.
"It’s is for this reason that Microsoft recently retired the TCR insisting on 1280x720. Now we are free to make the trade-off between resolution and image quality as we see fit," revealed Jefferies.
Yet the publisher’s CEO doesn’t mention Sony’s upcoming alternative
Natal dev kits are installed across Take-Two’s entire fleet of subsidiary studios, according to the publisher’s CEO.
Take-Two chief Ben Feder confirmed in last night’s financial call that numerous studios are working with Microsoft’s new interface.
“Obviously can’t comment on games that we haven’t announced but those [Natal] dev kits are embedded in all of our studios or just about all of our studios,” he said.
Wii, DS and DSi products heading to North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Australasia and Middle East
Mad Catz has announced a new partnership with Nintendo of America to produce officially licensed accessories for the company’s various platforms.
Under the new agreement, the peripherals vendors will be able to develop and market a range of products for Wii, DS and DSi. These will then be distributed throughout certain territories, including North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.
“This is an extremely important licence for Mad Catz,” said global PR and communications manager Alex Verrey. “Nintendo has created some of our industry’s most recognisable and timeless characters, loved by millions of gamers around the world.
“This deal shows how committed we are to growing our licensing strategy and to producing quality products. We’re confident that our licensed Nintendo products will be embraced by gamers everywhere.”
The deal will allow Mad Catz to use certain intellectual properties in its products, such as popular Nintendo characters like Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Bowser and Samus. While no specific products have been announced, Verrey expects the first fruits of the new partnership to be announced soon.
“We are working closely with Nintendo to ensure that our licensed range will be worth the wait,” he said.
This licensing deal is one of many Mad Catz has unveiled in recent months.
“We recently announced a range of licensed Kukuxumusu accessories and that we will be offering a full range of licensed Modern Warfare 2 accessories in time for launch,” said Verrey.
“We also have a range of licensed Raving Rabbids, Rock Band and Street Fighter IV products. We hold an enviable portfolio and look forward to sharing further news.”
Microsoft's Xbox 360 recorded a 43 percent week-on-week sales increase in the UK during the week ended Saturday, August 29, GfK Chart-Track has told Edge.
The rise in weekly sales is largely attributable to the £30 Xbox 360 Elite price cut introduced by Microsoft on August 28, which was timed to coincide with the beginning of a bank holiday weekend.
Microsoft's price cut came into effect four days ahead of the release of Sony's PS3 Slim, which launched today at the new PS3 price point of £249.99.
In addition to cutting the price of the Elite 360, Microsoft also raised the cost of the Xbox 360 Arcade by £30 to £159.99 and announced plans to phase out the Pro model.
Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has cast his doubt on the effectiveness of digital distribution at present by revealing his belief that the expansions for Grand Theft Auto IV aren't reaching enough people as downloadable content alone.
That's the reasoning behind releasing both The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony on a separate disc later this month, despite the first of the two expansions selling in record numbers via Xbox Live.
"I know, as a consumer, I'm more comfortable buying songs, which are almost like playing a jukebox, than I am buying movies as purely digital items," Houser told USA Today. "We all feel that way, so we can surely get more people to experience it if we put it on a disc."
While the original GTA IV release broke all kinds of sales records last year, The Lost and the Damned notched up the highest day one numbers on release in March, and went on to sell 323,000 copies in its first two weeks.
New details on the primary audience for the PlayStation Network in the US has revealed that the average user is 28 years old and is likely to be in the "middle- to higher-income range".
That's according to Eric Lempel, director of PSN operations at SCEA, who also told VideoBusiness.com that it's also likely that user has a wife or girlfriend, judging by the top video sales and rentals.
"Right now, [the user base is] primarily male," he said in an interview. "The average age is 28 years old, in usually the middle- to higher-income range. They over-index against those with graduate degrees. But it's expanding.
"What we're finding ever since we've introduced services like the video download service, we're getting more of the household on the PlayStation Network.
"Some of the top rentals and sales on the video side have been content that probably doesn't appeal exactly to that 28-year-old male. It's more those movies that are geared toward women."
The interview also revealed that the service currently had 12.5 million active accounts in the US - a number that the corporation will hope to see jump significantly if the new PlayStation 3 Slim has a strong effect on sales.
The Wii is the most reliable console on the market with only 2.7 per cent of owners reporting a system failure compared to 23.7 per cent of Xbox 360 owners, according to an independent report published by warranty provider SquareTrade.
In the study, which covered just the three current-generation home consoles, the PlayStation 3 came out between its two rivals with malfunctions reported by 10 per cent of owners.
It also determined that the Xbox 360's failure rate couldn't be attributed solely to the much-publicised 'Red Ring of Death' hardware issue covered by Microsoft's three-year warranty, since 11.7 per cent of Xbox 360 owners reported different problems.
The study, conducted by the US-based independent warranty provider, randomly selected 16,000 games consoles under its SqaureTrade Warranty for analysis.
As well as looking at failure numbers, it also compared usage amounts, which concluded the PlayStation 3 was the most used of the three home consoles.
Owners used the Sony console for an average of 19.9 days over 24 months, compared to 17.6 days for Xbox 360 and just 8.6 days for Wii.
Breaking down this data into failure rate per 24 hours, the study concluded the 360 was still the least reliable with a 1.35 per cent chance of failure (0.67 per cent excluding RROD), while the PS3 came out at 0.50 per cent and the Wii 0.31 per cent.
Disc read errors and output issues were the most common reported among both PS3 and Xbox 360 owners, while the Wii had more remote control issues than the other two systems.
The report did acknowledge however that the introduction to the Xbox 360 of the Jasper chipset in late 2008 has now "likely solved" the RROD issue.
Microsoft has announced a 25 per cent reduction in the price of the Xbox 360 Elite in Japan, a cut that will bring the unit down from JPY 39,800 (USD 430) to JPY 29,800 (USD 322).
As with the price reductions across Europe, the unit will no longer ship with an HDMI cable.
Meanwhile, the price of the 60GB Pro unit, which currently retails for JPY 29,800 (USD 322) will be left open to retailers, the company confirmed during a Tokyo press conference. As in the US and Europe, the model will be discontinued in the region.
The price of the 360 Arcade model, which saw an increase in the UK, will remain unchanged at JPY 19,800 (USD 214). Reductions will also be applied to the 60GB 360 standalone hard drive and 512MB memory unit.
"With the price cut, we hope to boost demand for the Xbox game console. The Christmas and year-end shopping season is very important for us," said Joji Sakaguchi, director of Xbox marketing in Japan, as reported by the Associated Press.
"We are confident that we will do well during the upcoming holiday season. We cannot lose," he added.
As previously predicted, similar price cuts will also be brought into effect in other parts of the Asia-Pacific region on September 10.
Mozilla recently updated its product roadmap through 2010. According to the first draft, the current browser will see a minor update in Q4 2009 and another in Q2 2010. Version 4.0 is headed for an October or November 2010 release and will bring a new user interface and browser sync integration. 'There is not much information on how this new user interface will look like, but the first mockups that have been posted on Mozilla's website suggest that the Mozilla team favors a Google Chrome-like design that integrates Windows 7 graphics features. Overall, window elements seem to be floating over the background.' The mockup page emphatically notes that the design is not final
Masaya Matsuura to deliver BAFTA Vision Statement at game festival
GameCity Squared is due to return to return to Nottingham next month, at which Parappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura to deliver a 'BAFTA Vision Statement'.
"The Vision Statement is a unique platform for the most interesting, provocative developers in the World to deliver their thoughts and manifestos independent of any PR constraint, said said GameCity director Iain Simons. "We're beside ourselves with excitement that Matsuura-san has agreed to deliver the address this year."
While full details of GameCity Squared's programme are yet to be announced, the typically irreverent festival promises to deliver a radical set of new venues and a completely free events list, in what is being pitched as the most audacious iteration of the annual celebration of gaming culture yet.
GameCity Squared is due to take place from the 27th to 31st October at a number of venues.
In a line of code in Google's Chromium, a reference was found to a "login manager," which is being taken to mean a single sign-in for all programs on the OS. But what does that mean for non-Google software?
