Shendo released a new version of his PSX MemoryCard editor.
Changelog:
* Fixed error with the Shift JIS to ASCII conversion where 'b' character would come out as "bb".
* Added icon editor per TheCloudOfSmoke's suggestion.
* Added preferences dialog where user can change settings.
* Added support for Memory Juggler single saves.
SAN FRANCISCO (March 2008) - SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced that Viking: Battle For Asgard™ for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system has shipped to retailers in North America. Developed by acclaimed studio, The Creative Assembly, Viking: Battle for Asgard is a new and horrific twist on Norse mythology that allows players to feel the power of a true Viking hero.
Viking: Battle For Asgard™ thrusts players into a mythological world overrun with demonic warriors unleashed by Hel, the Norse goddess of the underworld. As Skarin, a rage-fueled Viking hero, players will wage all-out war to free mankind from the grip of evil and ultimate annihilation. Players can command dragons and wield fire, ice, and lightning, laying waste to enemies in either small skirmishes or epic battles featuring hundreds of warriors. Enemies will suffer graphic dismemberment with disturbing realism from an array of Skarin’s melee, range, and magic attacks. Upgradable combat skills and Skarin’s otherworldly abilities create an ever-changing landscape of epic violence and heroic victory.
Viking: Battle for Asgard for Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 systems is rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board and will retail for $59.95. For more information on the game, please visit www.sega.com/viking. Screenshots and artwork can be found on the SEGA FTP site at: http://segapr.segaamerica.com.
It emulates:
* SG-1000
* Famicom & Famicom Disk System / NES
* Mark III / Master System
* PC Engine & PC Engine CD-ROM2 / Turbo Grafx 16 & Turbo Grafx CD
* Mega Drive & Mega CD / Genesis & Sega CD
* Super Famicom / SNES
* Neo Geo
* Neo Geo CD
* CPS Changer
* FM Towns Marty
* Game Boy & Game Boy Color
* Game Gear
* Neo Geo Pocket & Neo Geo Pocket Color
* Wonder Swan & Wonder Swan Color
Changelog:
[Xe] Implemented options to remove sticky memory cards / data disks on start up.
[Xe] Modified CD caching. Sectors are cached when they are accessed.
[Xe] Fixed cursor hiding in full screen mode.
[Xe] Fixed playback with only one frame.
[PC Engine] Improved VDC DMA timing.
[PC Engine CD-ROM2] Fixed audio play status.
[Mega CD] Fixed Timer frequency.
[Mega CD] Fixed a bad sub channel reading bug (broken in last version). Thanks to Tom Farrell
[Super Famicom] Fixed APU frequency calculation.
[Super Grafx] Fixed RAM size.
[FM Towns Marty] FM Towns Marty support
The past release was made in a hurry and
it lacked features still in development, hence this rerelease. On one
hand, LPTCPC and LPTPC can send and receive extended disc images: many
copy protections work fine; on the other hand, the FDC reading commands
have been improved too ("Arkanoid", "Gremlins 2", Epyx's "World Games",
etc.)
- Some overall processing speeds were sped up (The optimization option of the development compiler was changed). Especially, processing might have lightened in some measure on the personal computer environment with a not high spec.
- It corresponded to software that had changed the width of each line of the screen display. In Chapter-4 of "Yami no Ketsuzoku", the message came to be displayed correctly.
- Additionally, a detailed part has been improved and corrected.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has debuted at No1 in the UK, becoming the fastest selling PS3 title within a week.
Released as a budget title, the racer beats previous fastest weekly seller Resistance: Fall of Man, which set the record back at the time of the PS3's launch.
A 50 percent drop in weekly sales sees Ubisoft's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 drop one place to No2, while Sega's Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games also falls one spot to No3.
Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 climbs seven positions to No4, the release of the Wii version helping to drive a 109 percent jump in weekly sales, while Activision's Guitar Hero III rounds off the top five.
Sega's Viking: Battle for Asgard debuts at No8, EA's Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath at No16, Sega's House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return at No21 and Sony's God of War: Chains of Olympus at No29.
01. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (Sony)
02. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft)
03. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega)
04. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami)
05. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision)
06. Sega Superstar Tennis (Sega)
07. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision)
08. Viking: Battle for Asgard (Sega)
09. FIFA 08 (EA)
10. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo)
In an update to the official Age of Conan site, developer Funcom has revealed a couple of new player-versus-player combat modes for the massively multiplayer fantasy game.
The two mini-games provide a fast-paced PVP experience based on standard multiplayer gametypes - Funcom says they are "more akin to an FPS match than traditional MMO combat". Capture the Skull sounds very much like a capture the flag variant, while Team Annihilation is an even more straightforward race to the highest kill count - a team deathmatch mode, basically.
These should provide a welcome counterpoint to the game's widely publicised and highly involved siege warfare system for high-level players.
Check out the Age of Conan gamepage for more coverage of this promising MMO epic. Age of Conan will be released on May 20 on PC, with an Xbox 360 version to follow next year.
If you checked into those NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX benchmarks and felt they met with your high standards, now you can actually get one (or a bunch) into your rig. According to reports, the brain-laser of a graphics card can now be had (in various iterations) for the low, low price of $329.99 [£167] (at least from Newegg). And before you ask -- Crysis: Yes. Doom: Yes. Overlords: Welcome. Will blend: Yes. Russia: Benchmarks you.
Has it really been 10 years since StarCraft graced the RTS world and gave birth to the term "zerg" - mass rush on an enemy with overwhelming numbers, essentially - for the PC gaming lexicon? Yes, yes it has.
Blizzard obviously hasn't let this pass by in silence, and to celebrate the game's tenth birthday has posted up a retrospective on what it calls "a revolutionary real-time strategy game".
Apparently StarCraft managed to shift one and a half million copies worldwide when it released in 1998, which seems a huge number considering how old it is, and that's since increased to 9.5 million. It's massive still in South Korea, where the fingertips of armchair generals fly over keyboards in multiplayer tournaments.
"Augmented with the essential Brood War expansion pack, StarCraft remains one of the most popular online games in the world. Its legacy as a cornerstone Blizzard Entertainment franchise as well as a classic of the real-time strategy genre was recently brought back into focus with the announcement of StarCraft II", the developer says.
StarCraft II "intends to take the single-player and multiplayer strengths that were developed in StarCraft and elevate them to new heights".
Yep, the sequel is one of 2008's huge RTS releases. We don't expect Blizzard to fumble the ball.
The NES emulator for PC was translated to the finnish language by Bippo Ernesti.
This is what he said:
ello everybody, I just joined this forum. Anyway, I decided to try out making a Finnish translation for Jnes 1.0. I tried to make it as easy to comprehend as possible. I was also wondering, is there a way to translate anything else except the language file in the "languages" folder?
Here is the link to the page where the file can be downloaded from:
Click on the link that says "Click here to get the translation file (2 kb~)" to get it. Sorry if this sounds or seems inconvenient, but this was the simplest way I thought of.
The Sims: FreeTime and The Sims 2 Deluxe have monopolised the top two places in the US PC charts, according to data from NPD for the week ending March 22.
Sins of a Solar Empire came third, with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare fourth and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Soulstorm fifth, reports videogaming247.com.
World of Warcraft variations make up sixth, seventh and ninth positions, only disturbed by Cake Mania in eighth and Diner Dash 2 rounding off the top ten.
The full chart is as follows:
1. The Sims: FreeTime
2. The Sims 2 Deluxe
3. Sins of a Solar Empire
4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
5. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Soulstorm
6. World Of Warcraft
7. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
8. Cake Mania
9. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
10. Diner Dash 2
Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment's MMO Stargate Worlds is something of an unknown quantity at the moment, but we'll say this for it - the developer's conjuring up eye-catching environments.
Witness its work in the latest screenshot from the game which, considering it's an MMO, is none too shabby at all.
Stargate Worlds is trying to trade in on the familiarity of WOW and provide a well-defined and popular sci-fi universe to play in, but at the same time the MMO will try to distinguish itself using its brains. We'd love to be pleasantly surprised by Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment's project.
Read this recent preview on the MMO for further details on what the developer's planning.
Asus just announced the release of a software development kit for EeePC. This kit, based on the free version of XAndros (version 4.5) will allow developers to find the grass roots to plan for the best EeePC.
The SDK includes the Eclipse development environment, a graft Qt4 and a tool to create packages in Debian format.
This SDK will not only create applications in C / C + + for PC Eee, but for the EP20, mini desktop computer in the range planned for this year.
The NPD Group (those same people who bring us all the neat sales numbers) just published their annual results charting how much of the US actually plays video games. And yeah, we already gave away the punchline in the headline.
72% of Americans play some sort of video games (that's up from 64% last year). Of that 72%, only 42% play games online (that's up from 40% last year). And of that 42% of online players, 90% play online with their PC. Also of note, 50% of online console gaming was on the Xbox 360. And only 2-3% of NPD's respondents reported owning more than one console. How's that for some late afternoon watercooler fodder?
MAMETesters Bugs Fixed
----------------------------------------
01650: [Gameplay] ridgerac: Unstable Freezes that ends with Crash and needs totally reboot under XP (Aaron Giles)
01542: [Graphics] 3wonders, 3wonderu, wonder3: Wrong colour of background in game selection and start screens (Nicola Salmoria)
00403: [Graphics] 3wonders: Points are displayed between lives of first player and the word INSERT COIN: (Nicola Salmoria)
00410: [Graphics] xmcota: After a couple passes through the demo mode, the background on the qsound screen will go to a shade of green. (Nicola Salmoria)
01519: [Graphics] msh: After beating the game, the screen turns different colors for the endings and everything (Nicola Salmoria)
01468: [Graphics] ldrun2: Priority problem at titlescreen (Nicola Salmoria)
01469: [Graphics] ldrun2: Compared to the PCB does MAME show less graphic at the bottom of the screen. (Nicola Salmoria)
01661: [Graphics] rougien: sprite disappear (Robiza)
01613: [Graphics] swcourt, swcourtj: Strange sprites cutting on the edge of screen (Pierpaolo Prazzoli)
01622: [Core] -refreshspeed has no effect (Aaron Giles)
01629: [Graphics] raiga, stratof: broken colors on sprites (Aaron Giles)
01630: [Graphics] fstarfrc, ginkun, riot: broken colors on sprites (Aaron Giles)
01627: [Misc.] spbactn, spbactnj: Crashes with Access Violation (Aaron Giles)
01598: [Graphics] 4in1, gmgalax, pacmanbl: Sprites are cut off on the top row (Aaron Giles)
01563: [DIP/Input] gmgalax: Duplicated Inputs (Aaron Giles)
00300: [Graphics] zigzag: in cocktail mode player 2 screen is shift over to the right. (Aaron Giles)
01623: [DIP/Input] ssprint and clones: Coins don't seem to match machine order. (RansAckeR)
01454: [Graphics] mshuttle, mshuttlj, mshutlj2: The display of the screen is shifted. (Aaron Giles)
01473: [Graphics] orbitron: Orbitron graphics not correctly displayed (Aaron Giles)
01600: [Graphics] pacmanbl, batman2: The background is shifted to the right and cut off on the right side. (Aaron Giles)
01602: [Misc.] luctoday: Messed up graphics. (Screen Offset) (Aaron Giles)
01599: [Graphics] omega: Screen is vertically offset. (Aaron Giles)
01605: [Graphics] gteikokb, gteikob2: Wrong screen offset (Aaron Giles)
Cidelsa driver updates: [Curt Coder]
- de-deprecated the timer callbacks
- moved PCB RAM to the heap and fixed index overflow
- converted CDP1869 to the new device system
- refactored to represent how the hardware actually works
- added PMA latching on OUT5
- separated Cidelsa video to its own file
COP CPU updates: [Curt Coder]
- implemented interrupt
- implemented serial input/output
- fixed XAD/LDD, XIS1, RMB3 opcodes
- fixed clock divider
- fixed internal memory map size
- added some cpu variants
- fixed serial timer
- fixed clocks
- fixed COP410 RMB3, XAD instructions
- general cleanup
Fix cfg file corruption if joystick is not connected; itemclass now part of token if item is not found. Settings for joysticks which use a custom item id will still be lost. A fallback has to be provided here since those will use a token generated from the input item name. [couriersud]
Memory system changes: [smf]
* Now passing mem_mask to the read and write debug hooks. This allows the address & size of the memory access to be correctly calculated when using a memory call that takes a mem_mask.
* New macros added for checking mem_mask. ACCESSING_BITS_m_n, These check for any access within the bounds between bit 'm' and bit 'n' (counting bit 0 as the least significant bit). Currently the pattern for checking whether both bytes of a word is written is to make two byte checks.
* All occurrences of ACCESSING_LSB, ACCESSING_MSB, ACCESSING_LSB16, ACCESSING_MSB16, ACCESSING_LSB32, ACCESSING_MSB32, ACCESSING_LSW32, ACCESSING_MSW32 & simple mem_mask checks have been replaced with the new macros.
Added fatal error if AM_READ_PORT() references a non-existent port. [Aaron Giles]
Converted special-case DIP switches (service, unknown, unused) into their own token type rather than expanding into other tokens. The reduces the number of redundant strings and data. [Aaron Giles]
Galaxian rewrite. Ultimately will combine the existing drivers for galaxian, scramble, frogger, scobra, amidar, and dambustr. For the moment, only a subset of games are implemented in the new system; the remainder are running on the old code. Main features are accurate video timing, correct stars implementation, better organization, simplified input ports, and many other smaller fixes. [Aaron Giles, stephh]
Minor cleanup and simplification in the video and palette code. Removed palette_config(). [Aaron Giles]
Fixed interrupt handling and 16-bit memory accessors in 6840ptm.c. Also cleaned up code for the sake of readability. [Philip Bennett]
Added multiplier (same as wecleman) to Flak Attack. Info provided by VU801qCf. [Yasuhiro Ogawa]
Namco NA1 improvement: [Pierpaolo Prazzoli]
* Fixed sprites shadow in namcona1 driver and removed Emeraldia hack.
* Added tilemaps and sprites 4bpp mode
* Added preliminary ROZ implementation (disabled until the enable / disable register is found)
* Changed background pen to fix emeralda demo
Discrete sound system improvements: [couriersud]
* Added DISCRETE_RCFILTER_SW to discrete sound. This implements multiple RC networks with CD4066 switches to connect/disconnect capacitor.
* Implemented discrete mixing in circusc using DISCRETE_RCFILTER_SW and sound routing to route 76416 output to discrete logic.
* Added discrete filtering and mixing to galaxian.c games using konami_sound.
* Fixed timing of stream_update in discrete_sound_w. All sound cores update before processing changed data.
* Added streeam_update to discrete_sound_r
* Now supports multiple output nodes per module. In this case, NODE_XXX is the default output. Alternative outputs may be accessed by using NODE_XXX_YY where 00<Y<08.
This should e.g. make discrete sound emulation easier when dealing with e.g. flip flops (Q & QQ) and binary counters.
* Added sanity checks to check consistency issues introduced by this change
* Modules specify number of outputs ==> Certain special modules (WAVELOG) may no longer be used as input nodes
* Removed explicit (NODE_XX + expr) from a couple of drivers
Fixed encoding/decoding of negative denormal floats in the AICA/SCSP DSP. Shouldn't actually affect any games. [kingshriek, Deunan Knute]
Changed Seibu sound CPU to use AM_READ_PORT("COIN") instead of input_port_0_r. [stephh]
bloodbro.c driver improvements to DIP locations and coin modes. Added notes for 'bloodbra'. [RansAckeR, stephh]
Add input ITEM_IDs for additional axes and switches. Also added ITEM_IDs for up to 4 hats/POVs. [couriersud]
Merged memory maps for half of the W drivers. Also made a couple of random touchups for X, Y, and Z drivers. [Andrew Gardner]
Added a little magic to make the Atomiswave BIOS try to be more verbose, but our video emulation isn't good enough to cooperate. [R. Belmont, ElSemi]
Added bootleg of badlands - heavily modified, not working. [David Haywood]
Fixed DS2401 state loading now that the digital i/o board's serial number has been changed to a const by not saving it. As the serial number cannot be changed at run time it was rather pointless. [smf]
BFCobra improvements: [Anonymous]
* Added plane priority to blitter, fixing Treble Top signature writing
* Video output now supports all modes - lores, hires, mixedres, 8/7/4/3 bits/pixel, fixing Every Second Counts colour problems
* Added line draw, fixing missing stuff from Question Of Sport
* Change blitter loop type control - there are 4 types of loop.
* Corrected video frame rate to 50Hz.
* Corrected Z80 speed to 5.91mhz
* Accounted for Z80 cycles stolen during a blit operation. Improves gfx/sound sync and seems to fix the final round lockup in Every Second Counts.
Various SCSI devices register state items by their disk ID, which are not unique across device types. Introduced a device-type offset for CD-ROMs so their registrations don't clash with harddisks. [R. Belmont]
Fixed tilemap viewer to draw the whole tilemap when categories are used. Added new option TILEMAP_DRAW_ALL_CATEGORIES to do this efficiently. Updated several drivers to use this instead of rendering each category independently where appropriate. [Nicola Salmoria]
Added DIP locations to blueprnt.c [RansAckeR]
Fixed ledutil.c so it compiles cleanly under MSVC. [Mike Haaland]
Astrocade update: [Dirk Best]
- Update src/mame/includes/astrocde.h to use an XTAL value
- Clear interrupts if they are no longer valid
- Add the knob inputs
Added new makefile flag VERBOSE which enables gcc's verbose output during compile. [Marc Sandusky]
Corrected clocks on Rygar. [Corrado Tomaselli]
Changed "Machine" to "machine" in a number of places when the running machine parameter is already available. In some cases this also allowed for the removal of deprecat.h. [Oliver Stoenberg]
Did some major cleanup and gutting of pcshare.c. [Wilbert Pol]
Created a built-in overlay for Armor Attack using just rectangles. [Mr. Do!]
Added dynamic control of RX and TX pins to 6850 ACIA emulation - this is needed for correct operation of the MPU4 Video communications system, and may be handy for some MESS systems. To use, set the rx and tx clocks to 0 in the acia interface, then use acia_tx_clock_in() and acia_rx_clock_in() respectively. [James Wallace]
Added proper implentation of hardware collision in mermaid. This fixes mermaid (when the player is in the water with the sharks) and rougien. Also fixed priorities in mermaid and rougien and a sprite wrapping bug. [Robiza]
Fixed CPS1 background color. This fixes 3 wonder (game start) and mtwins (explosion during attract). It seems to break Varth, however, and has dubious effects on the boot sscreens of avsp, sfa3 and possibly other CPS2 games. [Nicola Salmoria]
Added discrete filtering and mixing to ironhors. One driver less using FILTER_RC. [couriersud]
Fixes for aerfboot (bootleg of aerofgt): [Robiza]
- fixes spriteram3 (previous value was too high and in the "city" level some build disappear
- sprite gfx bank (previously some sprite appear right and some sprite was wrong)
- fixed perfectly the sprite zoom
- removed multisprite support; in the bootleg aren't present
Converted the pit8253 implementation into a device. To make it easier to use I've also created a src/emu/devconv.h in the same style as src/emu/memconv.h. [Wilbert Pol]
Replaced anonymous timer in tx1 with an allocated one to make state saving closer to reality. [Hugh Allen]
Changed winwork.c from using hand-built scalable locks to using standard Windows CriticalSections for now, to hopefully address [something?]
New games added or promoted from NOT_WORKING status
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Multi Game III [Mariusz Wojcieszek]
New clones added
---------------------------------
Off Road Challenge (2 sets) [Guru]
Deer Hunting USA V2 [Brian Troha]
Super Bishi Bashi Champ (Korea) [Guru]
New games marked as GAME_NOT_WORKING
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Give us a Break [Philip Bennett]
Ten Up [Philip Bennett]
Beeline [Philip Bennett]
Chase Bombers [Bryan McPhail]
Comic book character video games, even those based on comic book movies, love utilising power upgrades as motivation to perform well, and nowhere is this nearly as appropriate as in Sega's upcoming Iron Man game. In a diary posted over at IGN today, Game Director Jeffrey Tseng explains how the upgrade system works in the game.
Completing missions gives you cash, which I suppose is odd for a billionaire playboy, but we'll run with that. The better you perform, the better upgrades you can buy for your armour. Before each mission you can swap out various parts, much like your standard mech combat game...and I suppose that's what Iron Man is - a tiny mech. You can swap out repulsors, core systems, power cores, thrusters, and auxiliary weapons, allowing you to create a suit of armour well-suited to your armour needs. With multiple levels of upgrades available in each category, the Iron Man fanboy in me has actually caught on fire in anticipation of the game. I may even - given the opportunity - girlishly squeal.
During an interview with Rockline Radio, a caller asked eighties rock band Def Leppard why none of their songs have been offered in any of the Guitar Hero or Rock Band games.
Guitarist Phil Collen granted fans' wishes by announcing that three of songs will be featured in Guitar Hero 4: "Photograph", "Animal" and "Rock of Ages" from their Pyromania and Hysteria albums.
The episode of Rockline will be made available on April 29.
The effects of Nintendo's mass market strategy can be felt worldwide, both in the US and in the game maker's homeland.
According to Famitsu (via Kotaku), the Nintendo DS sold over 6.3 million units during Japan's 2007 fiscal year, topping the hardware charts for the year in the country. The second slot belonged to the Wii, which managed over 3.7 million units, edging out number three PSP, which had over 3.4 million in sales.
Xbox 360, unsurprisingly, captured the last spot on the list.
Hardware charts are below (Famitsu didn't include sales of the PlayStation 2):
Nintendo DS: 6,343,547 units sold in 2007 (22,169,761 units cumulative)
Wii: 3,741,946 units in 2007 (5,695,579 units cumulative)
PSP: 3,427,971 units in 2007 (8,574,026 units cumulative)
PS3: 1,197,418 units in 2007 (2,009,492 units cumulative)
Xbox 360: 235,318 units in 2007 (602,558 units cumulative)
On the software front, the exercise-inspired Wii Fit was able to capture the top spot with 1.7 million sold. The rest of the top-selling software chart was nothing but other Nintendo titles:
1. Wii Fit: 1,762,193 copies sold
2. Mario Party DS: 1,659,315 copies sold
3. Wii Sports (unbundled in Japan): 1,616,377 copies sold (total: 2,840,389)
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl: 1,554,852 copies sold
5. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: 1,354,447 copies sold
Atari has told Eurogamer that it is pushing the release of Alone in the Dark back from May to June.
The Xbox 360, PC, Wii and PS2 versions will now be available on 20th June in Europe and 24th June in the US. A PS3 offering is still "to follow".
The reason for the delay is because Atari and Eden want to offer the best possible game they can. The extra month will allow for additional polish and any bugs to be ironed out.
Atari was keen to get across that it has had positive responses from all who have seen the title, which is very much a flagship game for the publisher.
Former Sony bosstype Phil Harrison joined Atari at the beginning of March, bigging up "the best opportunity that exists in the industry today to redefine, refocus and re-energise an incredible brand, an incredible group of people towards that networked future".
We saw Alone in the Dark at the end of February and heavily recommended it be on your radar as one to keep an eye on.
In a recent post on his official blog, EA Sports President Peter Moore talked about EA's decision to not publish its flagship Madden franchise on the PC when Madden NFL 09 ships later this August.
While the PC gaming market may be in great shape because of online titles, subscriptions, micro-transactions and digital downloads, the retail side of the PC gaming market is completely overshadowed by consoles. When an industry juggernaut like Electronic Arts won't release its best selling franchise on the platform, something is definitely not right.
"We knew that our decision to not develop this year's Madden for the PC would be an unpopular decision in some circles. But I'll reiterate what I said a couple of weeks ago in this space...the PC presents some very serious business challenges to us in the sports category, particularly because so many of you all are playing your favorite sports games on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii," Moore explained.
He continued, "We are committed to shipping a limited number of our games on the PC this year, but we've also had to cut a few of our games from the platform. We do have ideas for how to revitalize the PC for sports games and the types of games that are best suited to the platform, and we'll continue to explore those."
Ironically, this is the same man who as a Microsoft executive said that Windows Vista ushered in a PC gaming "renaissance." Apparently, Madden doesn't meet "renaissance" standards.
THQ has officially lifted the lid on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II.
The sequel will be PC-only, and returning developer Relic is aiming for a spring 2009 release. Those of you buying Dawn of War expansion Soulstorm will be invited able to take part in an upcoming multiplayer beta test.
Dawn of War II has few surprises on its feature hitlist, other than a fully co-operative multiplayer campaign for you and your friends - just like Red Alert 3, which claims it pioneered the idea.
Other than that, there are zeitgeist promises of destructible environments and spectacular visuals. Also, Orkz and Space Marines.
The sequel has been rumoured for some time, with sources claiming it has been in development since late 2006 and will support all the fancy DirectX 10 and multiple-core CPU technology that people talk about on lunchbreaks these days.
The website promises more information as soon as tomorrow.
Dawn of War is a critically acclaimed real-time strategy series, for those of you still in the dark about it.
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G for the PlayStation Portable has gone straight in at number one in the Japanese software sales chart, according to information from Media Create for the week ending March 30.
The Capcom title sold 880,000 units, over eight times more than the week's second-placed game, Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage - which itself only sold around 240,000 on its debut at number one the previous week.
Monster Hunter's stunning showing also eclipsed the week's next highest new entry, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 for the Nintendo DS in third, which sold 49,000 copies.
Wii Fit held steady in fourth place, followed in fifth by the PSP edition of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Lost Colors and Super Smash Bros Brawl in sixth, which broke the 1.5 million mark during that week.
The PlayStation 2 edition of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Lost Colors took seventh place, with Deca Sporta in eighth, SimCity DS 2: From the Past to the Future in ninth and Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Cinema Land rounding out the top ten list.
The full top ten is as follows:
1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP)
2. Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage (DS)
3. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (DS)
4. Wii Fit (Wii)
5. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Lost Colors (PSP)
6. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
7. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Lost Colors (PS2)
8. Deca Sporta (Wii)
9. SimCity DS 2: From the Past to the Future (DS)
10. Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Cinema Land (DS)
Research conducted by staff at the University of Bolton and Whitman College has concluded that some video game players can show signs of autism and character traits associated with the condition.
The researchers questioned 391 people, 86 per cent of whom were male. They apparently took notice of the relationships between addiction, 'high engagement' and personality.
Findings 'revealed' that those players who were closer to what they defined as addicted, they would exhibit traits such as neuroticism, a lack of extraversion and agreeableness.
Dr Charlton of the University of Bolton commented: "Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming."
So basically, the University of Bolton has discovered that an introverted, neurotic and non-empathising cross-section of humanity is heavily involved in things that doesn't make it feel uncomfortable.
It's about as profound as saying moths are attracted to bright lights. Thanks UoB.
Sega has confirmed the leaks and backed up its lawyers by officially announcing its next major Sonic the Hedgehog title: Sonic Unleashed.
Sonic Unleashed is being developed by Sonic Team, and will be released late this year for Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2. It features "classic Sonic 2D gameplay" rendered by the all-new Hedgehog engine, which apparently excels at seamless 3D to 2D camera transitions. Observe them in the official, non-leaked, absolutely watertight video.
The engine's been under development for three years, with the intention of blending a next-generation look with classic Sonic gameplay mechanics. Purists rejoice. We certainly are: it looks lovely.
It wouldn't be a Sonic game without a gimmick of some kind, however, and we're promised a "completely new way to play as Sonic" when darkness sets in - lending more than a little weight to the earlier claims that he would transform into a werewolf. Combat will play a much more important role - in the werewolf sections, we're betting - while Sonic's more traditional high-speed skills will be featured in four new modes.
The plot's pretty simple: Dr Eggman has broken the world apart, and Sonic must travel around the seven broken continents, sticking it back together with Chaos Emerald power.
It all sounds appealingly old-school. Consider us cautiously optimistic, and watch out for more details on Sonic Unleashed in the coming months.
It emulates Atari Lynx, GameBoy (Color), GameBoy Advance, NES, PC Engine(TurboGrafx 16), SuperGrafx, Neo Geo Pocket (Color), PC-FX, and WonderSwan (Color).
Changelog:
Added <string.h> to the global include list in mednafen.h.
Added boolean setting "debugger.autostepmode" that, when set to 1, will cause Mednafen to automatically start the debugger in step mode after a game is loaded (only if Mednafen has a debugger for the emulated system, of course).
NES: Fixed CNROM emulation initialization bug.
PCE: ADPCM software reset was erroneously also resetting the playback frequency. Fixed. (Fixes ADPCM voices in Gulliver Boy)
PCE: Fixed disassembly of the JMP $(AAAA, X) instruction.
PCE, PC-FX: Improved PSG LFO emulation.
PC-FX: Emulated gamepad button presses weren't being decoded from the driver-side data correctly (causing problems on big-endian platforms). Fixed.
PC-FX: Improved the logging of the ROM font system call in the debugger, to also include the callee address and the size of the glyph being requested.
PC-FX: Disassembly of the "nop" instruction will no longer show the virtually meaningless operand.
PC-FX: Fixed alignment and prettified the disassembly of LDSR and STSR instructions.
SMS: SMS pause and 2-player support were erroneously commented out. Fixed.
We puzzled over Microsoft's cryptic statements at CeBIT that the Eee's "other requirements" would lead to an adjustment of the Windows 7 timeline, and it looks like our first guess was spot-on: Microsoft will be making Windows XP available for Eee-class ultraportables until 2010, and possibly later. Demand for XP on devices like the Eee and Intel's Classmate machines has prompted MS to reconsider axing XP entirely this June: the company will now sell XP Home through at least June 2010, and for one year after the release of Windows 7 -- which means sales of XP could stretch into 2012. There's no word on if the build of XP Home targeted at the ultraportable laptop set will be different from regular XP builds, but we doubt there'll be many changes -- it'll be awfully sad if people are still clamoring for XP more than a decade after its initial release, though.
Welcome to this week's Games Update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.
Interesting games that came out this week include the US version of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 for PlayStation2™. The 3D rendered konoha village has a host of ninjas who specialize in all types of skills, from the powerhouses to the sneakier ones. Participate in missions and join battle royales and gain first hand experience in the dangerous and exciting lives of the ninjas.
Another thrilling game about ninjas is released this week, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword differ from Naruto by pitting the Ninjas against dragon gods from the mythical worlds. Learn the skills from these two games and become an expert ninja yourself, at least in the world of gaming.
Feel free to become other action heroes aside from a ninja. Dark Sector for PlayStation3™ and Xbox360™ takes place in a ruined Eastern European city with a dark secret where you need to conquer the people under the control of a deadly virus and the power infested within your body to survive and become a hero.
Shuriken and guns are lethal weapons that a skilled fighter can wield with grace, but you can also create your own customized weapon through alchemy in the classic RPG Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis for PlayStation2™. The story depicts the rites of passage of a youth who grew from a timid youngster to a full fledged alchemist.
Become a hero in the baseball diamond through Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 for PlayStation2™ and PlayStation3™. Step into the shoes of your favourite baseball players and pitch, or bat against the strong opponents in this realistic game.
After all the blood, sweat and tears, a more peaceful, but just as interesting game, Harvest Moon DS Cute for Nintendo DS™ arrived. Work in the fields, attend to livestock and restore the Harvest sprites, and to make matters more interesting, aside from crops, harvest a romance in this game as well.
As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week, followed by a quick preview of what is expected to be hot next week.
Xbox360™:
Dark Sector US US$ 64.90
Universe at War: Earth Assault US US$ 64.90
Viking: Battle for Asgard US US$ 64.90
PlayStation3™:
Dark Sector US US$ 64.90
Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds ASIA US$ 59.90
Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 JPN US$ 74.90
The Eye of Judgment: Biolith Rebellion Set 2: Biolith Scourge Theme Deck US US$ 14.90
The Eye of Judgment: Biolith Rebellion Set 2: Booster Pack US US$ 6.90
The Eye of Judgment: Biolith Rebellion Set 2: Earth Emperor Theme Deck US US$ 14.90
The Eye of Judgment: Biolith Rebellion Set 2: Fire Crusader Theme Deck US US$ 14.90
The Eye of Judgment: Biolith Rebellion Set 2: Water Barrage Theme Deck US US$ 14.90
The Eye of Judgment: Biolith Rebellion Set 2: Wood Swarm Theme Deck US US$ 14.90
Viking: Battle for Asgard US US$ 64.90
Nintendo Wii™:
Obscure: The Aftermath US US$ 34.90
Octomania US US$ 24.90
Opoona US US$ 59.90
PlayStation2™:
Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis US US$ 44.90
Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin JPN US$ 64.90
Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin [Premium Box] JPN N/A
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 US US$ 44.90
Obscure: The Aftermath US US$ 24.90
Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 JPN US$ 64.90
Silent Hill: Origins KOR US$ 39.90
World Heroes Anthology US US$ 24.90
Nintendo DS™:
1-Hi-10-Fun de Egajou Zuni Kakeru DS JPN US$ 48.90
Backyard Baseball 2009 US US$ 34.90
Best of Tests DS US US$ 24.90
Detective Conan: Kieta Hakase to Machigai Sagashi no To JPN US$ 48.90
Harvest Moon DS Cute US US$ 34.90
Kouchan no Shiawase! Kantan! Oryouri Recipe! JPN US$ 34.90
M&M's Kart Racing US US$ 24.90
Mitamekara Yomigaeru: Otona no Kikonashi Training JPN US$ 39.90
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword US US$ 44.90
SuperLite 2500 Chotto-Aima no Colpile DS JPN US$ 25.90
Tottado! Yowiko no Mujintou Seikatsu JPN US$ 48.90
Sony PSP™:
Ford Racing: Off Road ASIA US$ 28.90
Speaker Set Portable 2 (Black) JPN US$ 34.90
Speaker Set Portable 2 (White) JPN US$ 34.90
Star Ocean Second Evolution Accessories Set JPN US$ 29.90
Star Ocean: Second Evolution ASIA US$ 42.90
Star Ocean: Second Evolution JPN US$ 48.90
Warriors Orochi US US$ 34.90
Guides and Magazines:
12Riven: The Psi-Climinal of Integral Visual Guide Book JPN US$ 36.90
Arcadia Magazine [May 2008] JPN US$ 12.90
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Signature Series Guide US US$ 17.90
Dark Sector Official Strategy Guide US US$ 16.90
Devil May Cry 4 Official Guidebook JPN US$ 24.90
Etrian Odyssey II: The Royal Grail Official Master Guide JPN US$ 24.90
Famitsu Wave DVD [May 2008] JPN US$ 16.50
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - Ring of Fates Official Strategy Guide US US$ 16.90
Last Escort 2: Shiya no Amai Ira Official Visual Fan Book JPN US$ 38.90
Mobile Suit Gundam: Giren's Ambition, Threat of the Axis Complete Guide JPN US$ 26.90
Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin Complete Guide 1 JPN US$ 24.90
Poison Pink Official Complete Guide JPN US$ 26.90
Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2nd Season Official Complete Guide JPN US$ 22.90
Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side Visual Collection JPN US$ 43.90
Viking: Battle for Asgard Official Strategy Guide US US$ 16.90
Video Game Soundtracks:
Bangai-O Spirits Audio Collection Plus JPN US$ 32.90
Dragon Ball Z CD Box Cho Zenshu JPN US$ 189.90
Famison 8 Bit Idol Master 02 JPN US$ 22.90
Hyper Game Music Event 2007 Extra - The Live Album Vol.1 JPN US$ 31.90
SomaBringer Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 31.90
A separate Video/Music update containing Japanese releases from this week, including new Anime, J-Pop and Movie releases will follow prior end of the week. So J-Pop, Anime and Movie fans, be sure to look out for that one!
Here is a quick outlook what's expected to be hot next week.
Nintendo Wii™:
Karous Wii JPN US$ 49.90
Mario Kart Wii (w/ Wii Handle) JPN US$ 64.90
Neo Geo Stick 2 JPN US$ 59.90
misc: reduced database memory footprint a bit
misc: reduced cache file size slightly
added: dat output format selection
fixed: xml header parser only accepted 'forcepacking' but not 'forcezipping'
fixed: bios-only dats can't be loaded
fixed: header element "email" had too many spaces
fixed: wrong "sharing issue" message for some chds
fixed: batchrun - min/max progress window in progress-only mode shows scannerwindow, too
fixed: batchrun - rebuilder progress window assertion when switching profiles
fixed: batchrun - pause value is only kept when hitting ok
fixed: batchrun - "for default setting use" is not initially set
fixed: batchrun - profiles get reset to 'not scanned' when using a rebuilder-only run
fixed: batchrun - profiler doesn't do a refresh when stopping batchrun during cache read or import
Some gamers are ****wads
Of all the ways I spend my free time, playing games online is the only one I would describe as "frequently barbaric". Insults of all kinds, including racist and homophobic slurs, are commonplace.
The women I know who play online avoid anything that would identify them as female -- including voice communication -- in order to avoid the unwanted, and frequently negative, attention.
And that's just how players are intentionally insulting -- what some people do while playing online can also be aggravating.
Cheating, team-killing, entering a game but not playing, quitting before the game is over, and more, are all relatively common. Common enough that it was deemed worthy of a Penny Arcade comic, speculating about why normal people become ****wads online.
So what?
Why do I care? Some gamers might be thinking "If he's so thin-skinned that he can't take the online banter, maybe he shouldn’t play online." Unfortunately, many people do just that -- they stop playing online.
Even more gamers go online a few times and then never play again. This isn't just my personal speculation; I have seen convincing data from two different sources that the biggest problem with online gaming is the behavior of others. The biggest problem isn't the cost; it isn't connectivity issues, or even the quality of the games -- it is how people are ****wads online.
To make this concrete, here's a thought experiment for you: imagine you go to a new restaurant, and decide to try the meatloaf. A big guy at the next table overhears you, looks at you, and yells: "Meatloaf? What kinda newb are you? Hey everybody, this r-tard just ordered the meatloaf!
God, I'm glad you're not at my table." Laughter breaks out at the tables around you, as they crane their heads to look at the newb. The restaurant staff is nowhere to be found, and you're not entirely certain they'd do anything anyway -- you can tell this is normal behavior at this place. How good or cheap would the food have to be to get you to go back there? Who would you bring there? The vast majority of the world population wouldn't go back there, and would warn everyone they knew to avoid it.
So again, why do I care? Because the online behavior of our customers is dramatically reducing our sales, and continues to stunt the growth of our industry. Non-gamers simply don’t love games enough to put up with the crap they get online. The reason they would consider playing online is to have fun with other people -- and right now, playing games online with strangers rarely delivers that for anyone outside the hardcore demographic.
Are these problems even solvable?
Short answer: yes. Social environments and culture can be designed. Just like good game design creates fun gameplay, good social design creates fun social experiences. Unfortunately, online games seem to have allocated very few resources to designing the social environment.
But honestly, I don't believe that resource constraints are the source of the problem -- I think that most people don’t believe that social problems can be solved. A common belief that I’ve heard used as justification for not addressing the social environment of games is that "jerks will be jerks". Essentially, many people believe that:
1. Behavior is determined by personality, and
2. You can’t change people’s personality
While I (mostly) agree with the second point, it is moot because the first point has been consistently contradicted by 60 years of social psychological research. Human behavior is complex and determined by many factors.
Personality is certainly one factor, but it is a surprisingly small factor. The largest determinant of behavior is the perceived social environment. This is the good news, because both the social environment and the perception of it can be controlled.
But me just saying that I disagree with a belief isn’t an argument; some proof is in order. Evidence about the effect of the social environment on behavior comes from two main sources: real-world observation and academic studies from social psychology.
(Although perhaps I should add "cartoonists" to those two sources. The Penny Arcade comic showing a normal person becoming a total ****wad when in multiplayer gaming situation -- anonymous, with an audience -- was pretty accurate, if a bit simplified
New figures for console sales in Japan are in with a shift in the first 3 positions shown below as follows:
Playstation Portable: 129,986
Nintendp DS Lite: 58,916
Nintendo Wii: 48,785
Playstation 3: 11,206
Playstation 2: 10,296
Xbox 360: 1,547
The PSP shoots well past both the Wii and DS to 1st place by roughly 70,000+ up from last week. The Wii in turn takes a 12,500 drop while the DS dips by about 6,100. Last 3 places are the same as usual: PS3 drops by 1,800, PS2 up 396 and Xbox 360 down 150.
A strange quote from Bill Gates today as he claims the next version of Windows, code-named Windows 7, is going to be released "sometime in the next year or so." That's way ahead of the previous estimates, which claimed Windows 7 was not going to be released in 2009 at all, but somewhere in 2010 or 2011.
A Microsoft flack covered for Bill by saying that a 2009 "release" was in line with their development cycle, and that test versions are usually put out before the actual release—which is totally not what we think Bill meant when he said "release". What you should take away from this whole mess is that a development release is coming in 2009 (or so), and Bill Gates probably shouldn't be making statements without checking with his people.
Next year would be rather too early for a new version of Windows to come out.
Football Superstars, if you're not familiar with it, is an MMO footy game, and creator CyberSports has released first match screenshots from the title.
It's just gone feature complete too and is shortly to enter into beta. CyberSports is anticipating it'll launch the game this summer.
In a nutshell then, the game chucks football into a persistent world in which you play a single footballer. In addition to being able to take part in three-, five-, seven- and 11-a-side matches, there's off-pitch interaction stuff, all of which is intended to combine together to allow you to live the football superstar lifestyle.
"The player will exist in a persistent football-themed world and be able to join or form and manage their own teams and careers whilst engaging in various leagues, competitions, events and tournaments", CyberSports adds.
It continues, "The lifestyle area of the game will be a first for the genre too. Success on the pitch will bring the player the additional bonuses of experience and fame as well as monetary assets that can all be utilised in the lifestyle world."
- Improved support for the .NET framework.
- Better services handling through a separate services.exe process.
- Support for ATI fragment shader.
- Better support for http proxies.
- Window management fixes.
- Pre-compiled fonts are now available in the source tree.
- Lots of bug fixes.
Updated details for World Heroes (NeoRAGEx) to match MAME v0.120.
Removed some superspy and kikikai ROMs not needed with MAME v0.122.
Removed llander/034597.01 since it was never a real dump!
Renamed desertgu ROMs to match MAME v0.124a (needed by Sideway).
Removed Grytra ROMs (since they match MAME v0.124a).
Emus no longer listed: Vectro Dream 2.3, EMU 2.3, Grytra v1.0.
- Added driver for Taito Z hardware
- Added oopsware's Raiden driver and updated the nec core and vez module
- Retidied the nec core and vez module
- Added iq_132s Gun Smoke driver
- Added iq_132s Scrambled Egg driver
- Changed the M6502 core to Marat's with the interface wrote by kev
- Added kev's m90 driver and his updates to the m92 driver to debug builds
- Tidied the m90 and m92 drivers and corrected the gfx decoding in the m90 driver
- Updated Dec0 drivers to kev's latest version
- Updated Jack the Giantkiller driver to the iq_132s latest version
- Made the "In Game" tab the default on the game selection dialog
- Added a checkbox for Taito to the game selection dialog
- Changed some names to prevent duplicate descriptions
- Matched all sets to MAME 0.124u1
We know you can find an occasional bargain on Craigslist, but this takes the biscuit: documents actually detailing a merger between Apple and Nintendo. We knew Nintendo and Apple were up to something—has no one else noticed all the plastic white styled similarities? C'mon you guys, it's just makes sense! Now, we're off to put in our bid. Expect some seriously breaking news soon.
- "Screen->Show Overscan Area" menu was added. When the check is put on this menu, over scanning area (part not seen in edge usual TV of the cathode-ray tube almost) is displayed. I think that the person who was handling the monitor where the over scanning area is seen feels the atmosphere.
* When the game is made, the over scanning area assumes the possibility of not seeing it. There is no problem even if it doesn't see it. Therefore, in some games, the noise image is displayed in the over scanning area.
* The display can be switched by even pushing "F11" key. The switch of "TV Mode" changed to "F11" while pushing "Ctrl" key.
* At "Setting->Screen->Start Overscan Customize" menu, the setting for the start is possible.
- The processing speed and timing were elaborately brought close to a real machine. In "Metal Angel", the problem that the screen has blinked was solved.
- In "Dragon Spirit", "Ys IV", "Youkai Douchuuki" and "Legend of Hero Tomma", even when the turbo-button(auto-fire) setting was set to "High Speed", the function became effective.
- With the game for "PC Engine Mouse", the click operation can be done by even pushing "I" button and "II" button of the joypad (controller 1). And, a wrong reset operation was prevented when the wheel(SELECT&RUN) is operated.
- In "Side Arms (Hu-Card)", the problem that some raster scrolls fell into disorder occasionally was solved.
- Additionally, a detailed part has been improved and corrected.
more fixes.
I release this because of some quite important fixes (mainly the broken 8bpp mode, the cave driver for raine, and the possible crashes in neoraine when changing the cd song). See the changelogs for details.
By the way, the big thing for this version was supposed to be the console, but it's not finished. For now the scripts it allows to create can't be executed, and if you call it from a game using a keyboard shortcut, you'll get some graphical glitches. So for experts only for now, type help in it to have instructions... I'll need a break before I can finish this...
raine (0.50.12)
* A better fix for the problem in the cave driver, and this time I found and fixed a bug with disappearing sounds. It was most noticeable with guwange, after a while you didn't hear your own shots anymore !
* fix 8bpp mode (when launching raine on an 8bpp desktop), broken in many places (crashes, palette, etc...).
* There was a possibility of crash when reseting a game with f1 and sound was playing.
neoraine (1.1.4)
* Fixed a few problems when switching between yuv layers and normal blits
* Disabled double buffer for the gui in windows, this makes a lot of things much easier and already improves the look of some parts of the gui
* Fixed the message "loading error" on some games.
* neoraine could crash on a cd song change sometimes (thread bug - it's a one which happens only if you are unlucky !). It's fixed now.
* The colors selection dialog gains some sliders controls, and you can now change the fg color to any color (if you chose a dark color in previous versions, you got something very ugly !). Notice that alpha is ignored for fg color, but it's better this way, transparent text becomes unreadable !
* fix 8bpp mode (when launching neoraine on an 8bpp desktop), broken in many places (crashes, palette, etc...).
* Prevent a possible crash when reseting a game, and prevent graphics corruption when reseting during the 1st animation while the fix area is being loaded
- This is just a bug-fix release, without new features.
- Fixed some compile problems on non-unix-like systems (like MingW).
- Fixed crashes in Spec512 emulation code ("Dan Dare 3" and little endian ARM).
- Blitter source address is not incremented anymore in operation mode 0 and 15.
- STE small overscan video effect is now displayed on the left side instead of the right side (fixes "Just Musix 2" menu for example).
- Hatari now works on 256 color displays right again.
- Fixed PSG mirror register emulation (fixes e.g. sample sound in "Ooh Crikey Wot A Scorcher" demo).
It has been long time since the previous ePSXe status update. During this time the ePSXe development has been on hold and our lives have changed a lot, probably just like yours. In summer 2007 we decided to continue working in ePSXe encouraged by the users support even after 4 years without updates. ePSXe is currently in final testing and we hope to release a new version very soon. We wanted to thank you for your support and show you some screenshots from games that should work better in the next release.
Hey guys. I just finished the next release of FRI. Version 1.3.0.0 brings the ability to extract even more preexisting information out of the ROMs. For example, if a ROM has [!] in the file name, then it is marked as a healthy. [b] would mark it as unhealthy, (1987) would mean that it was released in 1987, (PD) would mean it is the public domain, (US) would mean that it was released in the US and is in English, etc. All of this makes it even easier to find the ROM that you want to play and just play it! Like everything else in FRI, these "File Flags" are user-editable, so if there is anything that I left out, like an "(Ru)" tag for "Russian", then the user can go ahead and add it.
When I get my 360 back, the first thing I'm going to do is wipe my Bully file from the hard drive and start over. And I guarantee you when I replay it, I'll watch all of the cutscenes straight through, and almost try to forget that I ever started it. It won't be the first time.
It's one of the weird gaming neuroses I have, and I'm wondering if I'm alone. So, just to start a conversation: What are your gaming hangups or compulsions?
THQ executive Jack Sorenson has branded the hardware battle between Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo as "totally irrelevant", arguing that the rewards offered by each represent a "win" for games publishers.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz last week at THQ's product showcase in San Francisco, the US publisher's head of worldwide studios said there was "too much of an emphasis on the sports aspect of who's winning and losing", and that his company was focusing on opportunities rather than installed base.
"I think [the console war] is totally irrelevant. Even in the history of the business, other than something like the Dreamcast, you can do decent business on lots of platforms," he explained. "So the issue is not who wins, it's can an independent publisher do a good business on that platform. We're thinking everything from high-end MMO all the way to cell phones."
Pointing to THQ's success with Game Boy Advance, Sorenson revealed that the publisher would continue to back older formats as long as they remain viable.
"There's a ubiquity of gaming out there, and the platform is really just a medium. If that makes sense [we'll publish on] PlayStation 2 next year for something, PS2 two years from now," he said. "We certainly probably carried on longer on the GBA than most and had a very nice business out there because there're 80, 90 million GBAs out there - maybe a bunch left in closets and drawers, but there's still enough audience to buy them. All these platforms kinda win."
Sorenson also elaborated on comments made by CEO Brian Farrell on THQ's response to the mergers and acquisitions activity of the industry's giants, insisting that the US outfit was not under any pressure to "make a point" in the market.
"We're certainly looking at acqusitions all the time," he said. "[But] we're not in any rush in any one area. When I started I think it was three studios and 150 people in development, and clearly we rushed a bit to get scale and a certain size where we can cover a lot of different bases both genre wise and on a technology and platform basis.
"And we're there and past that, so the bar is probably a little higher in terms of what we'd look at in terms of fit, and how good they are, and what they are bringing new to the group. But I wouldn't say there's any one target we're looking for right now."
Asked where the merger of Activision and Vivendi, and the acquisition of 2K Games by EA would leave a publisher of THQ's scale, Sorenson argued that the US firm's strong financial foundations were key.
"Being a public company you're always driven by growth. But if you feel your growth can be driven by what you already have then you probably don't need to push it as much.
"We have all the elements, and we don't really feel there's any one thing that's missing because of size. If you can get the growth and find the profits and build based on your own strategy it's actually a lot better and easier to do it that way than, say, acquire another company with an entirely different culture, trying to bring them together. That's a huge event, especially the ones you just mentioned. These are not easy to do.
"We're not driven to do something that's counter to our culture and strategy just in order to prove a point. [We're] trying to be in control of our destiny."
The full GamesIndustry.biz interview with Jack Sorenson will be published next week.
Nadeo Studio has confirmed that TrackMania Nations Forever will be available as a free PC download later this month.
Its predecessor, simply titled TrackMania Nations, has been installed more than 30 million times since it was released two years ago. Nearly four million players have created an account to compete online.
TrackMania Nations Forever will feature a new version of the Stadium environment and 65 new tracks. Apparently it's designed to appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers and is perfect for big e-sports competitions.
"Even if you play Nations Forever quietly alone, you can still be ranked in the world, your country, your city or even in your list of friends that you can create by inviting friends to join like in Facebook or MySpace," explained studio boss Florent Castelnerac.
"It is up to each player to set his or her goals - become one of the best players in the world or just impress friends. These ladders are adapted to everyone and they add ten times more interest to solo or multiplayer modes."
According to Castelnerac, you'll be able to challenge friends via email or Messenger. He also confirmed there's a new track editor that offers more options but is simpler to use.
For the first time players of free-to-download TrackMania games will be able to compete online against those who bought the retail version of TrackMania United. There will be servers dedicated to the Stadium environment common to both games.
If you did buy United, you'll also get a free expansion titled United Forever. It'll feature brand new tracks, new design blocks for the seven game environments and a graphics update for the desert, snow and rally landscapes.
TrackMania Nations Forever will be available for download from April 16th.
It's a busy time on the test servers at NCsoft and Sony Online Entertainment. Patches for the former's City of Heroes and Tabula Rasa and the latter's Pirates of the Burning Sea and Star Wars Galaxies are imminent (or in the case of SWG, just out).
Pirates developer Flying Lab has announced that the swashbuckling MMO's next patch, 1.3, will go live on the test server on April 8th. The patch will include a user interface overhaul, a duelling mode, revamped player-vs-player rewards, some new environments for on-foot combat missions, more group-focused seafaring missions, and the long-awaited, much-delayed completion of the French colonial capital, Pointe-a-Pitre.
Watch out for Eurogamer's equally long-awaited, much-delayed review of Pirates of the Burning Sea on the MMO channel later this week.
No longer awaited is the latest update to labelmate Star Wars Galaxies. Chapter 9: The Fury of Exar Kun was released to subscribers on Thursday last week. The update includes a new heroic encounter with the spirit of Sith Lord Exar Kun and new additions to the Collection and Storyteller systems. If you log in before Chapter 10 is released, you also get a Galaxy Kiosk for your in-game home. It is apparently not a vending machine for lady chocolate. Details at the official site, and a 14-day trial is available there for the curious, too.
(Speaking of Star Wars MMOs, rumours persist that LucasArts has a replacement for Star Wars Galaxies in development somewhere - but that it's not, as some thought, a Bioware-developed Knights of the Old Republic game. Watch this space for further developments.)
Staying in the realms of science fiction, NCsoft told the Tabula Rasa community on Friday that patch 1.7 for the game would be up on the test servers some time next week. It features some tweaks to enemy respawns and behaviour. More interesting is news that they're working on bolstering some social features of the game - clan-owned control points and a clan prestige system. But the general lack of major new content updates in the offing for Tabula Rasa is telling.