This is all total speculation, but a writer on ReadWriteWeb suggests that it may mean Google intends to lock down Chrome OS to only use Google software, in order to keep things simpler and easier. After all, it's tough to use a single sign-in (SSO) cookie if you don't control the software being signed in to. However, I don't think this is likely—all of Google's software (Gmail, Picasa, Chrome, Blogspot, Earth, etc etc etc) uses a single sign-in, and I think that's all the phrase "login manager" implies. But the question remains: In a browser-based OS, what happens if you want to change browsers? We'll have to wait for more information before we know.
Only the strong survive: Paul Thurrott confirms that the Zune HD will kill off the rest of the Zune line. All models of the original Zune, flash and hard drive, are officially discontinued. If you want one, buy it now.
SMK-Link claims that their new Bluetooth/infrared Blu-Link universal remote is the first to allow users control over their Playstation 3 and their other home entertainment devices from a single unit.
Hey guys, have you heard? Xbox 360s die, horribly, almost without fail. In the wake of some devastatingly terrible survey results—54% failure rate terrible—a third-party warranty company is saying that RRoD troubles are on the wane.
FairTrade, the company that's making this claim, bases their little theory on failure rates correlated with purchase date. Before the Jasper chipset, they were atrocious. But after? Not too bad!
In Q4 2008, Jasper units started arriving, although we believe units purchased during this period continued to be a mix of Falcon and Jasper models. Even with this mix, we projected the 1-year failure rate to drop below 4%. Furthermore, when looking at over 500 units purchased in 2009, fewer than 1% of customers have reported a RROD error as of Aug 2009. It is still too early to definitively assert that Jasper has given RROD a knockout punch, but such an argument may be pronounceable in the coming months.
That's down from an (admittedly) conservative RRoD rate of about 12%, which accounted for more than half of the console's overall failures, which stood at 23.7%. They explicitly say it's too early to call this one, but early signs—even if all the numbers are skewed a little low—are definitely promising.
The best case for not believing these figures, though, is (weirdly) made earlier in the report, when SquareTrade theorizes about how consumers might be approaching the Xbox failure problem, now that it's so well known:
Microsoft's policy may result in an underreporting of failures by Xbox 360 owners to SquareTrade, relative to the other two consoles. Because the RROD problem is so widely known to be covered by Microsoft's warranty, we believe that more customers bypass SquareTrade and reported failures directly to the Microsoft.
So on this side of things, third-party warranty stats aren't infallible, and on anotherhttp://gizmodo.com/5344302/microsoft-responds-to-542-xbox-360-failure-rate-claim-doesnt-dispute-it, user surveys about a frustrating hardware problem are naturally stacked against the product. The only people who really know how many Xboxen run off the cliff every year work in Redmond, and I doubt they're in any rush to get too specific on this one.
If you've spent any time on Engadget before, you'll be aware that we're big fans of Ben Heck and his tireless modding, tweaking and hacking (or is it Hecking?) of console hardware. The latest feather to his cap comes in the form of a customized Xbox 360 controller, which sees its D-pad and action buttons swapping places in an effort to help a handicapped gamer get his proverbial groove on. The trigger buttons are also flipped, but the pièce de résistance is the inclusion of four extra action buttons along the bottom of the controller that make one-handed gaming totally feasible. Check 'em out after the break.
Sony may be working to expand the perception of the PS3 as a media powerhouse with half-hearted bundles and new advertising campaigns, but according to SCEA Director of PlayStation Network Operations Eric Lempel, it's already doing quite well in that department. He indicates that 74 percent of all PS3 users have "spent some time" watching Blu-ray movies, with barely a quarter left shunning the machine's high-def creds. Of course, the real question for Sony's sake is how many have gone ahead and purchased some of those fancy discs, a stat that Lempel doesn't share, but regardless we have to think it's time for Sony to stop putting tedious advertisements for Blu-ray players at the beginning of its Blu-ray discs -- we've already got one, you see? It's very nice!
Sony's got a lot of housekeeping to do before it can quell the infighting long enough to produce a proper PlayStation phone, but the upcoming Aino's PS3 Remote Play features sound like a tentative first step. According to a Q&A posted on the Euro PlayStation blog, the upcoming slider handset will be able to use Remote Play to connect and control a PS3's XMB through the internet, but you won't be able to play PS1 games like you can on the PSP -- you'll be limited to media playback, browsing the PlayStation Store, and chatting on PSN. Yeah, it's kind of a missed opportunity, but at least we can hope future handsets will expand on the capability a little, just like the PSP had remote PS1 game playback added in after the fact. We'll find out when the first Ainos ship in the UK in October.
Open source gaming is a real in thing these days and companies are trying their best to muscle in and get a piece of the pie, what with Sonys new app store, Apples app store, Xbox Community Games, DSI Ware, Wii Ware, Openmoko to name but a few.
In the Homebrew arena we already have the Open source consoles GP32, GP2X, Wiz, Dingoo and Sometime this year (hopefully) the Pandora.
But the announcement last night that a new Android based games console should really be an eye opener for Homebrewers too.
The gadget underground has been buzzin' with clandestine chatter relating to Android MIDs lately, and now a company called Hardkernel is concocting a handheld game platform and media player based on the open source OS and the same processor as the iPhone 3GS. And you know what? This is a pretty cool idea for a device, even if the company's website leaves us frightened and confused. ODROID is a 3.5-inch (320 x 480 capacitive touchscreen) concept that sports a 600MHz Samsung S5PC100 ARM Cortex A8 CPU, HDMI output (720p), composite video output, microSD and SD card slots, and WiFi b/g. We're not entirely sure when (or if) this thing will see the light of day, or for how much, but you'll know as soon as we do. Promise.
If im right this has the same chip as the Pandora so should be good for emulation speed.
What are your thoughts on yet another handheld into the Gaming scene. ?
The royal we have updated our PS3. There are little things we've noticed, little things we like, little things we don't. What about you?
Things that stuck out: More sparkly, less smokey. New PS3 logo. No more Spider-Man PLAYSTATION logo when you start up a game. We kind of miss that! It had an awesome jingle chime. We love that jingle chime. It relaxes us.
The interface seems, I dunno, a little more cluttered? There's more emphasis on the PSN store — which is now the default for games, instead of, you know, the game you put in the machine. Putting the PSN Store as the default makes sense only to the PSN Store, not to players. (Can this be turned off or changed?) And then there's that friend's list and background blur. Hello headache town!
One thing we dig: New loading icon with a little clock hand in there. Much better than that pulsating blob in the upper corner! That always used to freak us out.
I'm sure we'll all get used to this, slowly, bit by bit, you and me, together.
Struggling to stay afloat, Take-Two decided to ship Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with a sex scene in the game and later lied to investors to cover up their decision, according to the suit settled today.
The 2006 suit, which was tentatively settled for $20 million, also alleges that company officers earned more than $18 million in insider trading even as the company's stock plummeted.
"As a result of the disclosures of the Company's true financial condition, its stock ratings have been slashed," the suit, initially filed by John Fenninger who purchased Take-Two common stock, states. "Moreover, the Company is exposed to class action lawsuits and regulatory enforcement actions brought by the Attorney Generals of several states. While the public investors lost over one billion dollars in market capitalization, the Individual Defendants pocketed over $18 million in insider trading proceeds."
Hot Coffee, a bit of hidden sex found behind the apartment doors of the game, was discovered in July 2005 after a modder released a hack for the game that unlocked the previously hidden content.
Earlier today, Take-Two announced that they had reached a settlement in the case, with the company and its insurer paying out more than $20 million.
The nut of the allegations contained in the 34-page suit, is that Take-Two was spending more than it was bringing in and couldn't survive until the next Grand Theft Auto. So, the suit alleges, the company pushed Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas out the door knowing that there was pornographic material in the game because delays would have cost the company too much. If the material was known to be in the, the suit continues, major retailers wouldn't have sold it.
The outcome, according to the suit, was inflated stock prices based on bad or uninformed information from the company and a plunge in stock values when the truth came out.
The suit also alleges that Take-Two lied about the included sex scenes, nicknamed Hot Coffee, when they first came to light, with the company the scenes were "the work of a determined group of hackers who have gone to significant trouble to alter scenes.'"
The suit outlines how the value of Take-Two's stock first rose significantly with the release of the game and then began to plummet as the allegations and suits came to light. The suit connects the two, alleging that the company lied during financial statements to try and cover themselves and later key executives profited from inside information while selling company stock.