Not so for its older sibling, the stalwart superhero MMO City of Heroes. Issue 12: Midnight Hour will offer a very sizeable update for the game, and news hit the official boards on Friday that it was going into closed beta this week, indicating that it's coming soon. Issue 12 introduces the Midnight Squad faction and a related time-travel plotline, taking players to the Roman era (and unlocking Roman-style costumes). There are two new epic villain archetypes, access to new sets of powers for every character, and a bunch of major gameplay and UI improvements.
NCsoft is clearly committed to City of Heroes in the long term - as it said when explaining the decision to introduce advertising to the game last week. We'll have more on Issue 12 on the MMO channel around the time of its release.
If your pants / panties were in a "bunch" upon hearing news that Windows 7 would be headed into your ever-loving arms "next year," you might just want to hold off on those party invites for a little bit. Sure, Bill Gates just happened to mention that we'd see a new version of the OS "Sometime in the next year or so," but it's looking like that "or so" makes a world of difference. Microsoft wants to chill everyone out with the somber news that its got no plans to introduce Windows 7 any earlier than January 2010 (three years from the launch of Vista), and reassure us that crazy old Gates may have just been talkin' developer speak. "As is standard with the release of a new product, we will be releasing early builds of Windows 7 prior to its general availability as a means to gain tester feedback," a spokesman for Microsoft said, downplaying Gates' statement. Of course, this means that XP's cutoff will suddenly move even further down the line, which makes us wonder what the point of setting that June 2010 date was in the first place. Why are you toying with us like this, Microsoft?
Sure, the picture on the purchase page shows the little guy running Xandros -- but read the fine print ya'll. That's right, the moment some of you have been waiting for has finally descended upon us like the enraged, ancient dragons of yore. The Windows XP equipped ASUS Eee PC is now available at Best Buy. For just $399.99, you can experience the totally okay performance that is this 7-inch master of destruction. Enjoy it now, but remember, those 9-inch models are just around the corner.
A new study of computer gamers has found that a session in front of World of Warcraft can make players less stressed and more calm. The study questioned 292 male and female online gamers aged between 12 and 83 about anger and stress. They then played the game for two hours and were retested. "There were actually higher levels of relaxation before and after playing the game as opposed to experiencing anger, but this very much depended on personality type," said team leader Jane Barnett from Middlesex University
The March NPD report is expected next week, but Lazard Capital Market's Colin Sebastian believes software sales will be up 35% for the month. GameDaily reports Sebastian expects top sellers to include Army of Two, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and continued success by Call of Duty 4 and Rock Band. Thanks, in no small part, also goes to a little game called Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Sebastian believes an early Easter holiday and spring break for students assisted software and hardware sales. Speaking of hardware, the analyst believes that that his forecast of six to eight million Wiis being sold in North America during 2008 will "likely prove conservative" due to titles like Wii Fit. He expects healthy growth in the industry leading into the summer due to games expected this year like GTA IV, Mario Kart, GT5: Prologue, MGS 4 and Spore.
Sony and Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo 5: Prologue has spent a second week at the top of the Chart Track All Formats charts in the UK, despite a drop in sales of 40 per cent.
Sega's Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games climbs up one place to two, while Ubisoft's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is at three with sales falling 43 per cent.
Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 remains at four this week helped by the Wii SKU which has boosted sales of the football favourite by 34 per cent.
The highest new entry is Sega's Condemned 2 at five, with the publisher also seeing sales of Viking: Battle for Asgard climb as the game moves up the charts one place from eight to seven.
The only other new entry this week is D3P's new release, Dark Sector, which just manages to miss the top ten at number 11.
The Top Ten best-selling titles in UK are:
1. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
2. Mario & sonic at the Olympic Games
3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
5. Condemned 2
6. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
7. Viking: Battle for Asgard
8. Wii Play
9. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training
10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
* *beta* Added remote videos to the videos tab.
* *beta* Added recent videos in infoviews when you select a friend.
* *beta* Video uploads now work with videos that can be rendered with DirectShow filters on your computer. In particular, if you edit a video with Windows Movie Maker, Xfire will be able to convert it and upload it to your profile page.
* *beta* Video capture can now create .avi files larger than 2 gigabytes.
* *beta* Upload progress is displayed properly during video uploads.
* *beta* Fixed sound device screwup after capturing audio with a video.
* Standard skin is no longer being maintained or distributed; old versions of this skin do still work, however.
* Xfire full installer no longer works on Windows 98 or Windows ME; previously installed copies of Xfire will continue to auto-upgrade and function.
New games supported:
Pirates, Vikings and Knights II
Worms 2
Savage 2: A Tortured Soul
Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst
Pirateville
Upshift StrikeRacer
Glest
WorldShift Beta
Seven Kingdoms: Conquest
Powerboat GT
Chessmaster 10th Edition
Red Baron Arcade
The Shield
Mind Quiz
Ricochet Infinity
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
Lost Empire: Immortals
Hard Truck 2
Lights Out
SWAT 3
The Sims Carnival: BumperBlast
The Sims Carnival: SnapCity
Toribash
Osu!
Pet Luv Spa and Resort Tycoon
Perfect Dark: Source
Trials 2 Second Edition Demo
Synergy
Following a successful open beta testing period, Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc., one of the world's leading children's entertainment companies, today announced the official live launch of the highly anticipated free-to-play online adventure game Magi-Nation: Battle for the Moonlands. Fans can register for Battle for the Moonlands and begin playing the game at www.magi-nation.net.
Marking a major step in Cookie Jar's entertainment strategy to extend the Magi-Nation property to their fan-base on a multi-pronged approach via television, consumer products and online worlds, Magi-Nation: Battle for the Moonlands is geared toward children ages 8-14 and incorporates a parent-friendly micropayment model that allows players the flexibility to upgrade their gaming experience.
Players can enhance their online gaming experience by purchasing Magi-Nation: Battle for the Moonlands Game Cards and redeeming them for "Gems," the game's real-money currency that can be used to purchase exclusive items, such as special weapons and spells. Game Cards are for sale at well-known retailers across North America, including select Wal-Mart stores. Additional retailers will be added to the Magi-Nation network in the near future. Players can also visit the in-game Moonlands Shop to purchase gems directly with a major credit card or PayPal account, or to redeem virtual game cards and other special promotions coupons.
The live service release of the Magi-Nation online game also features an enhanced user interface (UI) that lets players easily manage their spells, purchase items and manage their Dream Creature collection as they explore the colorful world of the Moonlands. The new and improved UI is a direct result from user feedback during the recent open beta test.
Magi-Nation: Battle for the Moonlands is based on the popular children's animated television series of the same name, which currently airs on Kids WB! on the CW in the U.S. and CBC in Canada. Magi-Nation follows the adventures of 15-year-old Tony Jones, an average teen from Earth who finds himself mysteriously transported to the magical world of Magi-Nation. Tony and his two young Magi heroes-in-training follow an incredible journey of riddles, battle and self-learning on their journey to defeat the evil Shadow Magi who are out to rule their world.
THQ executive Jack Sorenson has told our sister site Eurogamer.net that he believes Blizzard's all-conquering World of Warcraft has "peaked".
Speaking at last week's Gamers Day in San Francisco, THQ's head of development was bullish about the prospects of the forthcoming Warhammer 40k MMO - the firm's first foray into the genre dominated by Blizzard's title, which currently has over 10 million subscribers.
Sorenson commented: "However long it takes World of Warcraft to go through its cycle there will always be people on it, probably always be millions of people on it, but does it keep at that peak? And I think that, I wish I could see the numbers, but my guess is that it probably already has peaked – but it's still a great business. Who wouldn't want that?"
Following on from CEO Brian Farrell's revelation that the game is still "probably a couple of years out", Sorenson added: "We haven't announced a release date, but it's certainly not imminent and we plan on doing a very high quality job.
"That's certainly one thing that World of Warcraft's proved: not only do you have to do it well, it has to be great from day one. There's not a tolerance like there used to be, when Ultima came out... All those games were buggy and horrible, and eventually got there. You can't do that anymore, which has lengthened the cycle for good quality MMOs."
Farrell told investors in 2006 that it would be "misguided" to compete with Warcraft at that time, adding: "The idea would be to time something for when that product is going to be on its downward slope." Which he now presumably thinks will be in a couple of years.
The Warhammer 40k MMO was announced in March '07, and Sorenson believes the popular fantasy licence will be key to the product's success.
"Blizzard based a lot of their, let's say, RPG characteristics on 40k, which was the original," he continued. "There's a lot of commonality there that just comes right out of what Games Workshop has developed – the fiction, and the rest of it is incredibly deep. I think if we're true to that and do it at a high quality, then people will come. And they can certainly co-exist."
Electronic Arts has decided to extend its Unreal Engine 3 licence so it can use it to build more games.
The Epic-developed technology will feature in plenty of titles going forward, including five that EA is currently working on - although no one is telling us what they are.
"Epic is committed to providing EA with the premier development infrastructure, tools and technology for its upcoming games," said Mark Rein, loudest at Epic Games.
"We're extremely excited that EA has chosen to expand their use of Unreal Engine 3 and we can't wait to see more of the great games they will produce with it."
Unreal Engine 3 was the horsepower underneath Medal of Honor Airborne and Army of Two, and has been the foundation for around 74 games to date - just off the top of our Wikipedia.
The much-licensed engine has undergone many improvements, too, and these were demonstrated at the Game Developers Conference in February.
We asked Mark Rein how much an Unreal Engine 3 license costs at GDC and he asked us how much we got paid.
It's just a rumor, though it's likely spot-on given DigiTimes' past success with its well placed ASUS source(s). Remember, they nailed the 9-inch touchscreen (rumor, announcement) as well as the 2nd generation ship date (rumor, announcement) among other notable successes. Apparently, ASUS is looking to get a jump on HP's new Mini-Note and that upcoming ultra-portable from Acer by launching its second generation 8.9-inch Eee PC early. As such, they'll have to forgo Intel's new Atom processor (shipping in June) and slap in an older-generation dual-core ULV instead. Sources claim that ASUS still plans to go Atom in "later versions of its Eee PCs." What's unclear is whether this would be an AsiaPac move only, or if ASUS' entire global rollout strategy has changed. We'll update you as soon as we know more.
BioWare's PC version of Mass Effect has been delayed.
Confirmed in official forums, the sci-fi RPG will now be out on PC on June 6 in Europe and May 28 in North America. It was originally down for May 6.
"The team here at BioWare, working closely with the good folks at Demiurge Studios, has decided that a few more weeks in the studio will ensure we deliver the quality that our fans deserve", community co-ordinator Chris Priestly said.
"The additional time will allow us to incorporate more play-testing feedback, add extra polish and tune the additional features so that Mass Effect is a natural and outstanding PC gaming experience."
He continued, "BioWare and EA are dedicated to excellence. We're confident that the extra time will be reflected in the final PC experience that we deliver to our fans. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to delivering a great game!"
It was revealed yesterday that Demiurge has merged with BioWare to work on the PC version of the game.
At this year’s MI6 game marketing conference in San Francisco, the MI6 organizers exclusively commissioned global consumer research and consultancy firm OTX to study the video game resale market in the United States.
These details, provided by its creators alongside today's presentation, include the fact that 60% of gamers purchase both new and used titles, and that sellers (who make up a third of all gamers) tend to reinvest their money in the industry with new game purchases.
According to OTX’s report, the used software market in the U.S. is projected to be $1.3 billion (not including systems or accessories).
Market Size
With a market of 75 million game purchasers in the United States, OTX has revealed that of these gamers, 49 million have purchased at least one used game, and 26 million have sold at least one game in the last year. They indicate that 60% of gamers buy both new and used games, with only 28% buying only new -- however, a mere 3% buy solely used titles.
OTX states that as a result, on average, 52% of new games are purchased within their first month on the market, with 8% of new game purchases pre-ordered and 27% purchased within the first week--with owners of the current generation of consoles tending to have the smallest percentage of used games in their collections and also tending to pre-order the most.
In detail, Wii gamers purchase only 8% of their games used, PS3 gamers buy 12% used, and Xbox 360 gamers buy 16% used.
Interestingly, despite GameStop’s recent filing which stated that sales of new games were outgrowing sales of used, the company still controls the used game market, with two in three gamers who bought used games in the past year purchasing them at GameStop.
OTX further noted that that 81% of gamers who bought used games in the past year did so offline and in-person, compared to 35% in total that bought new or used games.
GelTabz are silicon made enhancer for analog sticks. You will get a much better grip on your analog sticks, even when sweating. A very simple yet efficient product getting great ratings from all reviews up to date.
A new survey finds that more than half of K-12 students believe that educational video games in school would help them learn (no surprise), although only 15% of teachers and 19% of parents agree. Adults might not want to scoff, however, because 11% of teachers are already using video games in class and they report great results. 'Only 3% of elementary school students say they do not play video games of any kind. Students surveyed say learning via video games would help them better understand difficult concepts, become more engaged in the subject matter and practice skills. There's no mention of the games being fun, but that goes without saying.
- Fixed M6532 RIOT timer emulation. More testing is needed, but the changes so far have fixed several ROMs that didn't work before.
- Fixed issue with weird characters in the debugger disassembly when loading .lst files.
- Fixed bug where entering the debugger for 4A50 and E0 carts caused the ROM to be frozen afterwords.
- Removed logic whereby starting a ROM from something other than the built-in launcher wouldn't allow the user to go back to the ROM launcher.
- Fixed bug (hopefully) with the app icon not showing on the Stella window. Further testing is needed, since I can't duplicate the error myself.
- Fixed default snapshot folder issues; the folder will now be automatically created in the same place as state folders, ini files, etc (whereever that may be for your platform).
- Re-added 'lastrom' functionality, where Stella will remember and auto-select the last ROM that was successfully launched in the ROM launcher.
- For Stella developers, fixed SpeakJet emulation so it compiles again. No improvements have been made to the emulation itself, though.
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G for the PlayStation Portable continued to dominate the top of the Japanese software chart for the week ending April 6, according to sales information compiled by Media Create.
It sold 488,000 units in that week, taking the total then to almost 1.4 million - although according to Capcom thanks to continued high sales since April 6 the game has now broken the 1.5 million barrier.
New entries took the next four places, also all for Sony platforms as the Corporation's consoles monopolised the top five, led by Musou Orochi: The Evil King Returns for the PlayStation 2 which sold almost 230,000 units.
Star Ocean 2: Second Evolution for the PSP took third, selling 91,000 copies, while the PS2 and PlayStation 3 versions of Pro Baseball Spirits 5 sold a combined total of 140,000 units in fourth and fifth places.
Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage fell four places from the previous week to sixth, while Wii Fit maintained its long-standing presence in seventh.
New entry for the DS, Tottado! Yowiko's Deserted Island Life took eighth place, followed by Super Smash Bros Brawl and Deca Sporta in the final two top ten places.
The week's sales meant that Sony platforms shifted almost 1 million software units in the top ten across the seven days, while Nintendo accounted for just over 180,000 - although Nintendo platforms actually made a clean sweep of all the chart positions for that week between numbers six and 25.
The full top ten is as follows:
1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP)
2. Musou Orochi: The Evil King Returns (PS2)
3. Star Ocean 2: Second Evolution (PSP)
4. Pro Baseball Spirits 5 (PS2)
5. Pro Baseball Spirits 5 (PS3)
6. Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage (DS)
7. Wii Fit (Wii)
8. Tottado! Yowiko's Deserted Island Life (DS)
9. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
10. Deca Sporta (Wii)
Yoshihisa Hashimoto, lead designer on Sonic Unleashed, has said the game bears "no relation" to the poorly-recieved recent games in the series.
Instead it will hark back to the Sonic Adventure days of old, and be a game created with purists in mind.
"In our minds, this game will have more in common with the older Sonic Adventure series. It has no relation to Sonic the Hedgehog [the 360/PS3 game] or Sonic And The Secret Rings... We wanted Sonic fans to love Sonic even more," Hashimoto told Nintendo Magazine UK, read by Kotaku.
Hashimoto went on to reveal that the Wii version of the game will be out this winter, and use a Wiimote and nunchuk control system.
Sonic will be given Boost and Dash abilities charged up by collecting lots of rings, and can also hop to the right or left using a quick step manoeuvre. There will be no online mode, though.
The little blue man-animal can turn into a "werehog" when darkness falls, too, which apparently slows proceedings to an interaction-based platform affair.
SEGA officially lifted the lid on Sonic Unleashed earlier this month. It has been working on the Hedgehog engine that powers it for three years now, and is using it to get back to how things used to be.
Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2 versions are also in development.
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G continues to put a hurtin' on the competition, with the PSP expansion shipping close to another half million copies. Most impressive, Capcom. The week is surprisingly heavy in PlayStation family titles, with a quartet of Japanese franchise favorites securing the top half of the top ten chart, most likely helping Sony hardware. Wii Fit edges closer to the 2 million mark, which we expect it to hit mid-May, as Super Smash Bros. Brawl teeters near the end of the top ten. Hang in there, lil' guy!
For the rest of the best selling games in Japan for the week of March 31 to April 6, read on past the jump.
01. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) - 488,000 / 1,369,000
02. Musou Orochi: The Evil King Returns (PS2) - 228,000 / NEW
03. Star Ocean 2: Second Evolution (PSP) - 91,000 / NEW
04. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 (PSP) - 80,000 / NEW
05. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 (PS3) - 60,000 / NEW
06. Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage (DS) - 58,000 / 406,000
07. Wii Fit (Wii) - 39,000 / 1,834,000
08. Tottado! Yowiko no Mujintou Seikatsu (DS) - 39,000 / NEW
09. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 24,000 / 1,548,000
10. Deca Sports (Wii) - 22,000 / 116,000
11. SimCity DS 2: Kodaikara Mirai e Tsudzukumachi (DS)
12. Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi o Yobu Cinema Land (DS)
13. Wii Sports (Wii)
14. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (DS)
15. Mario Kart DS (DS)
16. Wii Play (Wii)
17. Mario Party DS (DS)
18. Detective Conan: Kieta Hakase to Machigai Sagashi no To (DS)
19. Taiko Drum Master DS (DS)
20. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS)
21. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
22. Harvest Moon: Kira Kira Taiyou to Nakama Tachi (DS)
23. DS Bimoji Training (DS)
24. Animal Crossing Wild World (DS)
25. Time Hollow: Uwareta Kako o Motome (DS)
26. Armored Core 4 Answer (PS3)
27. Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch - Lost Colors (PSP)
28. Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch - Lost Colors (PS2)
29. Yakuza 3: Kenzan! (PS3)
30. Echochrome (PSP)
Hey look! Animal Crossing Wild World and New Super Mario Bros. are still in the top thirty. Who doesn't have these games by now? Come on!
Welcome to this week's Games Update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.
Releases have been calm this week, interesting games that came in include the Asian version of Major League Baseball 2K8 for Xbox360™. Play an exciting baseball match on your third generation console, this game is so realistic that commentary is given along with the match.
Another game that came out this week on the Xbox360™ is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Game of the Year Edition) where you participate in battles that only the fittest can survive.
Mario Kart Wii is a much anticipated game for Nintendo Wii™. Aside from traditional Mario Kart racing excitement, check out new courses, arenas and motorcycles. This is a game for everybody and every occasion.
Karous, a classic shooting game is revived for the Nintendo Wii™. Exciting gameplay is included in the remaking process, by utilizing the full capabilities of the console, the players slash away at the enemies with a sword to deal major damage.
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the birth of the quintessential RPG series Final Fantasy, Square Enix published Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania File 2:Scenario. The book includes detailed plot analysis, relationships between characters and interviews with the developers. Readers are bound to get a deeper insight into the world of Final Fantasy.
As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week, .
Xbox360™:
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Game of the Year Edition) US US$ 64.90
Major League Baseball 2K8 ASIA US$ 49.90
Turok JPN US$ 64.90
PlayStation3™:
Dual Shock 3 (Black) US US$ 54.90
Nintendo Wii™:
Karous Wii JPN US$ 49.90
Mario Kart Wii (w/ Wii Handle) JPN US$ 64.90
The Best of HD DVD, Volume Two US US$ 84.99
Wii Handle JPN US$ 19.90
PlayStation2™:
Battle of Sunrise JPN US$ 74.90
Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica 0-4 Hanashi Full Pack JPN US$ 46.90
Sony PSP™:
Beowulf JPN US$ 14.90
God of War: Chains of Olympus ASIA US$ 42.90
Nanpure & Oekaki Puzzle 10000 Mon JPN US$ 29.90
PC and MAC™:
Assassin's Creed (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 44.90
Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 36.90
Musou Orochi (Chinese Verson) (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 39.90
Sango 2 (Chinese Verson) (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 24.90
XIII Century: Death or Glory (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 23.90
Game Guides and Books:
Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania File 2:Scenario JPN US$ 26.90
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G: Entry Level Books on Weaponry - Shooters and Bows Book 2 JPN US$ 9.90
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G: Entry Level Books on Weaponry - Slashers and Bows Book 1 JPN US$ 9.90
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G: Information on heightening your defense: Book 1 JPN US$ 9.90
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G: Information on heightening your defense: Book 2 JPN US$ 9.90
Professional Baseball Spirits 5 Official Guide JPN US$ 23.90
Star Ocean 2: Second Evolution Final Guide JPN US$ 21.90
Video Game Soundtracks:
Arcana Heart 2 - Heartful Sound Collection JPN US$ 31.90
Last Escort 2 - Shinya No Amai Toge Original Suondtrack Vol.2 JPN US$ 29.90
beatmania IIDX 15 DJ Troopers Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 39.90
- Added oopsware's Picodrive Megadrive driver port and tidied up and improved
- Started to go through Megadrive games and enabling ones that work in release builds. Only got to letter B and checked my favourites!
- Added iq_132s Funky Bee driver
- Added iq_132s Pooyan driver
- Ported MAME's I8039 core to FBA
- Added support for DAC sound
- Hooked up the I8039 and DAC in System 16A to add voice support to the driver
- Added gpilotsh and samshoh to the Neo-Geo driver
- Updated the SN7649 emulator to determine whether to add to the sound buffer or not
- Removed the AY8910 part of the YM2612 emulation since it's not needed
- Fixed sound in 1943
- Fixed sound in Gunsmoke
- Changed the default DAT file handling to not include Megadrive games
- Added menu option to write DATs including Megadrive games
- ROM sets and external database support using new XML format co-developed with Bootgod.
- Mapper 36, 103, 104, 106, 120, 126, 175, 176, 223 and 224. Info from mad dumper, CaH4e3 and Temryu.
- UNIF boards GS-2013 and BS-5. info from CaH4e3.
- Emulation of bus conflicts for certain boards.
- Database entries.
Changes:
- PPU power/reset timing and register states. Info from blargg.
- Misc IRQ/NMI/BRK/DMA special-case behavior. Info from blargg.
- NTSC/PAL switch during emulation will now force a hard-reset.
- Misc mapper emulation improvements. Info from Bootgod.
- NES-EVENT board timer more accurate.
- Board names. Info from Bootgod.
- Refactoring and mapper codebase overhaul.
- Speed optimizations (accuracy NOT compromised!).
- Mappers 21, 23, 25 and 185 no longer supported using plain iNES files because of format restrictions.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has retained its number one chart position in Germany and Spain, according to sales information from Media-Control GfK International. Sony's racer held off opposition from Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath and Wii Play to stay at the top for the week ending April 6.
In Germany, the Command & Conquer 3 expansion took second place, with Brain Training and the Nintendo DS edition of Mario & Sonic at the Olympics taking third and fourth places.
Wii Play and More Brain Training followed, with The Settlers: Empire of the East and the Wii edition of Mario & Sonic taking fifth to eight places respectively.
New Super Mario Bros took ninth, with Who Wants to be a Millionaire for the DS rounding off the top ten, which saw Nintendo platforms accounted for seven of those number.
In Spain it was Wii Play that failed in its challenge to unseat Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, with the PlayStation Portable edition of God of War: Chains of Olympus following in third place.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 for the PSP and Wii were fourth and fifth, while Super Mario Galaxy and Magic in Action taking sixth and seventh.
Assassin's Creed, FIFA 08 and More Brain Training completed the Spanish top ten.
The full charts are as follows:
Germany
1. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3)
2. Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (PC)
3. Brain Training (DS)
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (DS)
5. Wii Play (Wii)
6. More Brain Training (DS)
7. The Settlers: Empire of the East (PC)
8. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (Wii)
9. New Super Mario Bros (DS)
10. Who Wants to be a Millionaire (DS)
Spain
1. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3)
2. Wii Play (Wii)
3. God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PSP)
5. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Wii)
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
7. Magic in Action (DS)
8. Assassin's Creed (PS3)
9. FIFA 08 (PS2)
10. More Brain Training (DS)
The latest figures for the cosole shifts in Japan maintain the same positions from last weeks' reading, shown below:
Playstation Portable: 120,964
Nintendo DS Lite: 55,190
Nintendo Wii: 44,618
Playstation 3: 11,303
Playstation 2: 10,423
Xbox 360: 1,452
PSP is still at the top despite roughly a 9,000 drop. DS Lite is at 2nd taking a 2,700 dip, 3rd is the Wii down 4,100. Last ones up are the PS3, up 97, PS2 up 273 and Xbox 360 down by 105.
Infogrames bossman David Gardners has said he reckons between 2 and 3 million copies of Alone in the Dark could be shifted once the game launches this June.
"We want to stop losing money," he told Reuters. "This management team's number one goal is to get a business plan together that gets us to a break-even level."
Gardner wouldn't say how or when it plans to do this but it'll probably involve former Sony big deal Phil Harrison, who was recently appointed as president.
And Alone in the Dark, of course. The PC, Wii, PS2 and Xbox 360 versions are out in Europe on June 20th, with a PS3 offering "to follow".
You'll find all manner of AITD-related screenshots, videos and previews over on the gamepage.
A recent poll on parental guidance website What They Play has shown its readers are far more offended by sex in videogames than violence.
When asked what they'd find the most offensive in a videogame, a staggering 37% of readers answered 'a man and woman having sex', with a further 27% saying it would be 'two men kissing'.
The answer of 'A graphically severed human head' only claimed 26% of the vote, whilst bad language came bottom, taking only 10%
Considering how much the human race despises the act of procreation, it's a wonder any of are here at all.
Electronic Arts has unveiled The SimCity Box, which has five of the latest instalments in the series bundled together for the price of a normal game.
Inside are SimCity Societies, SimCity Societies: Destinations, SimCity 4, SimCity 4: Rush Hour and The Sims Carnival SnapCity.
The SimCity Box is due out in the US this June, and we are waiting to hear back about its European date.
SimCity Societies: Destinations makes its debut in The Box, and expands on Societies by adding attractions to lure people to your creation, like theme parks, tropical beach resorts, hiking trails and many, many more.
Societies itself is a fresh take on the SimCity series that is based more around the people living there and what they are feeling, rather than the statistics of the buildings themselves. However, it struggled to impress us when it was released last November.