It's an interesting read and worth some time if you've been following the Hot Coffee allegations and are interested in a document that ties stock values and company statements to the life-cycle of the controversial sex scene in San Andreas. But do keep in mind that just because the suit was settled, that doesn't mean the contents have been proven or disproven.
Been shopping at Target lately? Did you know they have an entire rack devoted to video game underwear? Yes, you read that right: Video. Game. Underwear. Included in the bunch are Halo, Atari, both Rock Band and Guitar Hero brands, and PS3 and Xbox 360 controllers, all available for $9.99 in themed tins. Although the truly hardcore don't rock any underwear at all, right? Just like Wii players, commando is the order of the day.
Sadly, we neglected to check the women's side to see if there are female counterparts to these underpants and, secretly, we'd really love to rock a Rock Band thong. Update: we sent a secret shopper on a mission to Target and she's reported back: No gaming underwear for the ladies. You call this progress, gaming industry?
The long rumored PSP phone may still be far away (or never coming, for that matter), but at least Sony Ericsson plans on bringing some of the PSP's functionality to its "Aino" phone. Though the Aino won't feature UMD support (where have we heard that before?), it will allow for Remote Play functionality, essentially granting the phone remote, limited access to a linked PlayStation 3.
Sony Ericsson's Lisa Canning told the Euro PS blog that the first Aino will be arriving "early October in the UK, with the rest of Europe to follow," though no release Stateside has been announced yet. Aside from the missing UMD playback ability, no indication is given whether or not it will support PSP Minis, but unfortunately no games can be played through the Aino's Remote Play functionality. We're still not sure if a PSP phone is ever going to come out -- we are sure, however, that we stopped holding our breath for one a long, long time ago.
Released in 1976, Mattel's Auto Race is credited as the first handheld game. But it wasn't until Nintendo released the Game & Watch series that handheld gaming really took off. Since then the company has dominated the handheld market, firstly with the Game Boy, and latterly with the DS, dispatching rival consoles as calmly and efficiently as a Terminator.
The list of pretenders to Nintendo's handheld throne is long. Some were noble failures, a couple may have given Nintendo’s executives a few sleepless nights, and one or two were outright abominations.
Over-ambitious design proved to be the undoing of many machines, their battery-hungry innovations later adopted by the big N. Check out the key players as we look at the evolution of handheld consoles.
Sony has never been much of a friend to hackers, and its infamous rootkit showed what it thought of users. But by omitting the option to install GNU/Linux on its new PS3, it has removed the final reason for the open source world to care about Sony. Unless, of course, you find Google's new distribution alliance with Sony to pre-install Chrome on its PCs exciting in some way
The fourth update in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 family is released. From the press release — this version includes kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) virtualization, alongside of Xen virtualization technology. The scalability of the Red Hat virtualization solution has been incremented to support 192 CPUs and 1GB hugepages. Other updates including GCC 4.4 and a new malloc(), clustered, high-availability filesystem to support Microsoft Windows storage needs on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This article covers the upgrade procedure for RHEL 5.4 from the previous version
In a David-and-Goliath style fight, small music companies are battling it out with established behemoths to see who can own the future of mobile music. Spotify, the Europe-based music streaming company, is about to launch its iPhone app and has plans to develop it for other mobile platforms soon. In a preview, Spotify shows how you can cache songs to your iPhone so that you don't always need a connection but the songs don't remain on your iPhone permanently. Nokia, on the other hand, has just announced two more music phones that will feature Comes With Music, an unlimited music-download service that involves a one time fee, which is part of the price of the CMW phone, and lets you download music for free (and you get to keep it) for a year. The question remains, are people more likely to stream or download music on their mobile phones?
SCEA has announced yet another addition to its growing lineup of PSP "Entertainment Pack" bundles. The upcoming Gran Turismo pack joins Rock Band Unplugged and Hannah Montana this October by packaging a "Mystic Silver" PSP-3000 with a UMD copy of Gran Turismo, downloadable white Corvette ZR1, 2GB Memory Stick, and vouchers for movie and music downloads from the PlayStation Store and Sony Music Pass.
At $199, the limited edition bundle seems like quite a bargain, especially when you consider how much cheaper it is than a PSP Go. The announcement of yet another PSP-3000 package reaffirms Sony's stance on supporting UMD as a format -- but also places into doubt the viability of ending PSP piracy any time soon.
Shoryuken forumite ohgee saw some new, unannounced Mad Catz FightSticks and FightPads at the ongoing GameStop Manager Conference, and snapped some pictures for the community. Perhaps most noteworthy is the confirmation of the rumored Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Tournament Edition FightStick, with yellow and white buttons and artwork from the recent MvC2 downloadable release. GameStop employees in the thread say it'll be out September 25 for $159.99, a $10 increase over the original TE FightStick.
Other new items found at the conference include a "Round 2" Street Fighter IV FightStick with new art, and several new FightPads.
This Exastick is designed to be used with Wii fighting games. It can be connected with Wii remote. It features six colourful buttons, which are designed to fit the hand gesture of the user, in order to make the gaming experience more comfortable.
Feature six controlling buttons
Can be used with fighting games
The buttons are well positioned to fit users
Here is the video for the Dingux Dual Boot Frontend (Dmenu and DinguXMB). I will post the instructions later how to load it. Also I will be uploading the files.
In The Netherlands, a Dutch toy store advertised the MI2 portable console. Press release here.
It's features are somewhat similar to the Dingoo but has some extra features like camera, touchscreen and accelerometer. But it lacks the emulators (maybe because emulators might not be completely legal to sell here). It is available from 1 October and the price is less than 70 euros (around $100).
The (far from complete) specs for those who can't read Dutch:
32-bit processor
16GB (not clear if it is bytes or bits) flash memory for game, audio & video storage (512MB free)
3.5" TFT touch screen with stylus
Build-in microphone
Accelerometer (for games controllable by tilting the console like balancing games or marble games)
Camera (0,3 mega pixels?) (for camera games) (photo's can be transferred to a PC)
1200 Mah rechargeable battery
MiniSD expansion slot
Video out (cable included)
100 pre-loaded games (including games that use the touchscreen/stylus, the accelerometer and camera) (some games in Dutch)
New games downloadable from the internet (charges apply)
MP3 audio player
AVI/MP4 video player
PhotoFrame photo viewer
Unfortunately, no information about the processor used, speed and internal RAM.
It would be a very interesting machine if you could create your own software for it or even run Linux on it.
Is this the new Dingoo killer then?
Robert
If you've spent any time on Engadget before, you'll be aware that we're big fans of Ben Heck and his tireless modding, tweaking and hacking (or is it Hecking?) of console hardware. The latest feather to his cap comes in the form of a customized Xbox 360 controller, which sees its D-pad and action buttons swapping places in an effort to help a handicapped gamer get his proverbial groove on. The trigger buttons are also flipped, but the pièce de résistance is the inclusion of four extra action buttons along the bottom of the controller that make one-handed gaming totally feasible. Check 'em out after the break.
The talk of "convergence" - the unification of computers, set-top boxes, and mobile devices - has been around for a while. And for the most part it's been pure vapor. However, there's reason to believe that if anyone can do it, it's Apple.
There's an increasing crescendo of rumormongering - most of it emanating from Piper Jaffray research analyst Gene "Herman" Munster - of a new Apple TV release on September 9. You remember Apple TV, right? Everybody's favorite WTF? device has been sort of hanging around waiting for its killer app. iTunes downloads and Flickr galleries, obviously, were not it.
It seems that legendary line from Star Trek can now be attributed to millions of Apple customers, too.
Strategy Analytics is out with a new study - conveniently titled "Retaining and Attracting New Customers: Profiling the Apple iPhone User" - revealing that iPhone users want more power.
Of all the ideal features Apple customers can envision for future updates to the iPhone, their low satisfaction with battery life far surpasses other concerns, like the quality of the device's camera, for example.
Jario64 is a Nintendo 64 emulator (based on Project64) for Java.
Quote:
Jario64 is an open source Nintendo64 emulator written in Java based originally on the Project64 emulator code.