SimCity 4, on the other hand, is exactly what you expect from the series. It's five years-old now, though, but still has the classic if rather bloated blend of statistic juggling that took the name to fame in the first place.
SimCity 4: Rush Hour is an expansion that has you managing the transport in your creation. You can hop in a fire truck and put out real fires, too, which is amazing. Works well with SimCity 4, though.
SimCity Carnival SnapCity is a puzzle twist on the series where you arrange falling blocks so they build the best city available. Like Tetris with buildings.
Last year's launch of Flagship Studios' Hellgate: London was not exactly what we'd call a family album moment, its release plagued by client crashes and enough bugs to have the Orkin man calling for backup. Still, one person's trash is another's treasure, as Bill Roper and company have announced that in the two weeks since the Korean launch of the Hellgate beta more than a million accounts have been registered. According to Flagship, this makes the MMO the most successful online game launch in Korea in the past three years.
Hellgate's beta officially kicked off in Korea on January 15, and according to Korean online game tracking service Gametrics, the game quickly found an audiences with gamers in PC Cafes, ranking ninth among online games, fifth among RPGs, and was the most popular beta being played. This was followed by a commercial release on February 22, a launch that Flagship boasts achieved "record sales," though it's a record that we're pretty sure will be broken soon enough.
We got our hands on ASUS's beefy M70 laptop way back at CES earlier this year, but it looks like the company has just now gotten around to letting the monster loose on the general populace. In case you missed it, this one packs up to one terabyte of storage (in the form of two 500GB drives), along with a 17-inch WUXGA display, your choice of Core 2 Duo processors up to a T9300, ATI Mobile Radeon HD3650 or HD3470 graphics, and an optional Blu-ray drive, among other expectedly top-end features.
To make sure no one else but you gets to toy around with all that, ASUS has also seen fit to include not one but two security measures, including the usual fingerprint scanner and ASUS's trademark SmartLogon face-scanning technology. No word on a price, but we're guessing that's a detail best kept on a need to know basis.
The truth is out! Windows Vista's User Account Control makes you want to put your computer through a wall because that's what Microsoft wanted. David Cross, a product manager who designed UAC (sadly, not that one), told attendees at the RSA 2008 conference, "The reason we put UAC into the platform was to annoy users. I'm serious."
It must not be too aggravating, since 88 percent of all Vista users leave it on, according to Microsoft's data. Cross claims that "most users, on a daily basis, actually have zero UAC prompts." Actually, I usually get at least one or two a day. But over time it should actually get better, since part of the reason UAC is designed to be annoying to you, the little people, is so that software developers don't entrench their programs too deeply into the OS.
I still think UAC is too over-the-top agitating, like a fly buzzing around my food that keeps juking past my karate chops, but Microsoft believes it's exactly what we needed, according to Cross:
"We needed to change the ecosystem, and we needed a heavy hammer to do it." What do you think, too heavy, just right or not enough?
* Corrected sound in the tnzs driver
* Correctly fixed coins in the wc90 driver
* Enabled Tazmania in the megadrive driver (it works and I like it)
* Added support to the FM core interfaces for sound mixing
* Removed kaillera support. The client can be removed and probably should be due to being a potential security risk. Left netplay, chat, etc. code in the program so it has potential to be used with a different netplay system.
MAME_Tunes
MAME_Tunes is a launcher application of SDLMAME / MAME OS X / MacMAME.
ITunes-like easy operation.
It is a freeware
System requirements
Only for Mac OS X.
Universal binary application supported PowerPC / Intel® processor. (Maybe)
Mac OS X 10.4.2 or higher / Mac OS X 10.5 or higher.(Maybe)
- High storage capacity (4GB) for storing essential digital content such as high quality photos, videos, music and more
- Optimal speed and performance for microSDHC compatible devices
- Speed performance rating: Class 2 (based on SD 2.00 Specification)
- High Quality microSDHC card backed by 5 year limited warranty
- Built to last, with an operating shock rating of 2,000Gs, equivalent to a ten-foot drop **
- SanDisk microSDHC 4GB card ships with Bonus MicroMate™ USB 2.0 SD/SDHC Reader, to ensure compatibility when downloading pictures or other digital content
- Easily transfer files between your digital devices and computer
- High speed USB 2.0 certified reader/writer for fast data transfer
MAMETesters Bugs Fixed
------------------------------------------
01571: [DIP/Input] stadhero: Player 1 and Player2 Start are mapped twice. (stephh)
01673: [Graphics] sfjp: Game backgrounds replaced with other images (Fabio Priuli)
01567: [DIP/Input] megazona, megazonb, megazonc, megazone, megaznik: P2 button 1 key mapped twice and P2 button 2 missing (stephh)
00458: [Misc.] NEC CPU debug bug (robiza)
00029: [Sound] contcirc: Audio emits from one speaker on start up. (Nicola Salmoria)
01609: [DIP/Input] Various - tested srmp4 (ssv.c), ttmahjng (route16.c), vsmahjng (vsnes.c), tokkae (konamigx.c), sf2 (cps1.c): INP playback loses sync quickly (Aaron Giles)
01680: [Graphics] area88, unsquad: [possible] DOT TEST in service mode shows garbage chars (Nicola Salmoria)
00761: [Speed] finalapr: Heavy performance hit. (couriersud)
00352: [DIP/Input] spaceskr: The cabinet DIP setting is inverted, when you set it upright mode, control is separated for P1 and P2, the scre[en] (Nicola Salmoria)
01659: [Core] stereo balancing is wrong (Aaron Giles)
01622: [Core] -refreshspeed has no effect (Aaron Giles)
01663: [DIP/Input] Hat switches not working (couriersud)
00250: [Graphics] 3wonders: Various graphic glitches. (Nicola Salmoria)
00405: [Graphics] cawing: Text in the attract mode is garbled. (Nicola Salmoria)
01021: [Side-by-side] dorunru2: Side-by-side test. (Nicola Salmoria)
00404: [Graphics] 3wonders: a glitch when u insert your record name when game is over. (Nicola Salmoria)
01552: [Graphics] 3wonders, 3wonderu: Another little graphic glitch on attract mode (Nicola Salmoria)
01081: (partial): megaplay.c (all games): 1 Player Start and 2 Players Start are duplicated. (couriersud)
Source Changes
-------------------------------
Changed the system to show a message if coin-lockout is active and a coin key is pressed. [couriersud]
Actually fixed -refreshspeed. [Aaron Giles]
Reverted previous SCSI CD change which broke some games. [R. Belmont]
Seibu COP cleanup, primarily sorting the code and identifying similarities in different implementations. [David Haywood]
Fixed an erroneous debug change which leaked into the last version of the namcona1 update. [Pierpaolo Prazzoli]
Fixed marineb colors. [David Haywood, Tomasz Slanina]
Rewrote INP recording from scratch, since all old INPs are broken anyways. Header now includes timestamp, which overrides the default time base for MAME's system time. Each frame recorded now gets a timestamp. Analog ports are recorded once per frame and interpolated. Analog port calculations are all done in fixed point for consistent results. A bunch of other minor tweaks in the input port code. NOTE: There may still be a few changes to the final INP format. [Aaron Giles]
Improved graphic decoding for Legionnaire, the BK3 tiles are now correctly extracted from the TXT region, map screen has correct tiles now. [David Haywood]
Removed CPS1 tile kludges and replaced with per-game ROM mapping tables. Ideally, the ROM mapping should be derived from mapping of the PALs found on the B board. Note that this is a significant change and some new bugs might be caused by it. Unlike previous bugs, where extra garbage tiles would appear in the games, the new bugs would be tiles or sprites MISSING--so they will be harder to notice. This would happen because in some cases the 16x16 regions of the gfx ROMs can be used by both scroll2 and sprites, while in other cases they must be separated. [Nicola Salmoria]
PSX updates: [smf]
- Fixed the SR masks for MTC0.
- Added ability to test the instruction/data cache ram. The scratchpad and BIU register are now handled internally to the CPU.
- All writes are performed with masks. SWL/SWR used to be implemented with two writes ( one byte and one word ) when writing three bytes, now it only ever performs one. Byte and Word writes use masks as they leave the rest of the register on the bus, which can be picked up by larger registers.
- The read/write functions to use are cached when the SR bits are updated, as are the bad address masks.
- Added coprocessor 1 & 3 support, though they don't do anything useful.
- All loads now go through the delay pipeline, a lwl/lwr will grab the value out of the pipeline if it's updating the same register.
- Added undocumented behaviour of BLEZ/BGTZ. The comparison for zero can be changed by specifying an alternate register in the RT field ( the documentation says you should always use register 0 ).
- Restricted to 16 COP0 registers & generate an exception if any of the 5 for the MMU are used.
- Added BCF/BCT instructions, although I have found no conditions that affect them yet.
- Generates an exception if any MMU instructions are executed.
- Sets the CE instruction for all exceptions, not just those involving a coprocessor. The bits of the opcode that specify the coprocessor are grabbed no matter what the instruction.
- Added TAR register and BT bit in SR. When an exception occurs during a branch, BT determines whether it was taken or not. The TAR register gets set to the destination of the branch.
- Fixed the BD bit when you are in a branch delay slot and you didn't take the branch, this shows up in the pipeline as !pc.
- Fixed branches within a branch delay slot.
- Multiply & divide instructions can be aborted if you write to HI/LO before reading the result. Added data breakpoints, you don't appear to be able to set breakpoints on any of the addresses internal to the CPU.
- Multiply/divide/GTE instructions can execute when an exception is taken, although the EPC indicates that it hasn't. The BIOS avoids rerunning GTE instructions as they are destructive, so you have to make sure they run.
- Added bus error handling, PSXCPU is limited to 8mb of ram & any access outside this range will trigger an exception. I believe this is to be an internal limit.
- Added CXD8611R as a specific CPU type, System 12 appears to allow more than 8mb of ram & it's possible that this is different.
- Mapped out all instructions to either generate an exception or ignore bits.
- Updated the disassembler to match the decoding.
- Fixed disassembling of branch instructions in a branch delay slot.
- Lui checks for a ori/addiu following and will show you the result.
- Added step over/out support.
- Fixed standalone disassembler.
- Fixed SZ0 truncation.
- Fixed IRGB truncation and conversion to IR1/IR2/IR3
- Added IR1/IR2/IR3 saturation when calculating ORGB.
- Fixed OTZ sign extension
- Fixed reading from SXYP
- Fixed reading from IRGB
- Fixed writing to LZCR
- Fixed sign extension of GTE control registers
- Fixed writing to FLAG
- Fixed flag calculation in F macro.
- Fixed avsz3 & avsz4 flag & otz calculation.
Fixed unicode crashing bug with input names. [Aaron Giles]
Renamed input port functions: [Aaron Giles]
readinputport -> input_port_read_indexed
readinputportbytag -> input_port_read
readinputportbytag_safe -> input_port_read_safe
Added machine parameter to input port functions. Updated many drivers to accomplish this.
Bulk converted drivers explicitly calling input_port_n_r() with a bogus offset to calling input_port_read_indexed() instead. [Aaron Giles]
Memory map merges for drivers starting with U, V, W, and Z. [Andrew Gardner]
Mostly fixed sound in N64-based games. [Adam Gashlin]
Correct DMA functionality in N64-based games. [Ville Linde]
Aerfboot improvements: [robiza]
- sprite offset are now correct
- split spriteram in two parts
- identified last sprite for the two parts
- promoted to "working" (no sound)
Pallavol improvements: [robiza]
- fix for sprite's y-coordinate
- implement lookup table for convert sprite code in the real code
- change the name to "1991 Spikes (Italian bootleg)
- fix scroll
- fix offset
Merged sonson memory maps. [Nicola Salmoria]
Added mising TC0060DCA sound mixer to the Taito Z driver. Marked one dblaxle ROM as BAD_DUMP. [Nicola Salmoria]
Changed the 8237dma implementation into a device. [Wilbert Pol]
Fixed wrong tile-sprite priority in m62 driver. [robiza]
Fixed nec v30 dasm when a "real-time encrypted cpu" is used. Also fixed Execution Clocks for add,addc,and,or,xor,cmp,sub,subc instructions. [robiza]
Removed the hardcoded dependency on a 8254 device from the 8042kbdc code. Changed the drivers using the 8042kdbc to define their own 8042kdbc - 8254 dependency. [Wilbert Pol]
Rewrote core memory handlers as inline functions. These should be easier to trace through in a debug build, yet should operate the same as before. [Aaron Giles]
Created a complete set of functions for all databus sizes (8,16,32,64) and all endiannesses. A few functions are redundant, but it is now very clear which functions to use in which scenarios. It is also now possible to rely on being able to access values of 8, 16, 32 or 64 bits via the built-in accessors without fear of crashing. [Aaron Giles]
Updated all cores using 8-bit handlers to explicitly call the 8-bit handlers with the appropriate endianness. [Aaron Giles]
Fixed a few games which were calling n-bit handlers directly to use the generic forms. In the future, this is all the access drivers will have. [Aaron Giles]
More opcodes fixed in gussun oyoyo and risky challenge. [robiza]
Added tags and locations to dips for marvins.c and matmania.c. [Fabio Priuli]
Enabled roz tilemap in emeraldia, but it's not centered in the right position when it's not in its original dimension. [Pierpaolo Prazzoli]
Fixed 'lghost*' Dip Switches. [stephh]
Reduced the number of save state callback types from 3 to 1. The only remaining form is the one that takes a pointer parameter. Added macros for STATE_PRESAVE and STATE_POSTLOAD to define common functions. Added machine parameter to these functions. Updated all drivers and CPU/sound cores to use the new macros and consolidate on the single function type. As a result pushed the machine parameter through a few initialization stacks. [Aaron Giles]
Removed unnecessary postload callbacks which only marked all tiles dirty, since this is done automatically by the tilemap engine. [Aaron Giles]
Updates for the driver wc90b.c: [ClawGrip]
- Removed the second YM2203, it isn't present on the bootleg boards
- Changed the clocks according to the oscilators found on the board
Added the running_machine* parameter to the function passed into cpunum_set_irq_callback() and adds the IRQ_CALLBACK macro for the callback function. [Oliver Stoenberg]
Cleaned up the Machine usage in the osd/windows files and added the running_machine parameter where possible. [Oliver Stoenberg]
Various tweaks/fixes from MAMEPlus:
* save state support for FD1094 chips
* improved graphics in athena
* improved sound balance in armedf
* derived refresh rate for toaplan1 games
* improved sound balance in tmnt games
* derived clocks for suprridr
* tweaked xmen visible area
* derived clocks and refresh rate in twin16 driver
CPS1: Verified some gfx ROM mapping tables against PAL dumps. Improved understanding and emulation of palette related registers. [Nicola Salmoria, Corrado Tomaselli]
New games added or promoted from NOT_WORKING status
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 on 1 Government (JAPAN) [smf]
New clones added
-------------------------------
Seibu Cup Soccer :Selection: (set 2) [Arzeno Fabrice]
Super Monaco GP (set 1, Japan, Rev A, FD1094 317-0124a) [Corrado Tomaselli]
Added Side by Side 2 (Japan) [Yasuhiro Ogawa]
New games marked as GAME_NOT_WORKING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Touchmaster 5000 (v7.10) [Brian Troha]
Touch Master 7000 [Brian Troha]
- Processing that decided the vertical display beginning position was brought close to a real machine. In "Strider Hiryu", the problem that the high-score display in the top of the screen is lacked was solved.
- "Overscan Height 6dot" menu was added to "Screen->Overscan Customize" menu.
- Additionally, a detailed part has been improved and corrected.
Yeah, you already knew what this 9-incher looked like from our time spent with it over in Germany, but there's just nothing like seeing a spotless machine escape from its factory packaging and delight its new owner for the first time.
Bugs fixed:
- 'Open path in explorer' enabled on datafile node
- 'Clean db' disabled on some nodes
- listview not refreshed after a 'close db'
- 'check drive' disabled on some nodes
- 'rebuild all' removed (not used)
- Listview not cleaned after loading a new db
- Some menu falsely enabled after loading a db
- Custom emulator command lines not saved
- parentnode button enabled when no node selected
- db error 'multiple rows in singleton select'
- fix some log messages
- folder size = 0
- cursor pointer not always set to hourglass
Features added:
- New generic xml format
- 'Short path name' option to display short paths in view
- Name of database in main treeview node
- Zipped CHD detected
- 'Samples mode' info in statusbar
- Several options disabled if not avail in database (chd, samples, bios...)
- DB nodes hidden if not avail in database (chd, samples...)
- Search box is back
- 'remove useless files' no more by default
- 'create ghost games' by default
- DB info set when creating a mame database
- French translation (still incomplete)
Brandon Erickson at Gamecritics puts forth an interesting question. Is there a "critical period" in children for learning video game skills, the same as there is for language? It doesn't preclude the learning of languages, or the innate hand-eye coordination specific to video games, later in life, but it may explain why younger kids who grow up using controllers second nature will, depending on the game, always whip the ass of an adult who learned on that stupid Colecovision phone-looking thing.
Using Super Smash Bros. Brawl as an example, Brandon tells us his brother, with little current gaming experience, utterly thrashed him. On a more complex game like Call of Duty 4, Brandon had the upper hand.
This makes me wonder if gaming skill operates similarly to language acquisition. Maybe my brother's early-life exposure to previous Smash Bros. games gives him a built-in advantage that my practice will never overcome. It could be that after age 12 our brains can't instinctively master certain gameplay styles that we weren't previously exposed to, hence my suckiness at newer fighting games. I'm not saying older people can't master new gameplay styles, but rather that there might be a developmental cutoff after which achieving such mastery becomes much harder.
That's a pretty good question, and I'm disappointed I didn't think of it first. So I'm linking to it. I'd like to think this hypothesis could be supported by child development experts, if only to level the competitive imbalance with my father, who is 58 and can still kick my ass in driveway hoops. (Thanks for teaching me a jump shot during that "critical period," Pops.)
Is there a "critical period" for videogame skill acquisition?
In what has to be a first for the music industry and the video game industry (and probably a very smart marketing move), Def Leppard will release their new single "Nine Lives" off their forthcoming album "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge", as part of the "Def Leppard Pack" for Guitar Hero III before it hits stores or digital download. The pack will be available for all you US (and I hope Canada) rockers on April 24th!
• Fixed bug and re-enabled HDMA bus sync delays
• Emulated newly discovered IRQ timing edge case
• Optimized offset-per-tile rendering
• Added state-machine implementation of S-DSP core, ~5% speedup
• Added SPC7110 detection, will now warn that this chip is unsupported
• Fixed very annoying Windows port OS beeping noise when using keyboard for input
• Linux port will now save most recent folder when no default ROM path is selected
• Added OpenGL rendering support to Windows port [krom]
• Fixed Direct3D pixel mode scaling bug [krom, sinamas, VG]
• Improved SNES controller graphic [FitzRoy]
• Added UPS (not IPS) soft-patching support; UPS patch must be made against unheadered ROM
• As always, cleaned up source code a bit
Play PC games with poor or no gamepad support
Add gamepad support to emulated, internet and DOS games
Play multiplayer games with each player using their own gamepad
Control video/music players using media or shortcut keys
Use a gamepad with a web browser or any windows application
Changelog:
Improved CPU handling (optimized for multi-core CPUs/multiple-CPUs, improved for single-core CPUs/single CPUs)
Improved core stability (no more white screens or freezing) (thanks to everyone who reported problems)
Improved controller array handling (uses less memory, safer data access, data is faster to access)
Improved sub-windows (now 100% dynamic and 100% memory leak free)
Improved controller file reading (removed support for old binary controller files)
Improved some of the controller list handling
Improved controller INI read speed
Improved border interface display speed (2.2 times faster)
Improved detection data memory usage
Improved device acquisition speed
Improved handling of assignment option toggles
Improved file version reading and calculations
Improved exit speed slightly
Improved advanced assignment slot image update efficiency
Improved white shading in some areas (was off-white)
Improved handling of NameDisplay button during interface changes
Improved displaying of profile creation/opening progress text
Added core-synced animations (prevents window from being unresponsive while animations occur)
Added smart button animation completion (prevents delays if no buttons or if all buttons fully animated)
Added deletion prompt when deleting known controller
Added individual NameDisplay button statuses for each controller
Added "Opening controller" status text during animation
Added Controller global settings button icons
Fixed a bug where moving mouse speed sliders via mouse emulation caused errors (thanks to Swolch and Sametz)
Fixed some thread memory leaks
Fixed a bug where command line shortcuts did not launch until profile was manually opened (thanks to SGTCableDog)
Fixed a bug where command line profile could be lost due to multiple controller messages
Fixed a bug where command line profile did not open when controller reconnected
Fixed a bug where mouse settings window did not show stick/dpad name for group mouse settings
Fixed a bug where profile queue was not cleared when a new profile was received (thanks to WelshRabbit)
Fixed a bug where grey did not produce a proper Vista style gradient
Fixed a bug where altering trigger controller settings closed DPad window and not Trigger window
Fixed a bug where Assignment Settings window still allocated memory for old tab icons from last year!!!
Fixed a bug where buttons sometimes didn't identify correctly in controller settings window (thanks to SGTCableDog)
Fixed a bug where button detection was ignored if an axis was active (thanks to SGTCableDog)
Fixed a bug where pressing space while entering a sequence with auto-pauses could toggle the auto-pause checkbox
Fixed a bug where checking an assignment option box and then pressing space to assign caused checkbox to toggle
Fixed a bug where one Profile change value was not initialized (this may have caused a bug at some point)
Fixed a bug where recent profile lists were not correctly defragged on startup
Fixed a bug where selected button did not reset on controller settings tab change
Fixed a bug where selected button did not take priority if controller settings buttons overlapped (thanks to SGTCableDog)
Fixed a bug where controller list in INI was not correctly scanned for repeats
Fixed a bug where language help button was missing (thanks to SGTCableDog)
Fixed a bug where controllers help was out of order
Fixed some bugs where show animation option was ignored
Fixed a bug where sub windows closed after main window restore and not during minimize (thanks to SGTCableDog)
Fixed a bug where ButtonDown status was not initialized
Fixed a bug where cycle hash border did not fill button with long displayed assignment name
Fixed a bug where Start options text was badly worded
Fixed some bugs where Russian text did not appear fully in some locations
Fixed a bug where gradients did not end perfectly on final colour
Mario Kart Wii has overtaken Gran Turismo 5: Prologue in the UK according to Chart Track All Formats Chart data for the week ending April 12.
Not only has the game debuted atop the charts, but it has become the 8th biggest launch week ever in the UK - even bigger than all the five other Mario Wii titles combined.
Mario, in fact, features in four Top 40 titles, including Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games in the third position. Sony's Gran Turismo 5: Prologue drops to second place after spending two weeks at the top.
Sales of Condemned 2, which dropped from fifth to sixth place, were down 20 per cent. Another recent release - Viking: Battle for Asgard - fell out of the Top Ten from number seven to sixteen.
The Top Ten titles in the UK for the week ending April 12 were:
1. Mario Kart Wii
2. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
3. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
5. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
6. Condemned 2
7. Wii Play
8. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
10. Carnival: Funfair Games
An expansion for PC RPG Gothic 3 is coming your way in Q4 2008.
It's called Forsaken Gods, JoWood's said, and according to the publisher fan opinions and suggestions are being taken into serious consideration for the add-on.
"Once more you take on the role of the nameless Hero and again you have to raise your sword in anger to save the world of Gothic. On your journey you will meet old friends - but be careful, some old alliances may not have lasted the test of time", is the only real information we have at this time.
JoWood adds that Forsaken Gods will "guarantee a seamless step to Gothic 4".
We got first word on Gothic 4 in May 2007, but it's yet to fully reveal itself.
PlayStation 3 outsold Xbox 360 for the third month in a row, but the Nintendo Wii overshot the combined sales of its rivals, according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.
Ahead of March's NPD Group sales data, due to release this Thursday, Pachter forecast PS3 sales of 365,000 units, edging out sales of 310,000 for Xbox 360.
In a Monday investor note, Pachter predicted that Nintendo will come out on top for yet another month, with Wii sales of 700,000 during March's five-week retail period.
Pachter believes that Wii and DS supply improved during the month, adding that the Wii supply situation has "made forecasting unit sales quite difficult." Pachter said a weak US dollar may have driven Nintendo to give a larger piece of the 1.8 million Wiis produced monthly to Europe at the expense of the US market.
the company likely shipped the U.S. its "'air share' in the month of March, particularly in light of Nintendo's need to support the launch of Super Smash Brothers Brawl."
He said that Wii demand is "expected to outstrip supply well into 2008."
The simExchange virtual stock exchange forecast Wii sales of 593,000, and PS3 and Xbox 360 sales of 301,000 and 296,000, respectively.
Software will also likely the be the big story for March, as Pachter expects console software sales of $850 million, a 47 percent rise at US retail.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl from Nintendo is expected to be the top game for the month. The title, released on March 9, sold over 1.4 million units in the US in its first week. Pachter believes the title sold 2 million during the entire month.
Other top sellers may include Army of Two, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Major League Baseball 2K8 and catalog titles such as Wii Play, Guitar Hero III and Rock Band.
This time around it is 80s hair metal band Motley Crue who are using a game to debut their new track, Saints of Los Angeles.
The song will be the first new recording to be included in Rock Band and will be available for download today via Xbox Live Marketplace (for 80 Microsoft Points). The PlayStation Store will allow users to get the track on April 17th.
The band will release their ninth studio album, also entitled Saints of Los Angeles, in July 2008, while a film adaptation of their group autobiography The Dirt is also due at some point this year.
Shendo released a new version of his PSX MemoryCard editor.
Changelog:
* Fixed a major bug in the card formatting function.
* Fixed error with import save function for Memory Card 2.
* Fixed error with the grid line settings for Memory Card 2.
* Added command line support per RedawgTS's suggestion.
Owners of first-generation Mac Pros, rejoice. Unless you already laid down the cash for one of those upgrade kits meant only for early 2008 machines, that is. For the rest of you, Apple has delivered a new NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT upgrade kit built specifically for your machine.
As expected, the card itself looks the same -- twin dual-link DVI ports, 512MB of dedicated GDDR3 RAM, etc. -- but the Apple store now carries two distinct products to distinguish between the card compatible with early 2008 rigs and the Mac Pros before it. If you've managed to hold off buying a new machine this long, you can order yourself an all new graphics card right now for $279 [£142].
RedLynx Trials 2 has been updated and it has motorbikes in.
The update makes the fiendishly addictive stunt-bike game more compatible with a wider range of machines, and improves some technical bits and pieces like shaders and dynamic object physics.
Those of you with the full version will also be given five fresh tracks to master, although the real skill comes in earning the break every bone in your body achievement.
You can find a full list of changes on the RedLynx website, or you can read our RedLynx Trials 2: Second Edition review elsewhere on Eurogamer.
SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced it is partnering with top U.S. gold medal contenders Amanda Beard, Tyson Gay, Nastia Liukin and Reese Hoffa to appear on the cover of the upcoming video game Beijing 2008™ - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and for the PC. These outstanding U.S. athletes represent the elite in each of their respective sports and are among the favorites to hoist the American flag and bring home gold this summer in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
“These talented individuals epitomize what it is to be an Olympic athlete and we are extremely excited to have them grace the cover of our Beijing 2008™ video game,” said Sean Ratcliff, VP of Marketing, SEGA of America, Inc. “With Beijing 2008™, SEGA is striving to develop the very best Olympic video game ever and we couldn’t be more proud to have them represent our game and our country this summer.”
Amanda Beard, a seven time Olympic medalist, is expected to continue her success as she prepares for her fourth Olympic Games this year in Beijing, China. She has competed in the Atlanta 1996 Games, Sydney 2000 Games and Athens 2004 Games, making her one of the most prolific Olympic athletes ever. Amanda became the second youngest gold-medal swimmer in USA swimming history when she won her first gold medal at the Atlanta Games at the age of 14. She currently holds the Olympic Record in the 200m breaststroke and the American record in the 100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley.
Tyson Gay will be sprinting for the title of “Fastest Man on Earth” as he makes his bid to win gold and shatter Olympic Records this year at the Beijing 2008 Games. Last summer, he became a double World Champion at 100m and 200m, and topped that off by winning gold as part of the U.S. 4x100m relay team. Tyson was selected as the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) male World Athlete of the Year for 2007 and is currently ranked #1 in the world.
Nastia Liukin is a Senior International Elite gymnast and is expected to be one of the top contenders on the U.S. Women’s Gymnastic Olympic Team. Specializing in uneven bars and balance beam events, she is a two-time world champion, a six-time world medalist, a four-time U.S. National Champion and has won the American Cup titles in 2006 and 2008. Tied for the most ever, Nastia is a nine-time World Championship medalist and is widely considered to be the most graceful and artistic gymnast in the world today.
Reese Hoffa is poised to take home gold in men’s shot put, when he makes his second Olympic Games appearance of his career this summer in Beijing. A member of the U.S. Olympic Team in the Athens 2004 Games, he has earned a number of prestigious titles in his shot putting career including 2007 USA outdoor champion, 2006 world indoor champion, 2004 world indoor silver medalist and 2003 Pan American Games gold medalist. Reese is the reigning world champion in shot put and currently ranks 11th on the world all-time list for the sport.
Beijing 2008™ features realistic next-gen visuals and will provide players with an authentic simulation of over 35 events (the most of any Olympic video game) from the upcoming Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, giving gamers the opportunity to compete in, and get an early look at, many of the official venues. The online functionality of all three platforms will ensure that for the very first time, fans of the Olympic Games will be able to experience the thrill of competing against other gamers across the globe in the world’s greatest sporting event. The game will also incorporate innovative control schemes that allow novice gamers to learn how to play the game, while providing experienced gamers the chance to set new records.
Developed by Eurocom Entertainment Software, Beijing 2008™ for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the PC is set for release in the summer of 2008. For further information, please go to www.olympicvideogames.com. For all press assets, visit http://segapr.segaamerica.com.
Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi has said that a PC instalment in the hit racing series is something he'd consider doing in the future.
Speaking to Austrian wesbite Der Standard (as translated by videogaming247) Yamuachi said, "It is very, very improbable that GT will come out on another console.
"But perhaps it comes to the PC. Particularly [so we could spread the game in] the Chinese market."
Nothing definite, then, but it's nice to know he's thinking about it. While you're waiting you could always read our review of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which is out now.
Oh man, the rumors were true. Asus' EeePC 900 -- the 8.9-inch model -- is still plodding along on that same 900MHz Celeron M processor as the original Eee PC 701. Good news: it does run at the full 900MHz without the 630MHz cap of its predecessor (pre-overclocking, that is). Bad News: it's not the Intel Atom proc promised at CeBIT. A potential bottleneck when loaded with the relatively CPU heavy XP instead of the Linux-based OS. Still, we're hoping this is a limitation in the early-launch, Hong Kong / Taiwan models only, and things will get corrected when Atom launches in June. The video after the break clearly demonstrates the multi-touch trackpad (3:50 in) which Engadget was first to discover in the FCC filing. http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/15/v...h-trackpad-de/
Those who have played KotOR 2, know its a broken game, which was rushed by LA to make the christmas rush of 04. The developer's, Obsidian Entertainment were forced to cut their development cycle back about 3-4 months. This meant ALOT of content originally planned to make the game awesome never made it in, luckily the cut content files were left in the Xbox version of the game, modders then exctracted it, examined it, and took it upon themselves to rebuild it!
This is the first mod to be released, the other which is also facing a immenent release, TSLRP mod will focus on restoring the game in general and not the Droid Planet or Peragus.
I am beta testing the TSLRP mod and all I can say is it sucks that none of the content will be Canon for the next Kotor.
The file itself is about 40MB in size and will ONLY work on the PC version of the game.
TrackMania Nations Forever is now available to download for free, and features single-player and multiplayer modes, a track editor and 65 new circuits.
For anyone not familiar with the series, TrackMania's a PC racer with a HUGE emphasis on arcade action, and has become a cult hit.
"TrackMania Nations Forever will allow the convergence of the huge TrackMania community", says publisher Ascaron.
"For the first time, players of the free versions will now be able to play online with players from the retail version of the new TrackMania United Forever. This is achieved by using servers dedicated to the Stadium environment common to both games."
TrackMania Nations Forever weighs in at 500MB and can be downloaded here.
Paradox has decided to give PC adventure game Penumbra: Black Plague an expansion.
Dubbed Requiem, it will be put together by series developer Frictional Games and be out this June on digital distribution site GamersGate.
"After the launch of Penumbra: Black Plague we realised that we still had some unfinished ideas for features and storyline that we wanted to implement. An expansion like this will be the perfect end to a series that has given both us and the players so much," said Jens Nilsson, boss at Frictional Games.
Black Plague was actually rather good. If you had read our review you would know it was "marvellously creepy" and that the good outweighed the bad in an "intriguingly dark adventure tale".
Console fans don't have to concern themselves with such things as system requirements for games, but it's bread and butter to the PC crowd.
Which is a very roundabout way of saying BioWare's revealed the minimum and recommended hardware specs for the PC version of Mass Effect, which is out in June. And that's news, or so the boss tells me.
We won't beat about the bush - here's the deal:
Minimum System Requirements for Mass Effect on the PC
Electronic Arts has announced that The Sims has sold 100 million units worldwide.
The first game in the series appeared in 2000, and the franchise has gone on to become the best-selling PC game franchise of all time according to its publisher. It is sold in 22 languages and 60 countries around the world.
4.3 million unique visitors are attracted to The Sims 2 online community each month, and they have downloaded more than 70 million user-generated creations. In addition, more than 100,000 videos and movies of The Sims have been shared on YouTube.
"At this milestone, we want to thank players of The Sims everywhere for making The Sims such a worldwide phenomenon," said Rod Humble, head of studio for The Sims Label.
"The Sims has been an interactive experience for people around the globe to explore their passion for creativity and we're thrilled to be a part of that.
"From building houses and relationships, from the first kiss to a toddler's first step, from kitchen fires – and even visits from ghosts, players have told more than 100 million unique and fun stories!"
Visitors to TheSims2.com website on April 16 can download a complimentary exclusive outfit for their Sims in honour of the milestone.
We've already gotten the disappointing word that the Eee PC 900's processor is the same 900MHz Celeron M found in the 701, but perhaps our hearts can be warmed by all the new details that came flooding out today. First, we've got word that the 900 will actually carry two different flash storage units, with 4GB soldered onto the motherboard and an 8GB SSD in the PCIe slot for XP versions and a 16GB unit for Linux models. The dual-storage system means you should be able to upgrade easily, but we're still wondering why the lighterweight OS gets more storage -- we've got a feeling that since both models will be priced at the same $500 - $650 price point depending on territory, Windows license fees have something to do with it. Speaking of territories, we've also learned some international ship dates: Hong Kong and UK customers should be seeing this pop up as of today, while France should join the fun on the 17th, Taiwan and Singapore later this month, and Australia, Germany and Italy will all have to wait until May. Sadly, we're still in the dark on Stateside release dates, but you'll know as soon as we do.
MAMETesters Bugs Fixed
-------------------------------------
01691: [Misc.] Various Sets: when exiting a game, seems to be any game I get an eip error (Aaron Giles)
01697: [Graphics] sfa3, sfa3b, sfa3u, sfa3ur1: About the blue background in startup screen. (Nicola Salmoria)
00206: [Graphics] ninjakd2: PCB info for Nicolas state. (Nicola Salmoria)
01695: [DIP/Input] ptblank, gunbulet: Crosshair doesn't move (smf)
01694: [Graphics] punisher, punishrj, punishru: missing graphic (Nicola Salmoria)
Source Changes
---------------------------
PSX core updates: [smf]
- removed casts and removed unnecessary decoding from NCLIP.
- added signed values to PAIR & PAIR64.
- renamed PAIR64.lw to PAIR64.q
- tidied up DPCS, improved flag calculation and added support for lm/sf fields.
- added sf/lm support to INTPL, improved flag calculation & calculates correct rgb
- fixed calculation of bit 31 of GTE FLAG register, when writing to it directly.
- added lm mode to OP and fixed the calculation.
- added lm mode to SQR.
Seibu implementation cleanups: [David Haywood]
- added cop/heatbrl ram clear stuff
- tried to make cop a bit more generic, breaks a few things for now, but better than duplicated code all over the place
- added the sound cpu to raiden2, although it doesn't make any sounds
Fixed CPS1 palette control register to match tests on msword psb. [Nicola Salmoria, Corrado Tomaselli]
Changed the pic8259 implementation into a device. [Wilbert Pol]
Fixed an opcode in quizf1. Fixed encrypted disassembly for bp+ix+offset8 and bp+it+offset8. [Robiza]
Modified bionicc to compute the palette based on the schematics. [Nicola Salmoria]
Verified several CPS1 graphics ROM mappings against PAL dumps. [Nicola Salmoria]
Changed device read/write functions to take a const device_config *. Reverted recent hacks to get around this and removed unnecessary casts. [Aaron Giles]
Fixed I8039 DAA instruction when A is > 0xF9. [Wilbert Pol]
Fixed crosshair update when the game is not polling the coordinates. [smf]
Merged CPS1, CPS2 memory maps and some tweaks from schematics, though to get perfect memory maps dumps of the A-board PALs would be needed. [Nicola Salmoria]
Adjusted docastle refresh rate to match PCB measurement. [Nicola Salmoria]
Finished memory map merge for W drivers. [Andrew Gardner]
Added support for using smaller-sized memory handlers directly in memory maps. To do so, you need to use the new AM_READn/AM_WRITEn macros and specify a mask for which bits are connected. [Aaron Giles]
Removed word-sized handlers from 6821pia.c. Updated drivers that needed them to use these new interfaces instead. [Aaron Giles]
Updated gaelco3d.c and itech8.c to remove the need for memconv.h by using this new feature. [Aaron Giles]
Added machine parameter and macros for the CDP1802 callback functions. This seems to have fixed the player sprite flashing in Destroyer/Altair/Draco. [Curt Coder]
Fixed lookup table for sprites in spikes91. [Robiza]
Made some changes to the 'v25' code in toaplan2.c. Batsugun does upload what looks to be the entire program, unencrypted. If enabled it runs to the point of waiting for interrupts, however, for those it looks like it needs a real V25 core with register banks etc. [David Haywood]
Converted the IDE controller to a device. Updated all drivers accordingly. [Aaron Giles]
Added new functions for dynamically installing device memory read/write handlers. [Aaron Giles]
Updated install_memory_XXX_handler() functions to take a machine parameter. Updated all drivers accordingly. [Aaron Giles]
Merged installation of read and write handlers where appropriate. [Aaron Giles]
Simplified memory.c code for dynamic installation so that a single function handles all the work; a NULL read or write handler indicates not to install anything for reads or writes. [Aaron Giles]
Fixed sprite overdraw mode to match Mutant Night movie. [Nicola Salmoria]
Properly marked puzznici as a bootleg and disabled the MCU simulation on it, it has it's own internally. [David Haywood]
Created new macro: AM_RAM_WRITE(handler) which specifies a memory range to be RAM-like for reads but calls the given handler for writes. [Aaron Giles]
Replaced AM_READWRITE(SMH_RAM, handler) with AM_RAM_WRITE(handler). Also replaced AM_RAM AM_WRITE(handler) with AM_RAM_WRITE(handler). [Aaron Giles]
Added correct rom dump for Shinobi4 set. [Arzeno Fabrice]
Added good denjinmk graphic rom. [Guru]
Removed ancient 720 kludge in the T-11 core. [Aaron Giles]
Added support in the T-11 core for an external vector via irq_callback. Apparently the hardware actually did support this and it is necessary for emulating the BK 0010/11 computer in MESS. [Aaron Giles]
New games added or promoted from NOT_WORKING status
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Show Hand [Luca Elia]
New clones added
----------------------------------
Led Storm Rally 2011 (US) [Bryan McPhail]
Shinobi (alternate set) [Brian Troha]
Aero Fighters (bootleg set 2) [Robiza]
New games marked as GAME_NOT_WORKING
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nandemo Seal Iinkai [Luca Elia]
Mario Kart Wii has topped the Japanese software charts selling nearly 600,000 units in its first week, according to the latest chart data from Media Create.
Nintendo's Wii racer is dominating the sales charts, selling 594,000 units in Japan after only being released a week ago. The game is followed by Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G for the PSP which sold a further 222,000 units bringing sales totals to 1,590,000 copies.
Wii Fit was fourth on the charts selling 31,000 units, while Deca Sporta and Super Smash Bros. - also for the Wii - sold 17,000 and 14,000 units respectively.
The rest of the top 30 is mostly dominated by Nintendo DS titles, followed by Wii, with Touchstone's Turok the only Xbox 360 game in the top 30 at 29.
The top ten for Japan follows:
1. Mario Kart Wii
2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G
3. Musou Orochi: The Evil King Returns
4. Wii Fit
5. Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage
6. Tottado! Yowiko's Deserted Island Life
7. Pro Baseball Spirits 5
8. Star Ocean 2: Second Evolution
9. Deca Sporta
10. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Mario Kart Wii has shot to the top of the Swedish multiformat charts replacing Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, just a week after its release.
Nintendo’s racer was followed by another new title Ubisoft’s Assassins Creed for the PC, the only PC title in the top ten, and Activision’s Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock for the PS2, which dropped two places to number three.
Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock holds the top spot on both the PS2 and Xbox 360 charts and comes in fifth and third on the PS3 and Wii charts respectively.
The PS3, however, has the strongest showing on the multiformat charts taking up four of the top ten places, double the amount of the Wii or PS2.
Assassins Creed topped the PC sales chart knocking World of Warcraft into second place, followed by EA’s Counter-Strike 1: Anthology and World of Warcraft the Burning Crusade. Vivendi and EA dominate the PC charts with four titles each in the top ten.
The top ten multiformat sellers in Sweden follow:
1. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
2. Assassins Creed (PC)
3. Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock (PS2)
4. Virtua Tennis 3 (PS3)
5. World of Warcraft (PC)
6. Singstar Svenska hits Schlager (PS2)
7. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
8. Sega Rally (PS3)
9. Virtua Fighter 5 (PS3)
10. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3)
You may not remember this because the news came out during CES, but back in January there was a gigantic leak of Windows Mobile 7 details, including an Alaskan Senator's dump truck full of images. Brandon from Pocket Now recently got to SEE Windows Mobile 7 at a Microsoft MVP event, and while he thinks it's a fantastic OS, he's got a huge problem with the release date.
Based on what he heard at Microsoft, the target release date seems to be mid to late 2009. He's got no problem with the technology in WM7—he says it basically addresses everything wrong with WM6 today—but the fact that it's not going to be released until a year and a half from now is troublesome. How can Microsoft compete when the iPhone will already been out for two and a half years, and iPhone clones have been out for more than one? It's tough.
And it's not like Microsoft can do anything about it. After they finish the OS, they have to send it out to OEMs and carriers and third-party companies in order to test and embed and develop on it. That's the problem with creating only an OS, instead of making an all-in-one OS and hardware product. But that's where Brandon thinks Microsoft has bomb to drop.
There's a possibility that Microsoft will take the recently acquired Danger (the makers of the T-Mobile Sidekick) and put them to work on hardware made expressly for Windows Mobile 7. Just think about how well Apple's done by integrating software onto hardware they built themselves. The same could be true with Microsoft.
Funcom and Eidos have announced anyone pre-ordering Age of Conan in the USA, Germany, France, Spain, UK, Oceania and the land of the Nords will get to play the game early.
From May 17th, to be precise - three days before the game launches. Which means a head-start before all the less organised players enter Hyboria.
"As we prepare the roll-out, we know our servers will be put to the test," said Funcom's Morten Larssen. "We therefore hope potential players will aid us by signalling their interest as soon as possible so we can scale our servers and services accordingly."
As aforementioned Age of Conan is coming to PC on May 20th, with an Xbox 360 version to follow in a whole year's time.
A massive question mark hangs over MMO Stargate Worlds. Is it going to be shit-hot, or die on its arse?
We can only wait and see, but in the meantime developer Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment continues to prove it's producing good-looking environments for the game - take a look at the latest screenshot.
Cheyenne believes that one area in which its pushing the MMO envelope with Stargate Worlds is AI.
"In Stargate Worlds, when you enter a room filled with enemy Jaffa, you will get a different reaction each time based on where you enter the room, how the cover is set up, are they outnumbered and what kind of enemy they are facing", studio head Dan Elggren told us earlier in the year.
"So, even though we are using the traditional MMO combat interface with hotkeys and tabbed targeting, combat is a new experience that will require tactical use of cover, suppressing fire and manoeuvre for victory. In other words, characters better fight smart, because their enemies will."
Four screenshots and fly-through video from Valve's new Team Fortress 2 map Gold Rush can be seen on this here page.
Gold Rush forms part of an imminent, major update for the multiplayer shooter that's introducing unlockable weapons, initially for the Medic class. Full details on the new Medic weapons emerged yesterday.
The new map features a brand new gameplay mode. In the new mode, one team must escort a small mining cart through a series of Dustbowl-like map segments. The cart moves faster the more Blue players are near it, but stops entirely if even one Red player is in range. Blue have to escort the cart all the way to Red's headquarters within a certain time limit.
Valve's update will debut on PC, with Xbox 360 and PS3 versions sure to follow.
Our brothers in arms over at Next-Gen.biz have caught up with Flying Lab to discover the reason behind the recent closure of seven of 11 servers for its MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea and the resulting transfer of players to the remaining four.
"The server merge is a result of a combination of things. When we were looking at the number of servers to roll out, we had a lot of different criteria to look at. Some worked out just like we'd expected, and some we were just wrong", Flying Lab CEO Russell Williams explains.
He goes on to highlight the "pieces that went wrong", which include servers actually being capable of handling more players than anticipated, game systems that require a certain number of players to function correctly "such as our economy, and they break other systems if they're not working correctly", the decrease in time players spent in the game after launch, and the balance of in-game nations.
"There are other factors, of course. But getting the above criteria wrong resulted in our concurrency targets being much lower than they should have been", Williams continues.
"Given that information the discussion becomes a focus on what you plan to do about it. For many MMOs, there's a desire to maintain that feeling of positive momentum, to continue as though it is business as usual. Unfortunately, it often goes way too far. That overwhelming urge to avoid any sign of weakness creates crippling problems in these games in the long term.
"The company doesn't want to admit it screwed up, and that prevents it from making the necessary changes, lest they be perceived as a sign of weakness. Which, in MMO terms, means you never shut down a server until its last gasps.
"We could have gone that way. As multiple people have said in our forums, they felt like many of the servers we decided to merge were still perfectly viable. But as we found, the game works better with a higher concentration of players. So we decided to act."
Welcome to this week's Games Update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.
Although releases have been calm this week, several famous game developers published different versions of their hottest or award winning titles in for different consoles.
One of them is UBI Soft, they released the Asian versions of two games from their award winning shooter series Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Legacy Edition) for Xbox360™ and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 for PC.
Capcom also published the US version of their their innovative and multi-award winning RPG Okami for Nintendo Wii™. Become the sun goddess and immerse into the stylistic and mythical world of Japanese paintings.
Aside from Okami, Capcom also published the newest Best Priced versions of their comical courtroom adventure Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and its sequel Ace Attorney Justice for All.
The US version of Baroque is released for both Nintendo Wii™ and PlayStation2™. Be captured by the gothic eerie atmosphere of Atlus's old school RPG as you crawl through the dungeons and learn about the truth of a distorted world.
As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week, followed by a quick preview of what is expected to be hot next week.
Xbox360™:
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Legacy Edition) ASIA US$ 44.90
PlayStation3™:
The Eye of Judgment Biolith Rebellion 2 Expansion Pack Voucher incl. 2 Bonus Special Creature Cards ASIA N/A
Nintendo Wii™:
Baroque US US$ 44.90
Dream Pinball 3D US US$ 24.90
MiniCopter: Adventure Flight US US$ 34.90
Okami US US$ 44.90
PlayStation2™:
Ape Escape 3 (Chinese language Version) (PlayStation2 the Best) ASIA US$ 24.90
Arcana Heart US US$ 34.90
Baroque US US$ 44.90
Hoshigari Empusa JPN US$ 64.90
Nintendo DS™:
Boura wa Kaseki Holder JPN US$ 48.90
Dr. Reiner Knizia's Brain Benders ASIA US$ 34.90
From TV Animation One Piece: Gear Spirit KOR US$ 49.90
Gyakuten Saiban 2 (New Best Price! 2000) / Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All JPN US$ 19.90
Gyakuten Saiban: Mask Vision Murder Case (New Best Price! 2000) / Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney JPN US$ 19.90
Maji de Manabu: LEC de Ukaru - DS Hishou Boki 3-Kyuu JPN US$ 39.90
Pac'n Ball KOR US$ 49.90
SBI Group Kanshuu: Hajime You! Shisan Unyou DS JPN US$ 39.90
Zoo Tycoon 2 DS KOR US$ 49.90
Nintendo DS™ Accessories:
DS Lite Value Pack (Nintendogs Version) US US$ 9.99
DS Lite Value Pack (Zelda Version) US US$ 9.99
Pokemon Silicon Cover (Black) JPN US$ 9.90
Pokemon Silicon Cover (Green) JPN US$ 9.90
PC and MAC™:
Fate of Hellas (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 34.90
Jack Keane (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 37.90
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire - The Eastern Realm (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 34.90
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 39.90
X-Plane 9 (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 37.90
Game Guides and Books:
Okami Wii Official Strategy Guide US US$ 16.90
Time Hollow: Uwareta Kako o Motome Official Guide JPN US$ 17.90
Video Game Soundtracks:
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness 3 Arrange Soundtrack JPN US$ 29.90
Kami Pani Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 27.90
Monster Hunter Shuryo Ongaku Shu II - Tatakai No Sho JPN US$ 23.90
Radio D2b On Air (Kira Kira Radio Intro Outro Theme) (~Dai 2 Bungeibu Band) JPN US$ 11.90
Technic Beat Soundtrack JPN US$ 19.90
The Idolm@ster Master Live 02 JPN US$ 19.90
Shendo released a new version of his PSX MemoryCard editor.
Changelog:
* Memory Card open function rewritten, files should load a lot faster now.
* Fixed a small error when editing icon of the save on Memory Card 2.
* Old DexDrive cards (with missing slots) and the ones with corrupted header are now supported.
* Requirements have been dropped down to .NET Framework 2.0.
* Right click menu added per Hard core Rikki's suggestion.
* Added save cards prompt upon closing if memorycards have been edited.
* Added occupied slots indicator in save information dialog.
Final Fantasy Miniature Trading Figures Vol. 2 is a much anticipated product and the highlight of April. These tiny characters are not to be overlooked. Although they are super deformed to bring out their normally hidden adorable sides, they retained the features that characterize their uniqueness. The characters in volume 2 are:
Squall Leonhart, the brave "lion-heart" from FF VIII.
Tifa Lockhart, the selfless childhood friend of Cloud from FF VII.
Auron, warrior monk of Yevon, appearing as playable character in Final Fantasy X.
Ashe (aka Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca), princess of Dalmasca, fighting for her lost kingdom in FF XII.
And last but not least Basch fon Ronsenburg, the unlucky knight from FF V.
The figures of Square Enix's Final Fantasy Miniature Trading Figures Vol. 2 are in stock today and are sold for US$ 4.90 each only.
Please bear in mind that they are shipped randomly and to recieve a factory sealed container, please order a box of nine.
Shifts of console sales in Japan seem to be slowing down even more these days. Still, here are the new sales figures:
Playstation Portable: 85,721
Nintendo DS Lite: 47,158
Nintendo Wii: 46,296
Playstation 3: 8,232
Playstation 2: 6,834
Xbox 360:1,147
As one can see, ranks stay the same as to last week. PSP is on top but takes roughly a 35,000 drop while DS is down 8,043. Wii sees an increase by 1,678. Last ones are PS3, PS2 and Xbox 360 dropping by about 3,300, 3,600 and 305 respectively.
Nintendo managed to sell a whopping 720,000 Wii consoles in the US last month.
Sales were boosted by the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 2.7 million copies were sold in March, three times as many as the game's nearest competitor.
According to NPD data Nintendo's name was on 58 per cent of all hardware sold across the US, with the DS shifting 698,000 units.
The Mario-maker expects the momentum to continue, too; Nintendo of America pointed to upcoming releases of Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii as potential gold mines.
Further down and there was just 5000 units difference between Xbox 360 and PS3 figures. Microsoft landed on top with 262,000 sales and Sony was just behind with 257,000.
Sony also managed to dish out 297,000 PSP handhelds during the month, plus 216,000 PS2 consoles.
In the software stakes, Xbox 360 versions of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Army of Two took second and third place respectively.
Wii Play kept up its phenomenal record to hold onto four, while PSP releases God of War: Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII took five and six respectively.
From there it was Guitar Hero III on Wii at seven, followed by Xbox 360 versions of MLB 2K8 and Call of Duty 4.
- Better support for Windows IMEs.
- Option for Windows-style window decorations.
- Improved system tray behavior.
- Window management fixes.
- Improved quartz audio support.
- Better support for launching apps from Unix file managers.
- Lots of bug fixes.
This release sees an update to the HC55516 sound chip used for speech/FX on
all WMS games from Gorgar up to Twilight Zone. Static noise and distortion
levels are reduced, and generally sound reproduction is clearer than before.
At the same time, Bally's "Xenon" and "Flash Gordon" using the vocalizer
sound board was increased in speech volume.
A fix was added for "The Sopranos" so the game will not crash any longer
after starting the "Bing!" mode, or the Boss mode.