Jario64 was written in 2005. Originally it was based on the source code from Project64 but since that time has evolved. The Java code is much more object oriented and much was removed/added. Jario follows the same plugin pattern of other popular N64 emulators, and the plugins are based on open source plugins that were available at the time. When I created this originally it was more for educational purposes since I knew I could produce source code that was much easier to understand than most other emulator source code (Jario64 has no hacks for specific games anywhere in it, no dynamic recompiling, no strange pointer manipulation, and is much more modularized). But I didn´t know if it would be fast enough to play, nor did I really care. Happily it did turn out fast enough that I decided to concentrate on some optimizations and get it playable. It is definitely not as fast as other emulators but it works and possibly is slightly safer since it is managed code (no buffer overruns, or pointers to invalid memory.)
Current Status:
Jario64 runs a lot of the more popular games. Some improvements could still be made on the graphics plugin. Sound is not available yet although there is a Java plugin already created for sound, it just isn´t fully working yet (sound does work for some of the demo roms). The only current input plugin is for the keyboard. The graphics plugin uses JOGL for 3D. The sound plugin is using JOAL. Jario64 only runs in pure interpreter mode and it does not use a rom database. The GUI is currenly very minimal.
I am looking for people who would be interested in continuing this project. Either in coding, testing, plugin development, promotion, documentation, etc. Please leave comments if you have anything to say about this project. Thanks.
Achtung Wii Kurve is a clone of the computer game Achtung Die Kurve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achtung_die_kurve). It differs in that it has a lot of customization- and control options and actually includes music, sounds and an AI. The game supports up to 12 players.
The objective of the game is to survive as long as you can by making sure your curve doesn't hit a wall or another curve. As you move you leave a trace behind you which noone can pass through except at tiny holes that regularly appears in the curve.
The controls are displayed in the game.
Change log
v1.2 - 1 September 2009
Made a point-and-click GUI.
Added support for custom music.
Made 3 different levels to adjust rumble intensity.
Made 10 different levels to adjust game speed.
Fixed some minor graphical errors.
RawkSD allows you to install custom songs as DLC onto an SD card, to be played in Rock Band 2. It also allows importing songs from Rock Band 1 and all Guitar Hero games.
Changelog
v2.00
Guitar Hero 5, World Tour, Metallica, and Smash Hits support added
RawkSD Patcher has been updated to support ripping from Playstation 2 discs
Complete fixes made for custom charts on all difficulties
It's suggested that you use the Replace Files feature to re-import all your custom audio and charts
More tagging info done (thanks again to tw3nz0r and BHK)
The Wii RawkSD Installer has been totally revamped
No more need for the PC during installs.
Added integrated disc ripping support to SD and USB
New option to backup and restore your savegame
LibELM is a FAT driver, like libfat. However, LibELM is based on the amazing ELM FAT driver by ChaN. LibELM does NOT use a devoptab and as such, does not use the stdio functions (fopen, fread, etc.), but uses it's own. You can find all the information on how to use LibELM here: http://elm-chan.org/fsw/ff/00index_e.html
LibELM is Wii only, at the moment, and supports SD card, USB stick, and should support SDGecko, but SDGecko has not been tested.
This small game was created while I was testing the functions of my MLlib. It's designed to make you happy, it's not a serious game ! ^^ The sources are available with the package.
The Amstrad CPC range was an 8bit microcomputer family released on June 21st, 1984. These computers were sold as a complete bundle including a colour or green screen monitor and a main storage system. CPC was an acronym of Colour Personal Computer. The first digit was a code for the main storage system;'4' denoted a tape deck and '6' a 3-inch floppy disk drive. The Amstrad CPC range included the following models:
Amstrad CPC 464, 64Kb RAM
Amstrad CPC 472, 64Kb RAM (only sold in Spain)
Amstrad CPC 664, 64Kb RAM
Amstrad CPC 6128, 128Kb RAM
The CPC series was very popular in Europe, mainly in the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany (where the CPC was sold under the Schneider brand). Amstrad plc. entered the computing market with the CPC series. They even dominated the European market with their PC clones the PC1512 and 1640. Sales of CPC units are estimated at about 2 million.
You are looking at a machine thats hardware was packed with its Z80A 4MHz processor, 3 channels of sound that made for perfect atmospheres in games, and a very advanced graphical chip for its time: different graphical modes and graphical resolutions changes whilst running. Very few machines have been as big as the CPC was, it survived for more than 10 years and it's a beloved and well known machine by two generations of computing fans that remember it.
Qtopia is a platform for embedded Linux-based mobile computing devices such as personal digital assistants and mobile phones. It was developed by Trolltech.
SpyEye WIZ written for Craptastic Coding Competition August 2009
This game is a simple version of the "I spy with my little eye... (sth. that is green)" game.
But there are only Rectangles and you have to find the one with the right color.
An old school retro game akin to Manic Miner with a hot air balloon. Guide your balloon through dangerous caverns, avoiding anything that moves and everything that doesn't!
Defeat Me is a simple shooting game where once you've beaten all enemies on a level, a version of how you played gets added as an enemy on the next level. So, basically, you are faighting always with more and more versions of yourself from the past levels.
Please, see the home page for controls description.
There's not that the man who has been on the moon, Brix too!
I present the latest version of Brix DS. On the menu: 2 new level set (16 new levels), and a new environment, the moon. You come to master the lunar gravity? Find out in flirting with the last eight levels of this release. Good game and good luck especially to overcome this new batch!
So this is the homebrew I mentioned not long ago, in the meantime I "just" the loader recoded levels
this is a beta version so there are (probably) a few bugs
The goal is simple, find Suzanne (the monkey's head), and there's this version that 6 levels (that I model myself so do not expect anything special, well otherwise ^ ^)
New and probably final update AlphaBase, the bash debug PSP developed by the user of our forum DekraN. In this release, the 2.0, have added six new commands ( 'sub', 'goto', 'ochar', 'print2', 'make' and 'switch') and fixati some bugs. Were also optimized many of the functions already present and was also improved homebrew code. I also remember that AlphaBase is an entirely open-source.
Following the full changelog and the link to download.
Changelog v2.0:
Quote:
- Added the commands 'sub', 'goto', 'ochar', 'print2', 'make' and 'switch';
- Removed the command 'rchar' since it was unified with 'ochar';
- Fixato a bug in the command 'alarm', now check the current system works perfectly;
- Fixato a bug in the command 'imm', which renders the writing of use when not receiving parameters because of the check is necessary.
- Fixato a bug in the Keyboard Commands Helper Danzeff, who slid down controls with little speed;
- Fixato a bug in the command 'unload', which is not allowed to remove from memory a previously uploaded image if it was assigned to the mouse cursor;
- Optimize the battery information in the command 'info';
- Optimize Commands Helper Danzeff the keyboard: If inputLine appear in the command 'calc', press Up or Down display all the math functions available;
- Optimized the command 'unload'. If the mode is Normal, remove from memory all the elements previously loaded, otherwise you will get the word use;
- Optimized the command 'input';
- Optimized all the commands I / O (Input / Output)
- Optimized display system: If you reach the end or the beginning of a string, if the mode is Normal, and if you press the Right or Left, you will be taken automatically to the beginning or end of the string of output;
- Now the separation of complex parameters can also be set by Settings.ini (careful, however, does not apply any control over it);
- Syntax of the language is highly optimized;
- Code optimized;
- Added system Shot: You can change all the information of a user running the previous example to display a line, or printing an image, store it as final parameter in the respective command input (eg 'line', ' imm ') the ID of the previous run.
- The command 'print' has been divided into 'print' and 'print2', respectively, for the first print media system, the second for general print media;
- Added a system for formatting in inputLine Danzeff keyboard (you can change the cursor position to insert new characters in inputLine simply pressing left or right);
- Removed the system qlist, since the file management system is dysfunctional in LUAPlayer HM7 (will not be considered the characters of escape when reading a file from bash);
- Added an event system (useful for those who want to challenge themselves to make individual programs but still directly connected environment AlphaBase);
- Renew the eboot.
Dark CF, a user of our forums, released a utility application who often use the HTML. These HtmlEX, a program developed in LUA programming language which generates hex codes for each color, is also reported even constant Internet Explorer 5. Currently only in English, HTMLEx includes about 120 different shades of color codes, a number that could increase with a future update.
Preyker has posted an updated release of his Copter game for PSP:
Hey guys
i just wanted to show you my very first homebrew called "PSP Copter" coded in Phoenix Game Engine LUA. Accidently the Copter clone "Scion Copter" was released at the same time, but that must be pure coincidence...