And finally, with the addition of "Hoops", the Gottlieb collection is finally
complete in PinMAME, with the exception of some kits (like Amazon Hunt II)!
Changes:
*** CORE/CPU ***
Changes applied to sound reproduction of HC55516 chip
Fixed memory reads for Whitestar games (eg. The Sopranos)
Added support for some Bally prototype games
*** ROM SUPPORT ***
Added Gottlieb Hoops (thanks to Ingo Kramer and Armin Bernemann)
Added Bally Eight Ball Deluxe prototypes (thanks to Kelley)
Added Williams Star Trax prototype (thanks to Kelley)
Added Shuffle Inn (minus one sound rom)
A new FBA. A big overhaul of sound in the Sega games means they all work well now, with the exception of System 18 which still has issues with the PCM sound. I've also corrected the CPS-1 graphics emulation with support for the mappers. Still need to fix the pallet though to support proper screen clearing. Here's the what's new;
- Ported MAME's Z80 core to FBA
- Hooked up MAME's Z80 core in the System 16 games that use MC-8123 encryption, sound now works in these games
- Hooked up MAME's Z80 core in the Sega System 1 games, encrypted games now work
- Added more games to the Sega System 1 driver
- Changed the Sega System 1 drivers to appear in the Sega games list
- Got the YM2151 sound working in Cotton
- Added support for the UPD7759 sound chip
- Hooked the UPD7759 chip up in the System 16B driver
- Hooked the UPD7759 chip up in the prehisle driver
- Hooked the UPD7759 chip up in the tmnt driver
- Rewrote the Sega PCM support - solves quite a few problems, particuarly in enduror, outrun and smgp
- Fixed an issue in the Sega System X driver which caused missing sounds in abcop and smgp
- Fixed bug in the YM2612 emulation when more than one chip is emulated
- Changed the CPS-1 rendering code to use the mapper tables from MAME
- Added smgpja to the X-Board driver
- Added shinobi4 to the System 16B driver
- Added ledstrm2 to the madgear driver
- Added command line options, -listinfowithmd and -listinfomdonly
- Fixed the version output in dat files
- Fixed bug where any rom errors weren't reported
- Matched all sets to MAME 0.124u3
Good news for all those who enjoy blasting aliens and interspecies romance: Bring Down the Sky will be available for Mass Effect PC for free. The content module was released recently for Xbox 360 gamers over the Xbox Live Marketplace for a price of 400 Microsoft Points, which translates to 5 dollars USD.
This announcement, while certainly appreciated, was a little confusing for us, as Diarmid Clarke, project director for Mass Effect PC at BioWare, had just last week assured us Bring Down the Sky would not be included with Mass Effect PC. Check out the exchange below:
IGN: So Bring Down the Sky isn't in the retail game then?
Diarmid Clarke: No.
Very tricky, Diarmid! It's true, the content isn't in the retail box, but it will be available for download.
Anyway, it's nice to see the PC crowd get another reason, in addition to the reworked HUD and allegedly improved technical issues, to pick up the game. It's also worth noting that, according to the press release, the content "will be free of charge to registered BioWare community members." According the press release, more downloadable content will be available for Mass Effect PC in the future, though no word on a timetable or possible pricing structure.
We're serious this time, people. No more kidding around with those international ship dates, we've got ourselves a real live release date from Asus: May 12th. The hotly-anticipated Eee PC 900 with that relatively bountiful 8.9-inch screen is going to sell for a starting price of $549, with Linux and XP versions available at launch.
These evergreen features are made for weekends: GamesRadar has a list of the 15 best video game stories of all time. It's good for a midafternoon bull session between the hours of whatever you're playing (still hammering on Bully, myself.)
I haven't played many on the list to be quite honest, as lots are PC games and I am one of those lifelong Mac users (sue me). In fact, the only Portal I played was the interactive novel on a Macintosh Plus back in 1987. Not sure if interactive novels qualify, they might be more novel than game, but that one was outstanding.
I'm also a little surprised that neither Sam & Max nor, for that matter, Full Throttle (an extremely underrated game) didn't make the list. Throttle especially, as it had one of the great finales of all time, when Ripburger goes into the chasm clutching a "Can't beat a Corley" license plate. Indeed.
I've put the full list after the jump, if you want to see what made it without going through the whole article, which has some nice YouTube and flash videos of game highlights.
In no order, the 15 best are:
Metal Gear Solid (1998, PlayStation, PC)
Grim Fandango (1998, PC)
The Longest Journey (2000, PC)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox, PC, 2004)
Beyond Good & Evil (PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, 2003)
Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance, 2004)
Portal (Xbox 360, PC, PS3, 2007)
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC, 1993)
Bioshock (Xbox 360, 2007)
Planescape: Torment (PC, 1999)
Fallout 2 (PC, 1998)
God of War (PS2, 2005)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox, PC, 2003)
Final Fantasy VI (Super Nintendo, 1994)
Silent Hill 2 (Xbox, PS2, PC, 2001)
Wesnoth 1.4.1 has been released. This is a bugfix release for the stable 1.4 branch. It mainly fixes smaller problems and features a rewritten multiplayer server to improve the servers speed while using less resources. Beside this the multiplayer lobby was sped up, spelling mistakes were fixed and many translations were updated. To celebrate the release and comment on it, post in this forum thread. As with the last development series, we continue to offer two versions of changelogs: a rather nice to read players changelog that only includes changes every player will probably notice and the (rather) complete changelog with (almost) all the details, which is likely to cause a serious headache...
At the moment only the Gentoo, OpenSolaris and OpenSuse binaries are ready. Once the others are done you can find them at the download page. We hope there are no bugs left, but if you find any, report them.
Update: The MacOSX binaries are now available on the download page.
Update 2: The Windows binaries are now available on the download page.
Oh, poor Eee PC 900. You haven't even made it into most people's hands, and already you're getting dissected and inappropriately inspected. Honestly, we didn't mean for that to rhyme. Regardless, the folks over at bit-tech have gone to all the hassle of cracking the little dude open, though what they find inside is apparently more of the same. No new modules, no fancy layout changes, no tiny army of artificially intelligent lifeforms. Still, it's nice to look at. Take peak and see for yourself!
Since McWhertor whiffed on "What Are You Playing," and Bash didn't do a TUD post either, and it's a slow news day, I'm bringing out the Giraffe to ask a question that, by its nature, you wouldn't want to answer.
But I'm gonna do it anyway because we're big boys and girls and can confess our secrets, and besides, only a complete imbecile would create a commenter account in his full legal name. So it's time to spill the beans. The TUD Giraffe demands:
What game — any console, any title, any era — are you most ashamed of playing?
Ideally, I'm talking about a game you would hide even if gamer friends came over. But it can be any game that just embarrasses you to say you played it. Bonus points if you still own it.
I'll admit mine here: I got "Playboy: The Mansion" from GameFly about three years ago, just because, hey, it was anonymous and no one would know, and I was lonely. What a crap game. The Sims with boobs, and little else. I think I got a U.S. senator to pose nude for one of my editions though, and got it on with her on top of a pinball machine. Oh Lord, now I'm thinking about Elizabeth Dole ... make it stop ...
1. Fixed a bug with Rampac Only emulation. When this Memory Configuration was deleted, the I/O operations were returning without performing any action because they were checking for a NULL ReMem RAM pointer.
2. Fixed issue with Rampac and Base Memory file saving when switching the memory configurtion from Rampac to ReMem + Rampac mode.
3. Added option to control whether ReMem's "Rampac Emulation" should override the Rampac emulation mode. When ReMem + Rampac mode is selected, ReMem can be configured to emulate the Rampac access method and write to ReMem memory space. The Memory Setup dialog now provides checkbox to control if Rampac accesses are directed to ReMem memory space or to Rampac memory space during this condition.
4. Added LPT Device emulation support and configuration options on the Peripheral Setup dialog. Added printer icon to main window to show printer status and provide a Popup menu for printer control.
5. Added Emulated printer support for printing to Files and Host Port devices.
6. Added Epson FX-80 printer emulation with output to different "Papers". Current papers include Postscript files, "Virtual Paper" (FLTK Window), Windows Printer, and Linux 'lpr' command line printing.
7. Fixed issue with default (cold boot) year setting on M10 and PC-8201a models.
8. Added an option to the COM emulation to loop back DTR to DSR and CTS to RTS to emulate a "loopback" cable connected to the serial port. This option can be enabled from the COM setup tab.
9. Fixed issue with Serial emulation on Linux in Base Memory emulation mode. Received bytes were not triggering the INT6.5 interrupt.
10. Fixed bug when cancelling file save operation that caused the program to crash.
11. Added support for Kyocera KC85 emulation.
12. Fixed bug with "Make OptROM Read/Write" option to save write operations between bank switch operations.
13. Added FLASH Program / Erase state machine to ReMem emulation. State Machine supports Programming, Chip and Sector Erase, CFI Query, Autoselect, and Reset commands. Does not support sector protection.
2) VIC fixes including the adjustment of the Sprite Y Expansion and the charactor display
logic. The following demos are fixed. "Destruction" by Dream, "Spice Up Your Life" by
Triad and "Parados".
The UK videogames industry has recorded an all time high for first quarter software sales, with retailers selling 17.89 million units and earning GBP 418.4 million.
The figures, provided by analysts ChartTrack, show an increase of nearly a third on the results from December 30 to March 29 last year, when 15.62 million units were sold and GBP 317 million earned.
"We are thrilled to see the industry continue to grow at such a rapid rate and videogame sales continuing to rise," said Paul Jackson, director general of ELSPA.
The figures also revealed that Nintendo benefitted the most from the sales by securing 37 per cent of all units sold. This was helped by Sega's DS and Wii title Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, which sold the most units over the period.
"This period has seen more innovative and family-friendly titles doing well and it is clear that consumers of all ages have been lining up to buy them," Jackson added.
ChartTrack's findings come after those of North America's NPD group, which show that Nintendo sold the most Wii consoles ever this March, outside of the holiday months of November and December, selling 720,000 units.
Postal director Uwe Boll has admitted that Blizzard refused to give him the rights to make a movie based on World of Warcraft.
"I got in contact with Paul Sams of Blizzard, and he said, 'We will not sell the movie rights, not to you... especially not to you" Boll said to MTV news.
The director then added, "Because it's such a big online game success, maybe a bad movie would destroy that ongoing income, what the company has with it."
Just to set things clear, that's not a continuation of Boll quoting Paul Sams. That's Boll calling his own hypothetical WoW movie bad.
It says something that when a director admits that even his imaginary movies are not up to scratch.
Boll isn't the only one critical of his work, though. Earlier on in the month, we reported that an online petition campaigning for the director to stop making movies had obtained over 32,000 signatures. As of today, 210,389 people have signed it.
The Eee PC will be available in a ten-inch version, says Asustek CEO. Speaking at the launch of the Eee PC 900 in Taiwan, Jerry Shen said that customers were clamoring for bigger keyboards for the lightweight laptop. "The feedback we've received from users has been great," claimed the CEO at a press conference. "Many have asked us for bigger screens and better usability. That's what made us start developing the Eee PC 900." Although he declined to name a release date or a potential price for the ten-incher, the larger size will probably bring the price up quite considerably.
features
Sound: Full quality music with Japanese voices
OS: Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista
description
I am Raidy, wandering this continent of Else far and wide as an adventurer. I can freely bend the power of thunder to my will, so people have taken to calling me the "Lightning Warrior". Why am I standing here in front of this tower, you ask? The cause lies in the village of Saad that I visited recently. I got there to find it in decay, deserted and transformed almost completely into a ghost town...
Apparently it became that way due to the monsters living in this tower. They'd been stealing away all of the young maidens from the village, and none of the men who went to rescue them ever returned... a harsh and terrible tale. Being who I am I could't hear that story and stand by idle, so now I find myself here, facing the tower...
Lighting Warrior Raidy brings a fresh new look from G-Collections and maker ZyX, famous for titles like Sagara Family and Tsuki - Possession. You take the role of Raidy in this first person RPG dungeon crawl, aiding her on her quest to clear the Kyubast tower of the monsters that dwell within and liberate the village of Sadd. Featuring hours of classic 3D RPG-style game play, dozens of beautifully drawn monster girls from artist Kazuma Muramasa (homepage), and strong yuri (lesbian) themes, a great erotic RPG adventure you're sure to enjoy!
- "Use Black Belt when Hide Overscan" menu was added to "Setting->Screen" menu. If this check is put, the size of Ootake-window can be maintained when the over scanning area is concealed ("F11" key or "Screen->Show Overscan Area" menu).
* At "Start Overscan Customize" menu (above one), if it is set that the over scanning area is not displayed, this menu is invalid.
- The access processing of CD-ROM was brought close to the movement of a real machine. In "GS Mikami", the problem that had stopped on a black screen occasionally was solved.
- In the visual scene of "Nekketsu Legend Baseballer", the gap of the voice was corrected. (I was able to do the correction confirmation even to ending.) *The play installed by "CD-ROM->Install(CD speed-up)" menu is recommended (CD-ROM access is severe in this game).
- Additionally, a detailed part has been improved and corrected.
Q Entertainment has added its acclaimed puzzler Lumines to the ranks of titles available from Steam.
You can pop the Base Pack in your digital pocket for USD 9.95 (GBP 5). It has 21 unlockable Challenge skins, a skin edit mode, and a sample of Time Attack, Puzzle, and Mission modes.
Once you get to grips with the action you can add the Advanced Pack for USD 7.95 (GBP 4), which has another 21 Challenge skins, as well as 70 Puzzles and 35 Missions. You must already have the Base Pack to play.
Those of you after both can bundle them together for USD 14.95 (GBP 7.50). There's a 10 per cent discount on all these prices until this Friday.
Lumines found European fame on the PSP back in 2005. It has you clearing screens of falling blocks by matching the two colours into clumps, which disappear when a line sweeps from right to left in time to the music.
Each skin, or level, varies the music and tempo of the sweeping line, as well as the shapes of the blocks, culminating in one of the best puzzle packages around.
Since then it has been moulded into PS2 and Xbox Live Arcade offerings, although neither were as fresh and captivating as the handheld original.
It seems that the educational MMORPG NASA's proposing will no longer have a budget of $3 million. Instead, any prospective development partner is being asked to create and maintain the MMORPG for free under a 'non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement'. It won't be a one-sided agreement, though. From NASA's RFP: 'In exchange for a collaborator's investment to create and manage a NASA-based MMO game for fun and to enhance STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics], NASA will consider negotiating brand placement, limited exclusivity and other opportunities.
Mario Kart has held onto the top spot in the UK All Formats Chart for a second week running.
Its ghost was chased eagerly by the legs of Mario & Sonic at the Olympics at two, and the shiny tyres of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue at three.
Sporty pair Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 and SEGA Superstars Tennis followed at four and five respectively, with shooters Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Call of Duty 4 next in line.
Fresh entry UEFA Euro 2008 managed to take eight - probably feeling the sales-glut from England not qualifying for the competition.
Dr. Kawashima climbed back into the charts with Brain Training at nine, while Guitar Hero III and its frustrating final set-list rounded off the pile at 10.
New entries of note were Time Crisis 4 and its PS3 light-gun at 24, plus another forgettable Sims 2 expansion to do with kitchens and bathrooms at 20.
Big movers were Rayman Raving Rabbids up from 32 to 22, while Dark Sector fell from 13 to 26 and Viking: Battle for Asgard tumbled from 16 to 29.
Those fired from the list by the stubby finger of Sir Alan "Charts" Sugar were Bully: Scholarship Edition and MX vs. ATV Untamed.
Ubisoft is preparing a patch for the PC version of Assassin's Creed that will address a number of game-crashing issues that plagued its release - and remove DirectX 10.
In the past two weeks, players have reported numerous problems, ranging from unnecessarily long exit times (see the YouTube video about it) to the game conking out whilst trying to connect to an Ubisoft IP address every couple of seconds.
According to Ubisoft's website, the company doesn't have an exact date for the release of the patch but says "we're hard at work and hope to have further updates soon."
Unfortunately, the patch will also remove support for DirectX 10.1, so Ubisoft can tweak it. Though considering there's only about five people so far in the world with a DX10.1 compatible graphics card, we think it's got time to get it right.
Funcom and Eidos have announced that Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures has gone gold. This means that gamers will finally be able to play the much anticipated MMORPG come May 20th.
Age of Conan has been in development for more than four years and to highlight the release of this epic title, an investor update (via Voodoo Extreme) shows that Funcom and Eidos are willing to spend nearly 12% of the company's anticipated gross revenues on promoting the game.
Even though Funcom has stated the game is ready for launch, MMOs can often be buggy ordeals, expect immediate patches at launch.
Age of Conan will retail for $59.99 USD in North America and 49.99 Euro in European markets. A subscription fee of $14.99 will be applied to US participants, whereas a 12.99 Euro fee will be applied to European players.
Reality Pump has been discussing the pit it fell into with its fantasy RPG Two Worlds, which didn't exactly go down a storm, in an interview with our colleagues over at OXM UK.
"Two Worlds was not only the first role-playing game we created as a company, but also our first console game, so we've learned a lot in the process", the developer told the magazine.
"The main lesson we learned is to be more realistic with our goals. With the original idea, we were all so excited to be working on an RPG that we tried to fit in every idea we had, even the ones that came late in the process."
This ultimately hurt the game, Reality Pump added, admitting that as a result "it had parts that were underdeveloped".
Two Worlds originally drummed up interest due to its Oblivion-esque free-roaming aspect, but it didn't even dint the armour of Bethesda's monster and averaged around a 50 percent review score on 360 and 65 percent on PC, according to Game Rankings.
However, lessons have been learned and are being applied to Reality Pumps' sequel, Two Worlds: The Temptation.
"With The Temptation, we clearly delineated the game's components at the start, and we're sticking to this target so the end result will be a more finely polished game", the developer's promised.
Two Worlds: The Temptation is due out autumn on PC and Xbox 360. You can read OXM UK's full interview with Reality Pump on its website.
(Mystery) First-person shooter They? Oh yes, the last thing we heard about this game was that it's been signed up by nVidia for its 'The Way its meant to be played' program.
That was back in January this year, but we've now got several new screenshots from the game.
PR powers have done their best to hype They, calling it not just a shooter but "a next-gen mystery FPS". It's set in the near future and features a single 'morphing' gun that can be adapted on the fly to suit your needs.
It's in development for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 but is some way off - the second half of 2009 is the current release window.
This isn't going to end well for Asus. Early adopters of the Eee PC 900 in Hong Kong are in a spat with Asus over batteries. Seems the Eee PC 900 ships with a standard 4-cell, 4400mAh battery whereas the battery shipped to the Hong Kong media (and presumably others) was a 4-cell, 5800mAh; the latter Asus is calling a mistake. That would certainly account for the wide ranging Eee PC 900's battery life reviews which have varied from a very disappointing 1.5 hours to a decent 2.5-hours. Of course testing methods will also contribute to lifespan. Regardless, ASUS is now considering giving 900 buyers a free upgrade. Our suggestion? Just do it Asus, and pronto. Else the Eee PC brand you've become so dependent upon is going to take a serious beating.
A game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is being developed by EA's Bright Light Studio, the company announced today.
In the game, which is aiming for a release to coincide with the movie hitting later this year, Harry returns to Hogwarts for a sixth year. The game will include wizard duels, potion brewing and Quidditch play.
The game hits the DS, Mac, mobile devices, PC, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, Wii and Xbox 360. What no iPhone? Come on!
* The ability to search by image health
* The Advanced Search and Emulator Selector windows auto-sizing to fit the content
* Increased responsiveness when scanning for new ROMs and filling a large ROM list
* A new status bar
- Error when loading image background in treeviews and listviews if file does not exist
- Some "non-game" file extensions being added as games, usually for disc images
- Disc images games were not working! EmuCon was not loading the correct media type...
- Some docs files were outdated
- Memory leaks when creating games lists
- Endless loop making EmuCon freeze or generate an access violation when emulator entry was empty in "Emulator Setup" screen
Improved
- Some code optimizations and clean-ups
Removed
- Input box screen, not used anymore
Added
- New file: "file_extensions.ini" so you can manually add any file extension you do not want EmuCon to detect for cartridges and extensions for disc images you want EmuCon to detect, when creating games lists.
The European Union is unsatisfied with how rating systems are protecting minors from videogame violence and are requesting game companies adopt a new "industry code of conduct," according to Reuters. While the EU is all for freedom of expression, protecting minors is a higher priority. Recent school shootings in Europe, coupled with mature titles like Manhunt 2, have brought about these mandates.
While the EU does have the authority to enact legislation, the union is allowing game companies two years to adopt a new cohesive rating system. EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said of the situation, "When children go out to play today they enter the world of joysticks. We are not quite sure where they go and there is real anxiety from parents."
Interestingly enough the EU is aware that there is no conclusive evidence that links videogame violence to real life violence, but the union is opting for the "better safe than sorry" approach by pushing for the promotion of the Pan European Games Information (PEGI) age rating system, which is said to be conclusive.
Publisher Interplay (in the process of making a comeback, it seems) on Tuesday announced that it is underway with an official sequel in the acclaimed Earthworm Jim franchise. The title, called Earthworm Jim 4, will be developed in conjunction with character creator Douglas TenNapel, who will simultaneously serve as the project's creative consultant and help launch an Earthworm Jim animated series and feature film to "expand the well-known brand."
Earthworm Jim debuted in videogame form in 1994 for the SEGA Genesis. The machinegun-brandishing worm starred in a side-scrolling 2D shoot-'em-up / platformer whose uniquely edgy style and humorous presentation, not to mention winning play mechanics, combined for a standout experience. Subsequent sequels for various platforms followed over the years.
During the late '90s, Interplay suffered a series of financial setbacks which ultimately led in 2004 to the closing of the company. However, in late 2007, after selling the Fallout intellectual property to Bethesda Software, the publisher showed signs of a re-emergence, with executives promising to use the newfound finances to reestablish Interplay as an industry player. It's clear that Tuesday's announcement is the first in a series of steps to draw upon old Interplay licenses as a foundation for the new business.
No further details regarding Earthworm Jim 4 -- target videogame platforms, release date, and so on -- were made available by Interplay's official release today.
The Interplay website now shows a "coming soon" graphic, but does not provide any other information about the company or the games it may have in development. Nor does Tuesday's news release supply contact information of any kind, which is why IGN's attempts to reach Interplay officials for additional information about Earthworm Jim 4 went unsuccessful.
We're still waiting on in-game action screens from Stargate Worlds, but who knows how long we'll have to sit here twiddling thumbs before that happens.
In the meantime, the MMO's developer Cheyenne Mountain Entertain continues to trickle out shots from environments in the game, and you can see the latest two below.
"Stargate Worlds will be a story-driven MMORPG that features modern tactical combat, science fiction weapons and innovative non-combat gameplay through integrated mini-games", studio head Dan Elggren told us about the game earlier in the year.
Today Capcom announced smash hit Devil May Cry 4 will launch for the PC this summer. The intense gothic 3rd person action fighter will see a number of additional add-ons in the PC version and will even feature a playable demo before the game hits shelves. Not only will the demo allow DMC fans to slay demons, but the demo will also give players the chance to benchmark the game on their PCs.
Not intent on delivering just a straight port, Capcom is bringing over a number of new features. On top of being able to intensify the graphical settings, the game will include a new "turbo mode" that will speed up the game and will introduce the "Legendary Dark Knight Mode" which is only possible on the PC as it utilizes extra PC processing power to throw more enemies at you than ever before. Capcom has also given incentive to console players of DMC4 by changing where enemies spawn.
No specific date is set for the PC version of DMC4 but we do know the game will support DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 support. The game is rated Mature in the states and 16+ by PEGI in Europe.
Members of the official Rainbow Six Vegas 2 forums have unearthed a unsettling bug, Vegas 2 crashes can lead to large memory dumps that can quickly fill up your hard drive. The crash has flooded multiple gigs for some and one forum member has cited a gargantuan memory dump of 16 gigs in his Rainbow Six Vegas 2 folder.
Ubisoft told Eurogamer that it was looking into the problem.
Starting with this version, I am releasing Unix and Maemo ports of ColEm. The ColEm-Unix port has been tested on Ubuntu Linux. Both Ubuntu binaries and the source code are available from this page. If you have problems compiling ColEm on other flavors of Unix or Linux, let me know.
The ColEm-Maemo port will run on Nokia's N800/N810 internet tablets using Maemo OS2008 (aka Chinook). It has been specifically optimized for these tablets, making use of the touch screen and a few pieces of ARM assembler code. The ColEm-Maemo source code is also available for those who would like to learn from it.
ColEm supports both standard and SuperAction controllers, including the spinners (controlled with mouse movement). I have also started adding Coleco Adam emulation but it is not finished yet.
New in This Version
- Yet again ported ColEm to Unix using the new EMULib framework. The new ColEm-Unix has been tested to compile and run on Ubuntu Linux but should work on any other Unix. ColEm-Unix source code is included with the core source code distribution.
- Ported ColEm to Maemo OS2008 used in N800 and N810 internet tablets from Nokia. ColEm-Maemo has been specifically optimized for the tablets using ARM assembler. It will simulate joypad with the touch screen and automatically open *.cv/*.cv.gz files from the file manager. ColEm-Maemo source code is included with the core source code distribution.
- Renamed -zoom/-nozoom to -soft/-nosoft.
- Added -scale option to scale window on Unix.
- Added -home to set home directory with system ROMs.
- Options -tv/-notv, -soft/-nosoft, and the [F8] key now work for both MSDOS and Unix.
- ColEm-Symbian display routines rewritten in ARM assembler for speed.
- Split ColEm-Symbian configuration menu into four tabs, making "Video" and "Audio" settings separate.
- Added "Audio Latency", "Skip Frames", and "Sync Updates" settings to ColEm-Symbian.
- Documentation and built-in help changed, many inconsistencies removed.