Here's Version 1.5:
Changelog:
- added new heli
- better performance (no more crashes)
- open source
Finally, the Team VGT releases a new application for PSP. It's called VGT Evolution. It's participating in Scenery Beta IHS 2009, so if you want to vote it, we'll be happy.
VGT Evolution was an idea to do something original, and that at the moment wasn't created in PSP Scene. Now you have some images to show you how is VGT Evolution:
Alekmaul has released an updated version of his PC Engine emulator for the Dingoo A320:
Ok, new version available, please test again games and give me the name, if US or JP, and CRC to help me too improove compatibility.
What's new :
Code:V0.9c : 01/09/2009
# fix timer int : more games are working
# update sound each time psg is updated (more accurate)
+ add sound threading model to speed (a little) emulation
# fix tv-out pb (thanks Harteex for your help )
John Logan has posted a new release for the Dingoo A320:
CloneKeen port for Dingux v0.1
==============================
I don't know much about this game as I never really played it myself but it seems it was popular at the time.
This version includes the shareware episode 1, it should work with the full version episodes but I don't have them so I didn't try it.
Everything seems to be working ok gfx, sound, controls , save games etc
Controls
========
CTRL (Jump): B
ALT (Pogo): Y
Fire: B & Y at the same time (once you have the raygun)
Space (Pause): Start
Enter: Select or A
Escape (Quit): L
F3 (save): R
Installation in dmenu.
======================
You need to create a menu item like the one below. Note the executable "./clonekeen2x -ep1" indicates episode 1. You need to change it to -ep2 and -ep3 for the other episodes.
MenuItem CloneKeen
{
Icon = "res/games.png"
Name = " CloneKeen"
Executable = "./clonekeen2x -ep1"
WorkDir = "/usr/local/games/CloneKeen2X"
}
Notes:
======
When the games starts the screen at one point goes black, just press a button and the screen will come back into life again.
I put a nasty hack in to get it to quit to the desktop without freezing the dingoo but it means that it might no have released all the memory it should of.
John Logan has posted a new release for the Dingoo A320:
Sopwith for Dingux
==================
Note: First time players you have to press left on the dpad to launch upwards. You will get the hang of it.
Also Note: set your volume to Low , there is no in game volume control and its very very loud.
START = Start (press a couple of times)
SELECT = Quit
LEFT = Pull Up
RIGHT = Pull Down
DOWN = Flip
A = Fire
B = Bomb
Y = Go Home
L = Throttle Down
R = Throttle Up
p.s. If anyone can tell me how to adjust the volume of a single channel using just basic SDL audio (no SDL_mixer) if would be very grateful and might even build it into this game
I've successfully compiled the mplayer-sources optimized by ingenic.
Already listened to some music, but couldn't get video running, yet. Maybe someone of you is luckier or can give me a hint.
Sorry, but it's late here and I'm off for a trip tomorrow.
I've also got an mencoder-build liing around here, so if anyone is interested, just tell me.
Beware, it's still ALPHA-SOFTWARE and will certainly have issues from time to time. But maybe you can help me to experiment with the configs and get the hell out of this little beast Oh, and overclocking your dingoo before playing videos can certainly help with lots of videos.
Look, we're not going to say that the famed keyboard-mouse tandem is going anywhere soon, but we will say that there are certainly occasions where having to use a separate critter is a real pain. For those times when having mousing abilities right on the keyboard just seem more "right," there's the Adesso AKB-440. Aimed directly at HTPC users and the like, this rather vanilla looking keyboard spruces things up with a GlidePoint-enabled pad that puts your standalone mouse out of work. If your imagination is running wild with how this thing could revolutionize your life (or at least improve the feasibility of a living room PC), feel free to snag one now for $59.99.
What do you get when you cross a Neo-Geo and a Sega Genesis? A pretty vintage case mod. [Brett] used a variation of the 16-bit console (known as the Mega Drive II) as the base of his project. With an original Neo-Geo motherboard and a few other components (such as a power indicating LED), the ‘Geosis’ was born. [Brett] removed a few of the unnecessary parts from the mobo, like the power-amp, and set it up to work with a regular 5V DC wall adapter. The PCB also had to be clipped so it would fit into the Mega Drive chassis.
Though it may not be the case, some Neo-Geo motherboards in circulation have been salvaged from arcade machines. An enclosure would be essential for protecting them during standalone use – something [Brett] plans to do a lot.
The Financial Times is reporting that Sony is announcing 3D TVs for late 2010 at the IFA technology trade show in Berlin. It's another glasses-based technology with "active shutter" being employed (the same stuff teased at CES as well as employed on NVIDIA's glasses). Expect to see 3D Bravia television sets, Vaio laptops, PS3s and Blu-ray disc players compatible with this technology
Smivs writes with this interesting piece of computer history, excerpted from the BBC:
"Britain's oldest original computer, the Harwell, is being sent to the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley where it is to be restored to working order. The computer, which was designed in 1949 was built and used by staff at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, Oxfordshire. It first ran in 1951 and was designed to perform mathematical calculations. It lasted until 1973. When first built the 2.4m x 5m computer was state-of-the-art, although it was superseded by transistor-based systems. The restoration project is expected to take a year. Although not the first computer built in the UK, the Harwell had one of the longest service lives. Built by a team of three people, the device was capable of doing the work of six to ten people and ran for seven years until the establishment obtained their first commercial computer. 'We didn't think we were doing anything pioneering at the time,' said Dick Barnes, who helped build the original Harwell computer."
I'd like to wish a happy birthday to the Internet! Today marks its 40th birthday! In fall 1969, computers sending data between two California universities set the stage for the Internet, which became a household word in the 1990s. On September 2nd 1969, in a lab at the University of California, Los Angeles, two computers passed test data through a 15-foot gray cable. Stanford Research Institute joined the fledgling ARPANET network a month later; UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah joined by years end, and the internet was born.
OnLive has opened a beta test, inviting US users to sign up on its website to test the games-on-demand service, due to launch later this year.
One of the key challenges the OnLive technology will address is offering a consistently high quality experience to a range of different speed broadband services and PC and Mac configurations, the company stated in a website post.
As such, the beta will allow it to test out as many of these different situations as possible.
Potential testers are asked to sign up for the OnLive beta entering specific details about ISPs, computer, configuration and location. Potential fits for the test will then be sent an invitation email to conduct a performance test then slotted into a test group.
"Beta is an awesome milestone for OnLive, capping many years of work. We're really looking forward to hearing what you think," reads the post by OnLine founder and CEO Steve Perlman.
Perlman has said the cloud games technology, announced at GDC in March this year, has been in the making for seven years. Once released, it will allow consumers signed up to a monthly subscription to stream games directly to their computer or TV with no large installs or discs.
Up until now, OnLive has only been tested through internal betas. The closed beta launch marks the first time it will be put to the test on a mass scale. OnLive's biggest rival, Gaikai, plans to launch its US beta shortly, although a date for it is yet to be confirmed.
Sony Computer Entertainment's president of worldwide studios, Shuhei Yoshida says he thinks the platform holder was "late" in offering "platform-level" online support for the PS3.
Speaking in the latest issue of Edge magazine, which has a big cover feature on the new PS3 Slim, Yoshida said: "I think we were late to offer the platform-level support, to make the online functionality work at that level.
"We made the prior decision that you do not introduce the common centralised network names into every experience, so publishers made their own. That was fine at the start, but as more and more games have online functionality you need a unified approach.
"So Microsoft took that approach in the last generation, and maybe that's where people see the difference when they compare Xbox Live and PSN."
Commenting further on the state of Sony's online offerings, Yoshida said the company's making improvements with the new 3.0 firmware and further centralising the PlayStation Store into the PS3 experience.
On social networking, Yoshida said that SCE "should really continue to look at adding and improving" features on PSN, but didn't rule out looking at integrating existing sites like Facebook. "Something like 300 million people already have accounts on Facebook. Why should we ignore that?"
Latest MCV online survey focuses on Nintendo’s price point
The latest MCV online survey has gone live, in which you can express your opinion on crucial industry issues.
This week, we ask if the Wii can still compete with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 in light of the recent price cuts made to these rival consoles. Simply scroll down the homepage and make your choice on the right hand side.
Last week, we asked if the Xbox 360’s price cut was enough for the console to contend with the new, cheaper slimline PS3, yielding the following results:
Yes 40%
No 47%
Let's Wait And See 12%
While results are relatively evenly split, it seems the majority of users believe the £30 drop will be insufficient for the Xbox 360 to fend off the PS3 Slim.
A growing thread on the official PlayStation 3 forum alleges the recent hardware firmware upgrade to version 3.00 has spawned a host of controller connection issues for PS3 users. According to the forum, various wireless controllers -- some users specifically naming DualShock3 model CECHZC2H (Ceramic White) -- are unable to connect to the console. When turned on, users claim the controller LEDs for ports 1 and 2 activate, but the controller remains inoperable.
Users attempting to troubleshoot the problem claim that resetting the controller (through the built-in pinhole reset function) and plugging it directly into the console (via USB) do not correct the error, with one user going so far as doing a complete system restore to no avail. The issue, however, appears to be isolated, but is still a concern for a number of gamers.
Update: Overnight, the issue has spawned an interesting development. Users are pointing out that the problem may be isolated to "knock-off" PS3 controllers. Joystiq has contacted Sony for an update to see if XMB 3.00 targets these fakes or if the controller issue is simply a byproduct of the controllers not being able to catch up with the new firmware.
The fourth generation of hardware released for the PlayStation 3 entertainment platform, the PlayStation 3 120GB system is the next stage in the evolution of Sony's console gaming powerhouse. Loaded with a mix of multimedia features and functions available on earlier PlayStation 3 models, as well as a series of new advancements and refinements, the PlayStation 3 120GB system is destined to push the envelope in the realm of Next-Generation entertainment.
HDMI + Bravia Sync functionality
A new 33% slimmer, 36% lighter PlayStation 3 entertainment system
Includes a Dualshock 3 wireless controller and a built-in 120GB HDD
Built-in Wi-Fi for connectivity anywhere
Free membership and access to all the events
This VGA cable allows you to view the Wii or PS3 image on the amazingly wide screen of your HDTV, or watch it on your PC monitor comfortably. In this way, the image will be displayed in a more exciting way. This offers you an even more enjoyable gaming experience.
Transfer video from Wii and PS3 consolle to TV and PC
Display image on PC monitor or HDTV
Resolution of output: 480p (640x480) (with Wii)
Resolution of output: 480p/720p/1080i/1080p (with PS3)
Frequency of output: 50/60/75Hz
This VGA cable allows you to view the Wii or PS3 image on the amazingly wide screen of your HDTV, or watch it on your PC monitor comfortably. In this way, the image will be displayed in a more exciting way. This offers you an even more enjoyable gaming experience.
Transfer video from Wii and PS3 consolle to TV and PC
Display image on PC monitor or HDTV
Resolution of output: 480p (640x480) (with Wii)
Resolution of output: 480p/720p/1080i/1080p (with PS3)
Frequency of output: 50/60/75Hz
This radio speaker gives out the best sound effects. It is compatible with iPhone and iPod, and also features the radio function, making it a good choice fo radio clock. Furthermore, it comes with a remote control, using which, you can comfortably and easily control the speaker without moving your body.
Serve as the speaker for your iPod or iPhone
Feature radio function
Clear sound effect
Come with a remote control
Featuring the best variety and biggest rock stars of today combined with classic rock anthems, Guitar Hero 5 cranks it up again for video game rockers. For the first time ever, players can customize the make-up of their band by rocking with any combination of instruments in-game: whether it be two guitars and two drums, or three guitars and a microphone, any combination is possible, allowing players to experience music their own way.
Software compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour peripherals
Jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly, without interrupting their jam session
Play with any in-game instrument combination in any game mode
Features new in-game artists and rock legends
The entire 85 song set list is available from the beginning of the game
Featuring the best variety and biggest rock stars of today combined with classic rock anthems, Guitar Hero 5 cranks it up again for video game rockers. For the first time ever, players can customize the make-up of their band by rocking with any combination of instruments in-game: whether it be two guitars and two drums, or three guitars and a microphone, any combination is possible, allowing players to experience music their own way.
Software compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour peripherals
Jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly, without interrupting their jam session
Play with any in-game instrument combination in any game mode
Features new in-game artists and rock legends
The entire 85 song set list is available from the beginning of the game
Featuring the best variety and biggest rock stars of today combined with classic rock anthems, Guitar Hero 5 cranks it up again for video game rockers. For the first time ever, players can customize the make-up of their band by rocking with any combination of instruments in-game: whether it be two guitars and two drums, or three guitars and a microphone, any combination is possible, allowing players to experience music their own way.
Software compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour peripherals
Jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly, without interrupting their jam session
Play with any in-game instrument combination in any game mode
Features new in-game artists and rock legends
The entire 85 song set list is available from the beginning of the game
And so it is. Toshiba, the one-time cheerleader for HD-DVD, has now officially gone to the azure side with the BDX2000 Blu-ray player. It supports BD-Live (Profile 2.0) and REGZA-LINK (HDMI-CEC), outputs 1080p at 24 frames per second, and does Dolby True HD / DTS-HD Master Audio... but really, all that needs to be said here is that it's a Toshiba Blu-ray player. Look for this one-time paradox this November for a penny under $250. As for yesteryear, we think this line from the press release says it best: "This product does not play HD DVD discs." It's at once both sad and poetic that this very well may be the last official line ever uttered in the once-promising format's story.
The Children's Miracle Network and Xbox have joined together to outfit three children's hospitals with a $10.000 game room, and you get to help decide which three, potentially winning a 360 in the process.
From now through October 16th, visitors to xbox.childrensmiraclenetwork.org can cast their vote for the children's hospitals they feel are most in need (or most deserving, if you're feeling imperious) of an Xbox 360 game room makeover. Once the votes are tallied, the top three vote-earning hospitals will be equipped with $10,000 worth of Xbox 360 goodness, making sure that sick children are not only entertained, but big Microsoft fans as well.
"The Gameroom Giveaway is a fun opportunity for all of America to place votes on behalf of the Children's Miracle Network hospital of their choice, and also learn more about the Children's Miracle Network and the Xbox 360 partnership," said Brian Hazelgren, chief development officer, Children's Miracle Network. "Children's Miracle Network has found a phenomenal partner in Xbox, and appreciates their efforts in helping us raise funds and awareness for the 170 children's hospitals in our network."
Visitors can vote up to 10 times per day, with each vote entering them into a drawing for one of five Xbox 360 Elite consoles once the voting comes to a close. Nothing like being rewarded for your charitable efforts.
Gran Turismo rolls out on October 1st on disc and as a PlayStation Store download. SCEA announced both versions will cost $39.99.
A stand-alone version of Gran Turismo will be available on UMD and as a digital download on the PlayStation Network on October 1 for $39.99 (MSRP).
This is a shift from Sony’s strategy in Japan, which is selling downloadable versions at a discount. Sony began simultaneously releasing PSP games in stores and on the PlayStation Store in Japan last year. Downloadable versions have always been cheaper there, usually around $10 less. Even third party publishers like Irem are following suit with two tier pricing.
Unfortunately, digital releases of new PSP games cost the same as a boxed game in North America. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona from Atlus will be the first digital/retail release here. It will retail $39.99 in stores and on the PlayStation Store. In addition to getting a UMD, the physical copy of Persona also comes with a two disc soundtrack. It’s easy to see who is getting a better deal.
If Sony is really planning a digital push they should offer an incentive for the downloadable version since it can’t be resold. Well, technically Sony is offering an incentive by discounting downloadable versions, but that’s only for Japan.
Hmm i for one will stick to buying the UMD, aint no way am i paying the same price for a digital version that costs them nothing to produce (case, umd, manual etc)
Who else thinks its a barmy move to sell at the same price ?
Speaking to MCV, Microsoft EMEA VP Chris Lewis has proclaimed that Xbox 360's 9-million-plus European install base trumps PS3's recently projected 10-million-and-counting base. How is that possible, you ask? Simple. "We count installed base differently," Lewis explains. Of course!
In fact, Lewis takes the counting contention one step further. "We're confident we are actually around a million units ahead," he claims. While we're fairly certain both parties stick to the traditional "1, 2, 3" ... and so on convention, we suspect Lewis is arguing over just which "European" territories are at stake in this numbers game. SCEE pools its population from Europe, Australiasia and other territories outside of Japan, the rest of Asia and North America. Microsoft EMEA combines figures from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Kinda hard to wage a console war when the opposing sides are scurrying about different maps. So then, stalemate?