MAMETesters Bugs Fixed
-------------------------------------
00426: [Core] tenkaibb, mjreach: don't bootup correctly. (Emuman)
01711: [Gameplay] connect4, mpu4met0, mpu4tst2, mpu4utst, bctvidbs: Using -CHEAT trigger causes a crash (Atari Ace)
00149: [Misc.] No error report for invalid BIOS setting. (Atari Ace)
01588: [Core] timecrsa, timecris: MAME simply quits after pressing F3 in both sets, game cannot be run (Atari Ace)
01733: [Core] diehard: Game fails to start (Aaron Giles)
01710: [DIP/Input] spacetrk, sptrekct: Cannot insert coins in both sets (Aaron Giles)
01721: [DIP/Input] sspaceat, sspacat2, sspacat3, sspacatc : Problems with inserting coins. (Aaron Giles)
01740: [DIP/Input] carnival, headon, heiankyo, pulsar, samurai, tranqgun : Is not possible to insert any coin. (Aaron Giles)
01724: [Core] garou, garouo: Can't start the game (Aaron Giles)
01732: [Core] kof99, kof99a, kof99e: Game doesn't start (Aaron Giles)
01742: [Interface] punchout, armwrest + many vsnes.c and playch10.c games: Refreshspeed causes fatal exception in punchout (Aaron Giles)
01670: [Graphics] kungfum, kungfud, spartanx, kungfub, kungfub2: Main character sprite not hidden at end of level. (Nicola Salmoria)
01686: [Graphics] ldrun3, ldrun3jp: visible area problem (Nicola Salmoria)
00248: [Graphics] repulse: Once the player has been shot, a misplaced tile appears on the screen. (robiza)
01145: [Graphics] sonofphx, 99lstwar, 99lstwrk, repulse: When you die in the first level, there's a red graphics glitch at the lower left. (robiza)
00498: [Graphics] sonofphx, 99lstwar, 99lstwra, 99lstwrk, repulse: When the end-level mothership appears in the stage 4, it shows through the trees and scrolls showing through. (robiza)
Source Changes
------------------------
Improvements to aerfboo2: [robiza]
- fix bg1 and bg2 offset
- fix sprites
- promoted to "working" (NO SOUND)
Added a macro for the CDP1869 interface, and made write handlers optional. [Curt Coder]
Fixed offset sprite/background in kyugo.c. [robiza]
Fixed the 6502 family of disassemblers to show the correct bit to operate for BBR, BBS, RMB and SMB instructions. (65C02/65CE02 CPUs and variants) [Roberto Fresca]
Fixed 2 opcodes for quizf1: now the little machines move correctly. [robiza]
Converted the ppi8255 implementation to a device. [Wilbert Pol]
Changed the inline validity checks to work around GCC bug #35885. [Wilbert Pol]
Expanded the set of memory accessor functions. In addition to direct byte, word, dword, and qword accessors for all bus sizes, there are now masked word, dword, and qword accessors for all bus sizes. [Aaron Giles]
Further CPS1 improvements:
[Nicola Salmoria, Corrado Tomaselli, Charles MacDonald]
* fixed layer enable at the end of stage 4 in Varth.
* increased Varth CPU clock to 12MHz to reduce slowdowns (the game was released after sf2ce so the faster A-board was available).
* verified more gfx rom mappings against PAL dumps (thanks to Corrado)
* verified memory maps using A-board PAL dumps (thanks to Charles)
* separated the address ranges for CPS-A and CPS-B customs. This finally clarifies why some registers are fixed and some change with every game.
* identified three new unknown registers in the CPS-B-21 custom. Their purpose is unknown.
* all unhandled accesses to CPS-A/CPS-B registers will now be reported. There shouldn't be any left. Look out for "contact MAMEDEV" popups.
* cleaned memory maps. Moved forgotten worlds special input memory handlers to DRIVER_INIT.
* moved extra input handlers to video/cps1.c since the extra connectors are on the C-board.
* added sound to Final Crash.
* lowered SF2 clock speed to 10MHz. This is on the assumption that, since the 12MHz A-Board is called "89626A-4 DASH", it should have started to be used with SF2 DASH--that is, sf2ce.
Inverted the sense of the memory mask that is passed to read/write handlers. Previously, the mask indicated which bits were NOT requested to be read/written. Now, the mask indicates which bits ARE to be read/written, which is more logical. Updated a number of drivers and the MIPS CPU cores to comply. [Aaron Giles]
Funworld updates: [Roberto Fresca]
- Removed the temporary hack to jolyc980.
- Updated technical notes
- Moved snookr10 to its own driver.
- Minor clean-up.
Improved the IGS017 based games: [Luca Elia]
- iqblocka: bypassed the protection, emulated the video hardware, inputs and sound.
- tjsb: it now boots and has partially decrypted graphics.
Added new Windows option -watchdog, which creates a watchdog thread that forcibly kills the application after a certain number of seconds. Primarily intended to be used in regression test runs to handle the occasional hung game. [Aaron Giles]
Improved popper.c colors useing resistor values from schematics. [couriersud, Joe Magiera]
Changed and verified cpu frequencies on kyugo.c games. Gyrodine and 99 the last war and clones run on the same board. [Corrado Tomaselli]
Moved Microtouch touch screen controller emulation to separate module (machine\microtch.c). [Mariusz Wojcieszek]
Specifying an invalid bios is now a fatalerror. Also, "default" is no longer a special BIOS type; if you want the default BIOS, leave the bios option blank. [Atari Ace]
DEC T-11 CPU improvements: [Miodrag Milanovic]
- HALT - now calls interrupt vector
- ILLEGAL - had PC=0 at the end which makes code not run fine
- MARK - now it is implemented
Memory map merge for twin16 driver. [Andrew Gardner]
Removed silly idle skip code in prehisle driver. [David Haywood]
AY-3-8910 rewrite: [couriersud]
* adds a model to calculate mixing of channels with different resistance loads.
* based on above, each channel may be assigned a different load in individual case, i.e. channels not tied together
* rewrote ay8910.c to make emulation simpler
* changed the config structure to include a flag field and output resistor loads.
* Updated all drivers affected.
* Added some "Todos" related to stuff I discovered when reading datasheets.
* Fixed a bug in disc_flt.c (konami filters)
Fixed discrete sound and konami filter addressing in galaxian driver. Also changed addressing of AY-3-8910 to be in line with schematics. [couriersud]
Added discrete sound for filtering ("konami"-style) and mixing in gyruss.c. [couriersud]
Changed UI to allow volumes higher than 2.0. [Nicola Salmoria]
Changed code which used assignment in conditionals to break out the assignment. [Atari Ace]
Converted a large number of Machine -> machine and removed #include "deprecat.h" where possible. [Atari Ace]
New games added or promoted from NOT_WORKING status
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Side by Side [Maruwa]
Jumping Pop (NICs, Korean bootleg of Plump Pop) [Robin Cooper, David Haywood]
Touchmaster [Mariusz Wojcieszek]
Touchmaster 3000 [Mariusz Wojcieszek]
Touchmaster 4000 [Mariusz Wojcieszek]
Touchmaster 5000 [Mariusz Wojcieszek]
Touchmaster 7000 [Mariusz Wojcieszek]
New clones added
-----------------------------------
Aero Fighters (bootleg set 2) [robiza]
1942 (Williams Electronics license) [Quarterarcade]
Rygar (US set 3 Old Version) [Corrado Tomaselli]
Ghosts'n Goblins (Italian bootleg, harder) [Corrado Tomaselli]
New games marked as GAME_NOT_WORKING
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apple 10 (Ver 1.21) [Roberto Fresca]
Ten Balls (Ver 1.05) [Roberto Fresca]
Version 8.04 of the Ubuntu Linux distribution was officially released today. Ubuntu is released every six months with many new features and the latest versions of popular desktop software applications. Ubuntu 8.04, which is codenamed Hardy Heron, is the second Ubuntu release to offer long-term support, which means that security and maintenance updates will be available for this version for three years on the desktop and five years on the server.
Ubuntu 8.04 includes GNOME 2.22, the latest version of the popular open-source desktop environment. There are many new features and significant architectural improvements in GNOME 2.22, including GVFS—a completely redesigned virtual filesystem abstraction layer—and PolicyKit, a secure privilege elevation system that is safer and more flexible than the anachronistic gksudo mechanism.
Ubuntu now also includes PulseAudio, a powerful new sound server with support for network transparency and advanced mixing capabilities. Although PulseAudio has a lot to offer on the desktop, it still suffers from some transitional issues and integration weaknesses in this release that manifest themselves in certain configurations.
One particularly significant feature included in this release is Wubi, a Windows-based installer that allows Ubuntu and Windows to coexist on the same partition. Wubi installs a fully functional Ubuntu environment into a folder on the Windows filesystem and sets up a boot menu that allows the user to enter Ubuntu at startup. Wubi doesn't require the user to partition their hard drive and it makes it possible to uninstall Ubuntu directly through the Add/Remove Programs utility in Windows.
There are a handful of new applications included by default in this release, such as the Transmission BitTorrent client, the Cheese webcam application, and a new CD burning program called Brasero.
The next major version is Ubuntu 8.10, which is codenamed Intrepid Ibex and is scheduled for release in October. During the Intrepid Ibex development cycle, the focus will be on mobile computing and desktop scalability. The planning process will begin early next month at the Ubuntu Developer Summit.
Several popular Ubuntu flavors and derivatives have also been released today, including Kubuntu, Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio, Edubuntu, and Mythbuntu. The Ubuntu 8.04 server edition has also been released and includes an impressive set of enterprise-oriented features. It has already been certified on a variety of Sun server products and has ActiveDirectory integration, virtual appliance support, and improved AppArmor security policies.
Ubuntu 8.04 is available for download from the Ubuntu web site. The mirrors are already getting hit with heavy traffic, so we recommend using the torrent, which is available from the release page. We have been tracking development of Ubuntu 8.04 since the last Ubuntu Developer Summit in November, and have been testing the alpha releases extensively (1, 2, 4, 5, 6). You can look forward to seeing out full Ubuntu 8.04 review in the near future.
Mario Kart Wii is top of the Japanese software chart, after selling another 202,000 copies in the week ending April 20, according to Media Create.
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G was second, shifting another 125,000 copies, passing the 1.7 million sales mark in total, while third place went to a new entry - We're Fossil Diggers for the Nintendo DS sold 32,000 units.
Wii Fit took fourth place, falling just shy of 1.9 million units in lifetime sales, with Musou Orochi: The Evil King Returns falling two places to fifth - the second of only two non-Nintendo platform titles in the top ten.
DS pair Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage and Beautiful Letter Training were sixth and seventh respectively, while the Wii trio of Deca Sports, Super Smash Bros Brawl and Wii Sports rounded out the top ten.
The full top ten list is as follows:
1. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP)
3. We're Fossil Diggers (DS)
4. Wii Fit (Wii)
5. Musou Orochi: The Evil King Returns (PS2)
6. Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage (DS)
7. Beautiful Letter Training (DS)
8. Deca Sports (Wii)
9. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
10. Wii Sports (Wii)
Owners of the Game-of-the-Year edition of Two Worlds might be delighted to hear that developer TopWare Interactive is releasing Tainted Blood, a free multiplayer add-on for its fantasy RPG. The add-on will introduce 30 new quests and will be downloadable May 1st at the game's official website.
In the expansion players will be able to hunt down a Necromancer, solve a murder mystery, and accomplish many more crazy endeavors. In addition to new quests, the update introduces a Business and Training Center.
Windows XP has a date with destiny scheduled for June 30, but it looks like the plucky OS just isn't ready to go: Ultraportable OEMs will be able to preload XP until "one year after the general availability of Windows 7," whenever that is, and now we're hearing reports that Dell's telling customers it'll sell XP on professional systems until 2012. The Dell thing is just a rumor for now, but what's Steve Ballmer doing telling reporters that although XP is EOL, "if customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter" and extend XP sales? Um, Steve? Customers have been feeding back like crazy and Microsoft has kind of ignored them, remember? Maybe it's time for a quick nap.
Update: That was pretty funny for a totally unintentional typo, wasn't it?
There's a demo of Black Sea Studios's WorldShift out so you can have a little dabble with the PC RTS game.
"WorldShift is a next-gen cyber-fantasy RTS game designed to be quick and very easy to learn and play. It offers hectic, fierce encounters all around the Earth and a fascinating story uncovering ancient secrets about the true nature of the Shard and the Plague. But also, WorldShift introduces many features new to the genre, like modifiable factions, unique cooperative multiplayer gameplay, and more", the developer's said of the game previously.
The demo weighs in at 660MB and you can download it here.
Previously released in beta form to an exclusive bunch, Patch 1.2 for action RPG Hellgate: London is now officially live for all members. The patch can be updated by clicking the "Update Available" button within the game.
About a month ago CEO of Developer Flagship Studios Bill Roper shared his intentions of making Hellgate: London live up to the hype, This latest patch attempts to break the mold by offering a myriad of bug fixes.
Wired reports that the US Defense Intelligence Agency has just acquired three PC-based video games which they will use to train the next wave of analysts. The games are short, but they have branching story lines that change depending on how a trainee reacts to various problems. Quoting:
"'It is clear that our new workforce is very comfortable with this approach,' says Bruce Bennett, chief of the analysis-training branch at the DIA's Joint Military Intelligence Training Center. Wired.com had an opportunity to play all three games, Rapid Onset, Vital Passage and Sudden Thrust. The titles may conjure images of blitzkrieg, but the games themselves are actually a surprisingly clever and occasionally surreal blend of education, humor and intellectual challenge, aimed at teaching the player how to think."
We are a relatively newly married young couple who enjoy spending our spare time at home. We don't own a console but have a gaming laptop with DVI output to play games on our TV. My wife is also a CS major so she's computer literate enough. She does not like strategy games, MMORG or any other role-playing game. Apart from "Find the Sausage" jokes, we need quality gaming advice, preferably games which we can play with a single laptop connected to a single large screen, with two gamepads, a console-like experience. What are your suggestions
With Nintendo announcing its global software tie ratio (attach rate) this morning, we were curious to know what the current software sales ratio was in the States for current-gen consoles. We contacted NPD, which gave us its latest figures. The data represents the amount of software sold per console divided by the number of consoles sold in the US.
Xbox 360: software sales ratio: 7.5
Wii: software sales ratio: 5.3
PS3: software sales ratio: 4.6
Just for kicks, we asked about the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, which have the ratios of 4.7 and 4.2 respectively. The data shows a significant change since the last time we checked in half a year ago. The Xbox 360 has maintained its solid lead, but the Wii has rallied from 3.4 to 5.3. As always, we do have to take "software" top-seller Wii Play skewing the data into account, but Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Guitar Hero III also helped. The PS3 has ticked up one game from 3.5 to 4.6. The real takeaway from this data is that console owners are growing their software library no matter which console they own.
Welcome to this week's Games Update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.
Plenty of interesting new releases came out this week. Senjou no Valkyria and its Limited Box are released by Sega for PlayStation3™. Become a hero in this unique RPG that combines tactical battles, fascinating characters and an epic storyline to create a believable world the players can fully immerse into.
Travel from the 1930s in Senjou no Valkyria back to medieval Europe in Rondo of Swords with your Nintendo DS™ to join another battle as a holy knight to rescue your princess from danger and protect your kingdom from tyranny. In your journey, learn about love, friendship, sadness and farewells to become a true leader that your people can depend on.
Joining the military is not the only way to become a hero. Maintaining justice and finding the truth behind layers of lies in a courtroom is another alternative.
The third installment in the Gyakuten Saiban series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations ends Phoenix Wrights's trilogy and in the fourth installment, another rookie lawyer, Housuke Odoroki is ready to make his debut as the new defender of justice.
You can also become a sports champion on the race course in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue on your PlayStation3™. Test out the full graphical potential of your third generation console and feel the exhilaration and the adrenaline running through your bloodstream as you drive your car pass the finishing line.
If you prefer something sneakier, join a ninja battle with Naruto: Shinobi Retsuden II. There are more playable characters and smoother graphics to go with slick ninja actions. For those who enjoy a taste of something more traditionally Japanese, we have Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken. You can defeat evil by being a Taiko drum!
After having enough fun by actually being the hero or a heroine, become their other half by dating them. SNK's Day's of Memories 2 features the fighters from King of Fighters and Fatal Fury as potential dates for you. With a combination of three games, this software has something for both the guys and the ladies.
Last but not least, some accessories for your consoles have arrived to make your gameplay an even more enjoyable experience: white Gamecube controllers, machine guns and Cyber Gun Attachment Vibration sets for Nintendo Wii™ and Rock Band Wireless Guitars for PlayStation2™ and PlayStation3™
As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week, followed by a quick preview of what is expected to be hot next week.
Xbox360™:
Frontlines: Fuel of War JPN US$ 64.90
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 JPN US$ 64.90
PlayStation3™:
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue US US$ 44.90
Playstation 3 Eye Camera ASIA US$ 44.90
Rock Band Wireless Guitar US US$ 79.90
Senjou no Valkyria JPN US$ 69.90
Senjou no Valkyria [Limited Box] JPN N/A
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (PlayStation3 the Best) JPN US$ 34.90
Nintendo Wii™:
Cyber Gun Attachment Vibration JPN US$ 19.90
Emergency Mayhem US US$ 44.90
Game Cube Controller (White) JPN US$ 24.90
Machine Gun US$ 14.90
Osouji Sentai Clean Keeper JPN US$ 64.90
Osouji Sentai Clean Keeper [Limited Edition] JPN N/A
Summer Sports: Paradise Island US US$ 44.90
PlayStation2™
Castle Fantasia: Arihato Senki (Best Edition) JPN US$ 34.90
Edel Blume JPN US$ 64.90
Edel Blume [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 89.90
Everybody's Golf 4 / Minna no Golf 4 (PlayStation2 the Best) ASIA N/A
Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Volume 2 US US$ 19.90
Fuuraiki (nice price!) JPN US$ 34.90
Fuuuraiki 2 (nice price!) JPN US$ 34.90
H2O JPN US$ 64.90
H2O [DX Pack] JPN US$ 89.90
HORI Real Arcade Pro Stick 2 SA JPN N/A
Kowloon Youma Gakuen Ki (Atlus Best Collection) JPN US$ 39.90
Kurogane no Houkou 2: Warship Commander (Koei Selection) JPN US$ 18.90
Majommusume A La Mode II (Best Edition) JPN US$ 34.90
Mana-Khemia: Gakuen no Renkinjutsu Shitachi (Gust Best Price) JPN US$ 39.90
Memory Plus 64MB US$ 29.90
Orange Honey: Boku wa Kimi ni Koishiteru (Best Version) JPN US$ 34.90
Oshare Princess DS: Oshare ni Koi Shite 2 JPN US$ 48.90
Prism Ark: Awake JPN US$ 64.90
Prism Ark: Awake [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 89.90
Rim Runners (nice price!) JPN US$ 34.90
Sangokushi IX with Power-Up Kit (Koei Selection) JPN US$ 20.90
Nintendo DS™:
Akko de Pon! Ikasama Hourouki JPN US$ 48.90
Custom Beat Battle: Draglade (Banpresto Best) JPN US$ 19.90
DS Toukemuri Suspense Series: Free Writer Touyako JPN US$ 39.90
Days of Memories 2 JPN US$ 48.90
Dekitayo! Mama, Wannyon Club: Onna no Ko JPN US$ 39.90
Dekitayo! Mama, Wannyon Club: Otoko no Ko JPN US$ 39.90
Gyakuten Saiban 3 (New Best Price! 2000) / Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations JPN US$ 19.90
Gyakuten Saiban 4 (New Best Price! 2000) JPN US$ 19.90
High School Musical 2: Work this Out US US$ 34.90
Juushinden: Ultimate Beast Battlers Booster Pack Vol.3 JPN US$ 2.90
Kaiichi Otto Sensei Tokyo Daigaku Kanshuu: Sukusuku Kosodate DS: Akachan to Asobou! JPN US$ 39.90
Major League Baseball 2K8 Fantasy All-Stars US US$ 34.90
Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken JPN US$ 48.90
Minna no DS Seminar: Ongaku Ryoku JPN US$ 39.90
Mokushise! Zenko Kutaikai!! Let's! Brass!! JPN US$ 39.90
Naruto: Shinobi Retsuden II JPN US$ 48.90
New Horizon English Course DS 1 JPN US$ 39.90
New Horizon English Course DS 2 JPN US$ 39.90
New Horizon English Course DS 3 JPN US$ 39.90
Nihongo Kentei DS JPN US$ 39.90
Nippon Suugaku Kentai Kyoukai Kounin: Suken DS - Otona ga Kaikenai!? Kodomo no Sansuu JPN US$ 29.90
Oyaku de Asoberu DS Ehon: Ukkari Penelope JPN US$ 44.90
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness US US$ 39.90
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time US US$ 39.90
Puzzle Mate: Crossword Mate JPN US$ 39.90
Puzzle Mate: Nanpure Mate JPN US$ 39.90
Puzzle Mate: Oekaki Mate JPN US$ 39.90
Rekiken DS JPN US$ 29.90
Rondo of Swords US US$ 34.90
Taiko no Tatsujin Stand Set DS JPN US$ 24.90
Tantei Jinguuji Saburo DS: Keinai Kokoro JPN US$ 39.90
That's QT JPN US$ 39.90
Yattaman DS: Bikkuridokkiri Daisakusen da Koron JPN US$ 48.90
Yume Neko DS JPN US$ 48.90
Nintendo DS™ Accessories:
DS Card Case Mini Chocolat (Bitter) JPN US$ 12.90
DS Card Case Mini Chocolat (Milk) JPN US$ 12.90
DS Card Case Mini Chocolat (Raspberry) JPN US$ 12.90
DS Lite Case Chocolat (Bitter) JPN US$ 19.90
DS Lite Case Chocolat (Milk) JPN US$ 19.90
DS Lite Case Chocolat (Raspberry) JPN US$ 19.90
Sony PSP™:
I Am Legend JPN US$ 14.90
Jan Sangoku Musou (Koei the Best) JPN US$ 29.90
Mahjong Fight Club Zenkoku Taisen Version (Konami the Best) JPN US$ 29.90
Minna no Map 3 JPN US$ 58.90
Mystereet Portable JPN US$ 58.90
Nobunaga no Yabou: Shouseiroku (Koei Selection) JPN US$ 18.90
PSP PlayStation Portable Slim & Lite - Mat Bronze Value Pack (PSPJ-20002) JPN US$ 299.90
SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 ASIA US$ 39.90
Vampire Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (PSP the Best Reprint) JPN US$ 19.90
Vantage Master Portable JPN US$ 48.90
Sony PSP™ Accessories:
Car Stand + Car Adapter Set JPN US$ 49.90
PSP Cradle JPN US$ 49.90
PSP Cradle & D-Terminal Cable JPN US$ 69.90
PSP PlayStation Portable Remote Control (Black) ASIA US$ 14.90
PC Games
Lightning Warrior Raidy US US$ 21.90
Game Guides: Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword Official Guide Book JPN US$ 21.90
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Explorers of Darkness: Prima Official Game Guide US US$ 19.90
Senjou no Valkyria Official Guide Book JPN US$ 16.90
Video Game Soundtracks
Amano Masamichi Meets Sega - Best & Suisogaku Version (~Masamichi Amano) JPN US$ 23.90
Eternal Fantasy Character Song CD Vol.1 Arche (~Aya Tachibana) JPN US$ 11.90
Famison 8 Bit Idolm@ster 03 (~Azusa Miura, Ritsuko Akizuki) JPN US$ 22.90
Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 19.90
Hyper Game Music Event 2007 Extra - The Live Album Vol.1 JPN US$ 29.90
Kenko Zenra Kei Suieibu Umisho The Best Vocal Collection JPN US$ 27.90
Night Wizard The Best Vocal Collection JPN US$ 27.90
Nostoradamus Ni Kiitemiro Drama CD (~Kazane, Hikaru Isshiki, Mahiru Kaneda) JPN US$ 28.90
Radio DJCD Bleach B Station Third Season Vol.1 JPN US$ 24.90
Spectral Gene Sound Track - SGOST JPN US$ 26.90
Sweet Lover's - Myself Yourself Best Song Album (~Sweet Lovers) JPN US$ 27.90
Time Hollow Ubawareta Kako Wo Motomete Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 17.90
A separate Video/Music update containing Japanese releases from this week, including new Anime, J-Pop and Movie releases will follow prior end of the week. So J-Pop, Anime and Movie fans, be sure to look out for that one!
Here is a quick outlook what's expected to be hot next week.
Xbox360™:
Grand Theft Auto IV ASIA US$ 59.90
Grand Theft Auto IV US US$ 64.90
PlayStation3™:
Grand Theft Auto IV US US$ 64.90
Please note that the official release date of Grand Theft Auto IV is April 29th. The Asia release version is expected to start shipping on or around release date, while as usual, it will take a couple of days for the US imports to arrive. The US versions will start shipping on or after May 2nd.
Nintendo Wii™:
Mario Kart Wii (w/ Wii Wheel) US US$ 59.90
Pro Yakyuu Family Stadium JPN US$ 54.90
Wii Zapper with Link's Crossbow Training JPN US$ 39.90
PlayStation2™:
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES US US$ 34.90
Nintendo DS™:
Emblem of Gundam JPN US$ 48.90
The World Ends With You US US$ 44.90
Access our preorder lists for further upcoming , movie, and music releases.
- The volume (listening-feeling) in the small volume part of the PSG sound was brought close to a real machine. The sound condition and harmony have approached a real machine. I think that I was able to improve the entire tone quality. Especially, a small-volume game as "Soldier Blade" and "Gunhed (Blazing Lazers)" obtained a big improvement.
- In the visual scene of "Akumajou Dracula X", the problem that the top on the screen falls into disorder uncommonly was corrected. * The disorder is still seen when changing to the setting that displays the over scanning area. Therefore, the play switched to the setting that doesn't display the over scanning area ("F11" key. The setting can be maintained by "File->Set Resume" menu or the state saving.) is recommended.
- Additionally, a detailed part has been improved and corrected.
- Emulates Dragon 32, Dragon 64, Tano Dragon, Tandy CoCo 1/2.
- Emulates DragonDOS, Delta and RSDOS disk systems.
- Raw and translated keyboard modes.
- Reads and writes virtual cassettes (".cas" files).
- Reads audio files as cassette input.
- Reads and writes DMK format virtual floppy diskettes.
- Reads (and supports in-memory writing of) JVC and VDK format virtual floppy diskettes.
- Custom snapshot format; no ".pak" support yet.
Changed from v0.20 to v0.21
* Fix border colour in RG6, CSS=0.
* Input abstraction layer.
* NDS: Render video as 4 x 3 grid of 4-bit colour sprites.
* NDS: Use NDS VCOUNT writability to lock display to 50Hz when appropriate.
* NDS: Major UI improvements.
* NDS: Sound support.
* GP32: Fix chatboard support with new state-machine based scanner.
* Trace mode fixes (SYNC, CWAI).
* Support changing of SAM RAM configuration.
* More accurate single-bit sound.
* Variable MPU rate support configurable.
- Added detection for a forgotten MAME build called "MetalMAME". The last release seems based on 0.82 MAME sources, so that is the command set that is available.
- Added preliminary support for the use of "Final Burn Alpha". You can launch Games, Save States and Recordings and it will use your rompaths as assigned from "CONFIG\FBA.ini". There are limitations to the support [no parent/clone or source listings] until new command-line triggers are created to accomodate output of this information.
- Small case change to fix the problem that ML had with the HazeMD lists the last few releases. All "[system]" tags should now be moved to the end of the gamename as intended.
- For a few hours after my last release, the build I had out for download contained a couple pause loops I had forgotten to take out (related to F3 Data viewing as well as if you used MESS as an emulator). Fixed.
- Fixed a bug related to leaving empty COMMANDxxx.ml files when no options are selected.