Speaking to MCV, Microsoft EMEA VP Chris Lewis has proclaimed that Xbox 360's 9-million-plus European install base trumps PS3's recently projected 10-million-and-counting base. How is that possible, you ask? Simple. "We count installed base differently," Lewis explains. Of course!
In fact, Lewis takes the counting contention one step further. "We're confident we are actually around a million units ahead," he claims. While we're fairly certain both parties stick to the traditional "1, 2, 3" ... and so on convention, we suspect Lewis is arguing over just which "European" territories are at stake in this numbers game. SCEE pools its population from Europe, Australiasia and other territories outside of Japan, the rest of Asia and North America. Microsoft EMEA combines figures from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Kinda hard to wage a console war when the opposing sides are scurrying about different maps. So then, stalemate?
Unless Microsoft's playing a nasty trick on its loyal fanbase, the latest Zune newsletter confirms a feature-laden software update, very likely what we've been calling Zune 4.0, is due out on Tuesday, September 15th, the same day as Zune HD takes its place among its fading peers. "All-new Zune software packed with exciting new features," you say? We'll be looking forward to more HD video options and an apps marketplace, all the while bemoaning our cut in HDTV Media Center recording capabilities. As for any other surprises, looks like we'll just have to wait and see -- for now. Full Zune newsletter reprinted after the break.
Microsoft today began permanently banning gamers they describe as "illegitimate ODST players" from their Xbox Live online service.
Earlier today Xbox Live Chief of Police Stephen Toulouse wrote on his Twitter page that he had seen some illegitimate ODST players, referring to Xbox 360's upcoming Halo 3: ODST, online.
"No early play for you," he wrote. "Commencing permabans."
Toulouse later clarified on his Twitter that people who bought the game early and are playing it safe.
We contacted Toulouse for more details about how widespread the bannings are and how Microsoft is differentiating between legitimate owners of the game, which went on sale at at least one store early, and those who obtained the game through illegitimate means.
Toulouse told Kotaku that he can't go into specifics about how they detect and how many they ban because they don't want to tip off pirates to their methods.
"I can be clear however that this applies to illegitimate copies only, the ban covers the Xbox LIVE account and could possibly include their console depending on the results of our investigations (which are ongoing). We do this from time to time with titles to combat piracy," he wrote to Kotaku. "If a user happens to purchase a legit copy of Halo 3: ODST early, then our problem is not with the user but the retailer who broke the street date. Those individuals will not be punished."
GamesIndustry.biz has launched its 2009 Career Fair, due to take place this October in two locations alongside the Eurogamer Expo.
The Career Fair once again offers students, graduates and job seekers a chance to meet with established developers and publishers from the UK, Europe and beyond, and is free to all those signing up for the Eurogamer Expo.
For 2009, the GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair takes place in Leeds on October 27-28 at the Royal Armouries, and in London on October 30-31 at Old Billingsgate.
Companies already confirmed for the London event include Crytek, Sega, Starbreeze and Ubisoft, while Team 17 and the University of Bradford have signed up for the Leeds dates - with more to be announced shortly.
This year will also see the return of the BAFTA Surgeries, allowing attendees to get valuable face-to-face time with developers and publishers in a small and intimate environment, as well as a series of speaker sessions offering advice and insight into specialist videogame roles.
Tickets for the Eurogamer Expo can be bought from the official site, and more details on the Career Fair will be added to the event's page over time.
Those interested in exhibiting, sponsorship or advertising opportunities should contact Rupert Loman.
RawkSD allows you to install custom songs as DLC onto an SD card, to be played in Rock Band 2. It also allows importing songs from Rock Band 1 and all Guitar Hero games
Changelog
v2.01
Fixed MIDI saving bug with Guitar Hero 5, World Tour, Metallica, and Smash Hits
Imported drum chart is Expert rather than Expert+
Pedrocrespo has released Karaokii v0.05, a Karaoke game with Ultrastar compatibility.
Karaokii is just what its name says: a Karaoke for Wii.
It shows the lyrics from the song is playing by following the rhythm of the music. All files must be stored under /apps/Karaokii/songs/ in a SD card readable by Wii.
You can download some sample songs via Karaokii Download Center or use a Ultrastar one. You can send Karaokii made by you by contacting me (see my profile) or in discussion page of this article. A form would be available soon.
The controls are explained in the program, but here are the basic features:
- 2 layers ("BG" and "Top"). BG gets copied over when you create a new frame, so you can have a persistent background, or modify it as you go.
- 60 color palette, which can all be modified.
- Brush size up to 16 pixels, with optional pressure sensitivity.
- Up to 10000 frames, or until memory runs out.
- Undo/redo. Up to 32 levels, or until it fills its 128KB buffer.
- Onion skinning.
- Copy/paste (currently only copies full layers).
- Zoom up to 16x.
NEW in v1.5
- Onion skinning can now be turned on for previous frame, next frame, or both.
- Onion skinning works while zoomed in.
- Added halftone brushes.
- Added 16x zoom level.
- Added Merge Layers button, to combine both layers into one.
- Added page buttons to save/load menu, so you can now use up to 100 slots.
- Added Up/X tool selection. You can now switch between Fill, Eraser, and Dropper.
Changes for 1.5b
- Preview is now loaded one frame at a time, to reduce memory usage (this was effectively cutting the maximum animation size in half).
Things I'd like to add:
- One more layer.
- Less stylus jumping.
- A Mario Paint style music sequencer.
- Playing a wav/mp3/etc. file along with the animation.
- Recording a sound track with the microphone.
- Stamps.
- Save calibration settings to a config file.
Feel free to add to the list, or to vote for which of the ones on there that you'd like to see first.
During the last days I played around with espeak and made a demo for it on the NDS.
espeak itself works without modifications on the DS - but it only can generate .wav files.
I did some changes and here it goes:
---
See ./arm9/espeak/espeak_global.h for samplerate, sound format (8/16 bit) and the data-path setting
Quote
Here some more details about the changes I did to espeak
I only modified the high-level stuff to have some easy functions and raw output.
speak.cpp:
this is a very small demo showing that espeak works on the NDS
I just did some small changes
- get rid of warnings
- add an option to decide between 8bit or 16bit
- add an option to decide between 22050 or 11025 Hz (or even lower, but then it sound REALY shitty)
- removed the usual main() function with the getopt stuff and instead did a ES_InitCFG function
- stdout is used during the writing process to get the stuff into the buffer (added a io handler)!
( Thats the reason why fprinting to stderr :/)
You know that free 1000 Nintendo Points offer that comes with every Nintendo DSi system? Well, it's about to expire. As an incentive to get people to link their systems online and to show off the DSi Shop Channel and its DSiWare, Nintendo gives every DSi owner 1000 free points to purchase any downloadable product. But the offer is limited: come October 5, 2009, you won't be able to get those 1000 points.
For those that have already set up their system, have been awarded the 1000 points and haven't spent them yet, don't worry: DSi Points don't expire. If those 1000 points are still on your system they're not going away. Just the offer.
So set up your Nintendo DSi to a compatible Wi-Fi hotspot, log onto the DSi Shop, and get your 1000 points onto your system before Nintendo takes away the offer at 12pm Pacific time on October 5th.
Moscas user of our forums, releases a new update for its program GoblinPSP, multipurpose utility that comes to the PC version 2.5.1.0. Goblins PSP will allow you to make backups of data on your memory stick, load and / or delete your backup UMD, and launch programs like RemoteJoy USBIsoloader, upgrade your custom firmware and manage your plugins. In this new release have been fixed some bugs in the program and improve the management of the setup.
Following the full changelog and the link to download.
Changelog v2.5.1.0:
Quote:
- If you are upgrading from a version lower than v2.0.0.0 you must uninstall GoblinPSP
- Fixed BUG
- Fixed language
- Improved management of the Setup implementing the creation of the link on the "Desktop" and the menu "Start-> Programs"
- Disable the Desktop Management link from the Admin
The coder Japanese ClassG updates its useful plugin macrophytes that comes to version 3.0.6. I remember that macrophytes is a prx that lets you store more keys combos and execute them with the push of just one, thus facilitating the execution of special moves such as those found in many fighting games. Furthermore, the plugin allows you to change the sensitivity of analogue and set the autofire for a key. Usual changelog in Japanese does not allow us to know what's new in this release. There therefore remains to prove that this update and check for improvement.
Hello everyone,
welcome to my 4th release of my adhoc app, and what might be my final release unless someone can give me a good enough reason or idea of why I should release any more versions, then let me know. here is the change log.
--Added option to enable/disable text glow color
--Added option to change size of text size in messages
--Rearranged the menu a little bit
CNN is running an interview with Eran Egozy and Alex Rigopulos, founders of Harmonix, about the long road that eventually led them to the creation of Guitar Hero and Rock Band . It wasn't an quick or easy process, and the two worked on a number of unsuccessful concepts before arriving at the games that redefined a genre. Quoting:
"I was watching people interact with our product, and the realization came crashing down on me — we had spent 18 months on a music system that was fundamentally flawed. Karaoke isn't about personal expression. It's about people reproducing the songs they know as accurately as they can. The whole notion of adding improvisation elements just wasn't connecting. So I retreated to my hotel room and was depressed for the next two days. The company was on the rocks. We had zero revenue. We had been trying for four years to make something work. We were out of ideas. Those first four years had been a graveyard of mis-starts and product concepts that never made it anywhere. Worse, there was adequate information about two years into those four years to realize that our big concept was fatally flawed."
The Guardian has a story, primarily about a deal that allows YouTube to broadcast music videos again, but also covering a coalition of artist unions that are opposing new legislation in the UK that would punish file sharers more severely. From the article: 'A coalition of bodies representing a range of stars including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, and Damon Albarn attacks the proposals as expensive, illogical and "extraordinarily negative." The Featured Artists Coalition, the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, and the Music Producers Guild have joined forces to oppose the proposals to reintroduce the threat of disconnection for persistent file sharers, which was ruled out in the government's Digital Britain report in June
Gran Turismo package will differ from US version
Sony has confirmed a new variation of the Gran Turismo PSP Entertainment Pack will be heading to the UK.
The company told CVG: “There will be a GT bundle for the UK but it’s different to the US one.”
The US edition of this bundle was unveiled yesterday, and contains a PSP-3000, Gran Turismo, a memory stick and download vouchers.
MCV has contacted Sony for details on the new bundle’s content and release date.
Big Brother might have been pronounced dead this year following abysmal ratings, but that hasn't deterred Sony from jumping onto the bandwagon with a reality competition of its own.
The platform holder has announced it is to host its own gaming-focused reality programme called The Tester to be shown on the PlayStation Network later this year.
In it, entrants will go head-to-head in a series of game-themed elimination challenges designed to test "mental toughness, endurance and videogame knowledge", with the winner being awarded a position as a game tester at PlayStation's QA department in San Diego.
To be in with a chance of winning this "dream job", gamers are invited on the US PlayStation blog to complete an online form and submit a short video, with the best being selected to take part in the eight episode series.
This series will be made in conjunction with reality program specialists 51 Minds Entertainment, confirmed Sony, who are credited with inventing the 'celebreality genre' with US programs such as The Surreal Life, Flavor of Love and Rock of Love under its belt.
Scheduled to be distributed through the PlayStation Store this winter, episodes will be purchasable individually or as a whole series with a season pass, and available in high definition.
In an email interview with Wired, Wii Sports Resort producer Katsuya Eguchi revealed that, beyond the twelve events included in the final game, even more were planned that didn't quite make it in the game.
"We considered fishing and a water slide activity before deciding on the final twelve events," Eguchi said. We're having a hard time imagining a controllable, skill-based water slide game, which may have been one reason it didn't end up in Resort. "As for more unconventional concepts, we created a pretty fun prototype of kendama, a traditional Japanese toy, that just didn't fit the game's theme." So, a toy didn't fit the "resort" theme, but fighting with fake swords was completely appropriate? Working at Nintendo is complicated.
So yes, prognosticator of all electronic entertainment Michael Pachter told Gamasutra that he expects Take-Two to release the fifth full Grand Theft Auto game in 2010. It seems far-fetched to us (especially with another GTA IV episode still in the pipeline). But, sadly, Pachter doesn't give us a lot to work with in the piece, so, in the absence of details, we're just going to assume he's right. Journalized.
One thing that's actually hard to argue about from the piece, analysts are overwhelmingly positive about Take-Two in 2010 with a bevy of big titles like BioShock 2, Mafia 2, Red Dead Redemption and several others. Does Take-Two even need a Grand Theft Auto next year?
Capcom's Okami and Monster Hunter Freedom have been honoured with CEDEC Awards, sponsored by the Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association in Japan.
Okami, first released in 2006 on the PlayStation 2, picked up first prize in the Visual Arts category, while PSP hit Monster Hunter Freedom from 2005 took away the first prize for Game Design.
"Capcom is thoroughly committed to the creation of bold and unique games that are full of character," said the publisher. "With a focus on creating original titles, Capcom strives to maintain a competitive edge in a market on the verge of a bona-fide penetration period for next-generation consoles."
Say it's true. That I could finally be watching Hulu on a laptop with an OLED screen by next year. Companies have announced plans and showed concepts, but Samsung says we could see a commercial OLED notebook in 2010.
In case you're one of those people who can't stand conforming to society, holding a DSi decorated in spartan, matte black, these "WaSaBi" cases from Gametech can dress up your system while adding a bit of extra protection.
I can't wait to feel the motion sickness and intense migraines that I will get from playing Wipeout in a 3D television. According to Sony at IFA2009, a firmware update will bring stereoscopic display support to the PS3 in 2010.
The good news is that you won't need a Sony 3D Bravia to enjoy it. Any 3D TV will work,. Engadget has been playing with it at IFA and they say the experience is great.
Electronic Arts knows that we can't wait to get our Tetris fix on the Palm Pre, so instead of making us wait until the October release of Tetris Mania, they've released a thirty second demo. A thirty-freakin'-second demo
Opera 10 final is out, Chrome just turned one year old, and Firefox 3.5 has settled into stability. It's time once again to break out the timers and speed test today's web browsers.
Like all our previous speed tests, this one is unscientific, but thorough. We install the most current versions of each browser being tested—in this case, Opera 10, Chrome's development channel 4.0 version, and the final Firefox 3.5 with security fixes—in a system with a 2.0 GHz Intel Centrino Duo processor and 2GB of RAM, running Windows XP.
We use Rob Keir's tiny timer app to time each browser in the common ways that leave users waiting: a "cold start" right after boot, a "warm start" after already having run once, and waiting on eight tabs to load up. We run each test three times and average the results, tossing out any obvious irregularities.
We also run each browser through Mozilla's Dromaeo JavaScript testing suite, which itself is an aggregator of Apple's SunSpider suite, Google's V8 tests, and a few unique items. These tests run each browser's JavaScript interpreter and engine through a series of situational exercises. Mozilla's Firefox Director Mike Beltzner told us that JavaScript test results can be compared to horsepower, and can be tweaked by engine developers—still, a holistic solution isn't in our hands at the moment. Anyone feel like coding up a fake Gmail that captures test results?
Finally, we take a Windows Task Manager measurement of how much memory is being used at startup and after those eight tabs are loaded. The eight tabs are the same as in the last set of tests—basically, each browser's home page, and then the Google home page, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, and YouTube thrown in for good browser-dragging measure.
Xbox, Wii, PlayStation 3, SexBox? An integrated circuit manufacturer appears to be working on the SexBox, a console designed to play AO-rated games.
Silicon Xtal Corporation, located in San Jose California, registered the name SexBox in the US for use with a “video gaming console comprised of computer hardware with unique controls which plays Adult Only rated (AO) video game software titles.” Can’t get much clearer than that. The trademark description also explains the device may be used as a gateway to other adult entertainment and massive multiplayer online games. Wait, massive multiplayer adult games?
The company behind the proposed device says they worked on the Xbox 360 hardware. Microsoft probably won’t be amused with their choice of name.
Platform holders Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have not allowed any AO rated games on their console. Stores don’t carry AO games either. Titles rated Adults Only by the ESRB, such as the Indigo Prophecy: Director’s Cut, were sold and distributed online. The number of AO rated games is few, but there isn’t a device like the SexBox on the market to support them. Anyway, it doesn’t sound like the SexBox is designed to play Indigo Prophecy…
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