- Fixed potential problem with reading MAMEUI's .INI file for rompaths.
- More RESOURCE.ML updates, mostly covering all the recent MESS adds and new BIOS attachments. Also included the new -WATCHDOG command added in MAME 0.124u4.
* added: Logiqx's / NoIntro release/region/language support: Added support for release information in console datafiles. If the datafile contains release information, the user can specify their own region and language preferences. The region and language preferences influence the ZIP names used for merged ROMs. CMPro will choose the most appropriate ZIP names for the user, based on their region and language preferences. Thanks go to Logiqx for the algorithm. De-/Activating regions/languages can be done here: settins->combo box->regions/languages. You can also modify the order there.
* added: scanner popupmenu explore -> to either explore/open the belonging rompath or the set itself
* added: an ini entry to make f205v and Tauchy happy
* misc: moved old option 'decompress rom and test crc32' to compressor settings as decompress files to memory (that's what it actually is)
* misc: new Scanner->Checksums->'decompress rom and test crc32' is now exactly what it says and it also checks against header and datfile crc32
* misc: rebuilder auto-memory option default value is now disabled
* misc: changed orientation of settings arrow buttons
* misc: setinfo shows preferred name, changed arrow button orientation, default editbox is 'select sets'
* fixed: resource-only dats in deprecated format and without header weren't loaded
* fixed: -listinfo dat export misses a closing quote on romof tags with spaces
* fixed: fuzzygamesearch scoring algorithm doesn't detect sets with more than one identical crc as wrong named
features
18 officially licensed Land Rover and Ford vehicles.
24 detailed tracks encouraging hign speed racing.
3 off road environments- Desert, Water and Ice.
Real-time on-the-go vehicle damage repair.
Discover hidden routes.
12 different race types.
Lose yourself inside the legendary Final Fantasy saga with this massive collection. The Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection 2008 is a stunning assortment that includes the original Final Fantasy XI game, plus four expansion packs: Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urhgan and Wings of the Goddess.
Start with Final Fantasy XI, where you'll be able to assume the role of a variety of unique characters. Customize your character's appearance and decide which abilities you find most important. Then develop your in-game persona to become more effective in battle. In the four expansion packs you'll encounter new personalities, take on new jobs and explore new areas. As you continue to master weapons, skills and magics, you'll become a bigger part of this amazing world.
In Chains of Promathia, learn more about the fabled God of Twilight as well as the Emptiness, a sinister force that is gnawing away at the world. In Rise of the Zilart, assume the role of Samurai, Ninja or Dragoon and trek through 40 new areas. In Treasures of Aht Urhgan, test your skill as a Blue Mage, Corsair or Puppetmaster, and embark on new missions that will reveal the secrets of this mysterious land.
Wings of the Goddess takes you to Vana'diel's rewritten history, where you'll participate in three intense campaigns. In the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion pack, become a Blue Mage, Corsair or Puppetmaster, and explore 40 new areas.
features
Robust multiplayer allows you to challenge up to 32 players either competitively or in co-op mode.
Fully 3D map with integrated graphics and detailed topography
Start at any date between 280 B.C. and 27 B.C.
Choose between 10 different cultures, including the Roman, Celtic, Greek and Egyptian civili*zations, with more than 53 playable factions on a map spanning hundreds of provinces.
Watch your characters develop new traits through political intrigue and various interactions with thousands of other characters.
Trade, negotiate or fight with your neighbours and advance your technologies to unite the Mediterranean World.
description
Experience one of the most defining periods in world history in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy. The greatest cultural and military civilizations are brought to life through this epic title rife with great strategic and tactical depth.
Europa Universalis: Rome will cover the time period from the first Punic War to the start of the true Empire. Players will have thousand of gameplay choices ranging from country, culture, provincial and character options to name but a few, making each and every game infinitely customizable and truly unique.
"Europa Universalis: Rome combines the best of the Empire Building, Conquest and Warfare genres, wrapped into a title that contains all main characteristics of a typical Paradox Interactive game", said Johan Andersson, Director of Development. "This project has the potential to become the most talked about grand strategy game to date."
Plastered across this very page you'll see brand new screenshots from the PC version of Mass Effect, BioWare's sci-fi RPG that got a big round of applause when it landed on Xbox 360 last year.
As it's BioWare, the PC version is more than just a port of Mass Effect on Xbox 360. On top of prettier graphics, the latest outing for the RPG features the likes of individual squad command and optional less dipping into menus to add pace to the action sequences.
And then there's the fact that Bring Down the Sky, the download content released for the Xbox 360 version, will be available to download for free for PC Mass Effect on launch day - which is June 6 here in the UK.
Anyway, enjoy the screenshots and look out for a review near release time.
Valve's Doug Lombardi has told our sister site, Eurogamer.net that there won't be a new Portal game this year.
"In typical Valve tradition, it won't be Portal with different colours," he said Lombardi.
"I think that when you hit something like that, you have two choices: you can quickly replicate it and stick it out there - do the opportunistic thing and cash in on it - or you can do the crazy thing like we did after Half-Life was so successful and go off and try and say, 'Okay, that was revolutionary, so its successor has to be equally as revolutionary.'"
For that reason, consumers won't see a new Portal at retail this Christmas. Even though Lombardi notes that people want more, Valve doesn't want to give them more of the same right away because "that would just be boring."
The original game - described as an "experiment" - won critical acclaim when released last October as part of The Orange Box compilation. Valve is currently doing plenty of research and development to find out what it is going to offer in terms of a follow-up.
"I think you have to be ambitious," Lombardi said.
"For us, that's really paid off. Half-Life 2 was the right decision, it was painful, six years and upwards of 40 million dollars to develop, but that paid off. That's our recipe."
The game update released earlier in the week fixed several problems as detailed in this news post. However, a few additional fixes, bugs, and oddities have been discovered since then:
* Sometimes, talking to the Shrine Maiden on Neudaiz would cause the game to stall. The only fix was to turn off the console or terminate the network connection. This appears to have been fixed.
* [b] Ryusaikanoh now drops from Delp Slami with relative ease in the Maximum Attack G event. Prior to the event, it was speculated the enemy drop was glitched or the drop rate was ridiculously high.
* The Ryusaikanoc is glitched. When synthed, this laser cannon will have the name of the Ryusaikanoh and no description. However, it will have the proper stats
* If you decide to buy DB's Sword from player shops, you will need to search for "DB's" or "DB's Saber." Due to the way the player shop search system is setup, looking for "DB's Sword" will cause the game to look for a sword-type weapon that has the name "DB's" in it. DB's Sword is a saber-type weapon.
Early impressions of Sonic Unleashed at the SEGA Blog reveal what most have suspected from preview screenshots and videos. Speedy Sonic gameplay from the SEGA Genesis 2D era in a refreshed 3D perspective. "SegaDawg" shares his impressions of 15-minutes of play time on the Xbox 360 version of Sonic Unleashed.
From SegaDawg at the SEGA USA blog:
"There’s speed, and lots of it. Those of you wanting 2D — you’ve got it. Those of you wanting 3D, well, you’ve got it too. Each perspective brings its own challenges.
The gameplay itself on the level I played really felt like classic Sonic. There’s rings, there’s bumpers, there’s loops, there’s jumping … but there’s also a few other things in there as well that add to the experience.
The level I played had multiple paths so you’ll be encouraged to play each level several times over and try to find the fastest path or the most rings you can.
There was a cool section in 3D perspective where Sonic has to use a quick-step to the left or right to avoid multiple obstacles in his path. This is done with a button-push, not with the stick, so it’s an almost-instant jump left or right without breaking stride. Pretty cool.
The landscape and environments look great and there are some things there that Sonic can interact with.
A couple of the sections felt a lot like a roller coaster.
Not all the bumpers work in Sonic’s favor."
Sonic Unleashed will be coming in Holiday 2008 to the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and Wii
You used to play videogames all night. Your Quake prowess was unmatched; your skills at Command & Conquer unparalleled. You have a gaming history that stretches back beyond the PlayStation generation to the SNES, Megadrive, Amiga and ZX Spectrum. You were there at the dawn of gaming.
Tick-tock... Time passes. You've quietly come to realise that you're not the hard-core gamer you used to be. Even your Xbox 360 Gamertag seems far too 'sensible'. How do you know that a mid-life gaming crisis is setting in? Watch out for these warning signs…
You prefer playing against the computer
Online gaming against real people has become depressing – it exposes your faded, spoon-sharp reflexes and you abhor the trash-talk from 12-year old fanboys. You prefer playing offline against the computer because a game's algorithms are slightly more predictable. And, once you master the scripted patterns of play, you stand a real chance of being good… of actually winning. And that feels great, doesn't it? Ranking second-bottom on a multiplayer leader board doesn't.
You only play when your girlfriend is out
Because you only have one high-def TV and to play videogames on it while she's at home is 'selfish' and not something the two of you can do 'together'.
You believe that winning isn't everything
It's the taking part that counts. Obviously. And that's not because you're not good at games. You are. But you've found that there's more to life than spending five hours every night killing all of the Templars in Assassin’s Creed. The fact that you can't find the last three Templars is irrelevant.
It's been days, not hours since you last switched on your console
Because things keep getting in the way: TV, movies, books, going out to restaurants, shopping, going down the pub, DIY, dinner parties, the gym, more DIY, your girlfriend/wife/boyfriend [delete as applicable]… oh, and having a job.
You’re the oldest person trading in games at GameStation
So you lie about why you’re there. "It’s, ahem, my son's birthday. I'd like to trade these in for Guitar Hero please…"
You like your Xbox 360 and your PS3 equally
Being a more 'mature' gamer means you have more disposable income, so you can afford the luxury of owning a PS3 and an Xbox 360. So you've become the gaming equivalent of the United Nations, calming accepting the virtues of both consoles to the deaf ears of Xbox zealots and Sony fanboys (who simply ignore you and carry on their slanging match regardless). Because when you stare at those side-by-side game comparison shots on CVG, you can't see the difference. Maybe the PS3 palette is lighter… maybe… Of course, your eyesight could be failing…
You fondly remember a ‘golden age’ of gaming
You lament the current glut of videogame sequels and often talk fondly of an innovative 'golden age' of gaming. You remember Manic Miner, good ‘ol Chuckie Egg and the Ultimate games on the ZX Spectrum. You played Sensible Soccer the first time around on the Amiga, Elite on your mate’s BBC B, and finished Sonic The Hedgehog on the Megadrive. Happy days… But when modernised versions of these gaming classics turn up on Xbox Live, your excitement quickly evaporates. You quickly realise that, by today’s standards, those cherished oldies are now shallow, repetitive and not much fun.
You avoid playing on the Wii because it’s too much effort
There's no denying that the Nintendo Wii is a revolutionary games machine but… well, it does require a lot of effort. Aren't there times when you just want to slouch into a comfy sofa with a traditional joypad? Times when you can't be arsed with all that wiimote waving and waggling? It's way too energetic – a 20 minute bowling session in Wii Sports is almost akin to a full workout.
Your FPS experience consists of spawn, run, die... spawn, run, die... spawn…
The reflexes that served you so well in GoldenEye and Quake seem to be two seconds slower than everybody else these days. You think 'fire', 'jump', 'spin', 'run', 'collect spinny power-up', but your fingers press 'fire' (and pause), 'fire' (and pause), 'spin' and… no, I actually meant 'jump', and – oh, I’m dead. Either you're slowing down, or today's hard-core gamerati are faster than you ever were.
You find the idea of videogames based on board games perfectly acceptable
Anyone for a game of Carcassonne tonight? The wife's out until 10pm and I'll be online after I've had my dinner…
You've pre-ordered GTA IV but don't mind if it doesn't turn up on launch day
Wednesday's just fine. Really. You're a bit busy at the moment, anyway. In fact, you probably won't get a chance to play GTA IV until the weekend. You're also not bothered by the prospect of downloading the DLC for GTA IV either. You'll never finish the main game anyway.
During a nearly one-year period, Frank Buchanan allegedly made about 192 purchases on two credit cards at various stores.
What was out of the ordinary, however, was that the 30-year-old Buchanan also allegedly had about 183 refunds on those cards.
The rural Albert Lea man's transaction history, authorities say, demonstrated an obvious purchase-return pattern mainly involving video games at multiple stores in numerous southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa cities, including Austin and Rochester, according to a criminal complaint filed this week in Mower District Court.
Overall $23,178 in refunds was credited to Buchanan's accounts during that period, the complaint says.
Buchanan's alleged scam consisted of buying video games from stores, repackaging the containers with blank replica game discs, returning the fraudulent games for a refund and selling the original games on eBay, an online-auction site. From October 2006 to January 2008, Buchanan auctioned off about 447 video games on eBay for roughly $19,562, the complaint says.
Buchanan is charged in Mower District Court with three felony counts of theft by swindle alleging he obtained credit for fraudulent merchandise at area Target, Wal-Mart, ShopKo and Kmart stores.
One count alleges Buchanan got about $12,373 worth of credit through his scheme from Dec. 1, 2006, to May 31, 2007; another is for about $6,836 in credit from June 1, 2006, to Nov. 30, 2007; and the last is for about $3,969 in credit from Dec. 1, 2007, to Feb. 28, 2008.
Buchanan, who is summoned to appear June 9 in court, allegedly did his video-game scam at retail box stores throughout the region, including Mankato, Winona, Albert Lea, Fairmont and Mason City, Iowa.
On Feb. 27 law-enforcement officers from Austin, Albert Lea, Freeborn County, Mower County and the U.S. Postal Service used a search warrant at Buchanan's home along U.S. Highway 65.
Authorities seized about 41 items related to Buchanan's fraud scam, including a heat-sealing packager, an array of computer equipment and a journal listing Buchanan's purchases and returns with dates and stores, the complaint says. They also found numerous sealed and unsealed video games with purchase receipts attached to each game.
Buchanan allegedly admitted to starting the scheme in late 2006.
In a police interview, Buchanan allegedly said he opened and removed the video games at his home. He would scan the game, print a label on a disc, place the fake game disc back in the box and repackage the game with a heat-sealing machine, the complaint says.
Austin police detective Mark Haider began investigating Buchanan's scam after getting a fraud report Oct. 8, 2007, from a Target loss-prevention agent who said the store was the victim of a video-game return scam done by Buchanan, with the help of his mother, for several thousand dollars.
Buchanan's mother Dorothy Mae Buchanan, 68, who lives with him, is charged with a single felony count of theft by swindle (more than $1,000) for allegedly helping her son with the illegal activity from October 2006 to January 2008 in Austin.
Lots of people have taken the criticism bull by the horns the past couple of weeks: with the Resident Evil 5 kerfluffle, the expected lead up to the GTA IV launch, and various other reasonably recent debates all coming together, it's no surprise that a number of talented writers have latched on to the faults of the gaming community (namely, we can dish it out but we can't take it). Mitch Krpata of Insult Swordfighting is the latest, and he takes on some recent community uproars:
Game-industry critics object to any overt or implied elements of sex or racism that crop up in the course of play. Often, the gaming community's knee-jerk defense against these critics is to contend that they don't know what they're talking about. In many cases, this is true. But in their haste to polish their pet medium's reputation, gamers ignore the other side of the coin — namely that, in some instances, the bluenoses have a point.
The truth is that some games are irresponsible in regard to the fantasies they effectively promote. But instead of arguing for the validity of games on their merits, gamers may blindly lash out at their critics. Passionate advocacy means engaging our antagonists, not attacking them. It means not taking the bait. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done.
The unfortunate thing is the response to these types of articles is frequently the knee-jerk reaction Krpata and others are talking about. We'd all do well to keep some of these internal criticisms of the community in mind when the next scandal rolls around ...
Only a Game has an enlightening look at some old (early '80s) research on gaming, long before it was the 'next hot area' for study. Thomas W. Malone was looking at the educational possibilities of games when PacMan was the height of advanced (coin-op) games, and the piece looks at two of his papers and what they can still tell us about games today (or should be telling us about good game design). What Chris Bateman thinks is almost criminal is that more people haven't referenced his research:
In fact, what is most disturbing to me is that Malone's papers aren't cited more often, or indeed, required reading for game designers.
The papers are packed full of little observations which remain as poignant today as ever. For instance, in the 1980 paper Malone notes in the context of the way the game communicates success and failure to the player:
...performance feedback should be presented in a way that minimized the possibility of self-esteem damage.
This is a lesson that a staggering number of videogames have never learned! Most players are easily discouraged, and yet a macho, conqueror-style ethos is still quite prevalent, with failure being met with abuse and ridicule (even in an otherwise charming game such as Katamari Damacy - although at least in this case a touch of humour offsets the problem).
Definitely worth a read through, as most Only a Game posts are.
A number of changes...including bug fixes.
A lot of things have been added to the JavaScript interface, which allows website maintainers to interact with the applet.
For better or worse, Koei has decided to bring its hack 'n' slash console game Samurai Warriors 2 to PC, and you can see a truckload of shots from the new version right here.
Samurai Warriors 2 is a Dynasty Warriors-style game with mass battles between historical Japanese blokes wielding big swords. It's not one we'd have pegged for a PC release, but then Koei has brought the Dynasty Warriors series to the platform before so it must know what it's doing.
It's out on PC on June 27.
Koei also recently confirmed Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI for PC, a game set during the end of China's Han Dynasty and the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., which leans more toward strategy gameplay. That's out July 25.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Bioware chief Ray Muzyka has said that the EA studio intends to bring innovation to massively multiplayaer gaming with its first MMO.
"We want to be innovators in the space," he said. "We're trying to bring some fresh stuff to the mix. We still have great reverence for a lot the great games, but we're also trying to add some new things."
Details of the game, currently in development at Bioware's Austin studio, remain a closely-guarded secret. Initial rumours that it might be a Star Wars MMO for LucasArts have lost momentum in recent months.
However, Muzyka did provide some hints as to what form the game will take, suggesting that it will concentrate on the strengths his company is known for, with particular focus on enhancing the narrative and character development side of massively multiplayer RPGs.
"Like all Bioware games, we're focusing on story, customisation, exploration, combat... I think it would be really exciting to be able to play a game which has character depth and interaction and story in a way that works within social settings."
Muzyka noted that Bioware has wanted to move into MMOs for a very long time, but only recently felt the time was right. "We didn't go into it lightly," he said. "It's the kind of thing that took us years and years - we wanted to do one for ten or fifteen years. Before they were even called MMOs."
The Bioware boss was in the UK to promote the June release of Mass Effect on PC. He explained that the conversion's extensive overhaul was down to the studio's policy of optimising games very carefully for each format.
"Whenever we bring a game to a new platform, we always look at it with reverence and respect. The conversion to PC was something we only thought of doing late in the 360 development," he revealed, although the decision came before Bioware's acquisition by EA last year. "Right now that's it, that's all we've got in development for Mass Effect, just the PC version and the 360," he added, quashing the persistent speculation about a PS3 version.
Muzyka spoke briefly about Bioware's in-development PC fantasy RPG, Dragon Age. "I've just played it recently myself and it's coming along really well," he reassured us.
"It's kind of the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, the fantasy games we've done in the past, and I think our fantasy fans are really going to eat it up, they're going to love it. It's got that rich, detailed universe." He ended by promising more information on it later this year.
Finally, Muzyka discussed the most surprising game on Bioware's development slate at the moment: DS RPG and Sega collaboration, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Sonic is "one of my favourite IPs", he said.
He revealed that the game had its genesis in a conversation with current SEGA US boss and former LucasArts president Simon Jeffery. "We used to work with him when he was at LucasArts. He's a really good partner, and we were saying wouldn't it be great to work together again. I told him I was a big fan of the Sonic universe. It's a good way for us to get on to a platform and do something really cool."
The Wii version of the title jumped three places to No1, while the DS version was up one spot to No4 for the week ended April 20. Sandwiched between the pair were Brain Training for DS and Guitar Hero III for PS2, while Super Mario Galaxy for Wii rounded off the top five.
In total five DS titles made the top ten, as did two games for Wii and one apiece for PC, PS3 and PS2.
The previous week's No1, Sony’s Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for PS3, fell out of the top ten, along with Ubisoft’s Imagine Babies, Sony’s Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters and Nintendo’s Sight Training.
01. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)
02. Brain Training (DS)
03. Guitar Hero III Bundle (PS2)
04. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS)
05. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
06. The Simpsons Game (DS)
07. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3)
08. Pokemon Diamond (DS)
09. Pokemon Pearl (DS)
10. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design (PC)
As of tonight NVIDIA's got one more notch to add to that bed post: the GeForce 9600 GSO, which is a little more on the cheap date end of the spectrum. The first of the card-makers to launch their 9600 GSO is EVGA, with a 650MHz, 384MB / 1900MHz DDR3, PCI Express 2.0 ditty (e-GeForce 9600GSO Superclocked 384MB), as well as an even lower end 550MHz, 384MB / 1600MHz version (e-GeForce 9600GSO 384MB). And yeah, it does DirectX 10 -- not that you should even need to ask.
Sega Superstars Tennis 2? Hahahahaha! That's a good one! With the game just five weeks old in North America, GameStop is already slashing prices on Sega and Sumo Digital's Sonic-filled answer to Mario Tennis, with Sega Superstars Tennis bottoming out at $US19.99 for the Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2. The Nintendo DS version? Just $US14.99.
If you're in need of a GTA IV hype deflection shield or you're now willing to bite at this price—even I am, despite my bitterness about a lack of Space Harrier or Cosmic Smash Guy—you can pick it up in-store or online as of right now.
Information doesn't get much more twisted that this so you'd best tread lightly with it. We've got a DigiTimes rumor whose message appears modified in translation. Engadget Chinese tells us that the original DigiTimes article (in Chinese) states that Asus is planning an Eee PC "sub-corporation." In other words, an ASUS spin-off that would include more than just low-cost ultra-portables. The rumor is attributed to DigiTimes' proven ASUS sources. However, DigiTimes' own English translation simply calls the move an Eee "sub-brand" which was already obvious with ASUS' announced plans for additional Eee branded products including the E-DT desktop, E-TV television, and 19- to 21-inch E-Monitor all-in-one said to be due in Q3. DigiTimes' sources also claim that ASUS will slap a 1001 model number on its 10.6-inch Eee PC and then -- perhaps supporting the spin-off claim -- says that there will be a premium 11-inch Eee PC before the end of the year as well. Originally, Jerry Shen, ASUS CEO, said the Eee PC would never exceed 10-inches so that it wouldn't cut into ASUS' laptop offerings. A spinoff would presumably give the Eee brand more freedom to compete.
This is by no means the most scientific of measurements, but GTA IV for both Xbox 360 and PS3 is currently being outsold on Amazon by Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii and the Wii Wheel. Things to keep in mind: the Nintendo games are each single platform (effectively doubling their sales) and Wii Fit pre-orders may be more common than GTA IV pre-orders this close to GTA IV's launch (at this point, gamers may be more likely to just go to the store to get their Liberty City fix). Still, we didn't expect Wii Fit's pre-sale numbers to come out on top today on Amazon. At all.
After reporting on the hype and controversy surrounding the Tuesday release of Grand Theft Auto IV, I can't believe I'm going to write a "this game causes crime!" story, but here we go. I spoke to an employee of UPS over the weekend, and he told me that a surprising amount of workers were getting busted stealing the game from the shipment boxes. In one 24-hour period, three workers were fired, and more interviews were scheduled for today that would likely end in termination.
I asked if this was common when big-name games were released, and he told me no; the situation was novel, or he wouldn't have brought it up at all. The game was enticing enough for many workers to risk losing their job and, in typical fashion for low-level crimes like this, it has been easy to identify the workers stealing the games.
"When we have a [big name release], we communicate it to operations and security teams. We have security in place at the facilities, and we make sure they understand to keep an eye out for things to exit the building," he explained. How did they find where games were stolen? "We had tips from people inside, and some of them were discovered at intermediate hubs... it's easy to spot: flaps torn, some boxes are re-taped." In most cases, the bust is as easy as finding the last person who scanned the box as full and interviewing them.
"They're not selling them, these people are stealing one copy," he told me—all of the thefts seem to be for personal use. It seems many people think stealing a game a few days before release is worth it, and this is far from the perfect crime.
"As long as the people loading the packages are doing their jobs, it's easy to track down," our source told Ars. "It's kind of funny, isn't it? It's a game about theft, and people are stealing it." His eyes began to shine as he said, "and I get to terminate them."
Hey UPS were the same idiots that "LOST" my parcel last week then rang up and said has your Ipod Touch arrived yet, the damned annoying thing was is that the Ipod was a surprise present for my daughters birthday, so not only did they lose the present but they ****ed up by leaving a message saying what it was, now i have a claim going in against UPS to get my money back.
Sierra Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, today announced the upcoming return of everyone's favorite marsupial hero, Crash Bandicoot, in Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant, the latest installment of the best-selling Crash Bandicoot video game franchise. Developed by Radical Entertainment, a Sierra Entertainment studio, Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant is scheduled for release this fall on the Wii home video game system, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS and PSP (PlayStation Portable) system.
In Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant, a rejuvenated Neo Cortex is taking over the world one brain at a time! Cortex and N. Brio devise a new kind of evil – a text-messaging, do-anything device which controls both mutant and bandicoot minds. Armed with his quick-wits and lightening agility, Crash must free his friends, the titans and save the day!
"The Crash Bandicoot franchise has built a wide audience of loyal fans, appealing to both male and female gamers of all ages," said Al Simone, senior vice president, Global Marketing for Sierra Entertainment. "The Crash series remains one of the most recognizable franchises in our industry and we're excited to make this year's family-friendly title appear at the top of every gamer's wish list this holiday."
Key features in Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant include:
Mutant in your Pocket! - Not only does Crash gain the ability to control his enemies when he jacks them – now he can store his favorite monsters in his pocket, upgrade them and utilize their powers when they are most advantageous
"Free-Romping" World Design - Wumpa Island becomes a "free-romping" environment, allowing players to travel and explore through intersecting worlds, with different gameplay options available depending on what creature you've brought along for the ride
Girl Power! - Your co-op partner is Crash's sister, Coco, playable for the first time in the cooperative mode. Not only does Coco make the game that much more inviting for girls to pick up and play, she also brings with her a new tactile "treasure hunt" ability
New Abilities
Roll and Counter Combat System - Crash will have a fun, agile dodge move and "counter" move which will inflict extra damage on his enemies
Digging - Crash can now dig underground as real-life bandicoots really do; this will allow for Crash to unlock bonus items
Climbing - Crash can climb vertical surfaces and jump side-to-side to connected areas and dodge hazards
Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant is being developed by Radical Entertainment and will be available this fall at retail stores worldwide on Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 system and PSP system. For more information, please visit www.crashbandicoot.com.
* Added support for Hungarian language
* Improved the in-game overlay when capturing a video to include video duration and file size.
* Added capability to detect some 64-bit games.
* Improved voice chat performance on certain sound cards.
* Fixed a problem that caused many video uploads to return an unknown error.
* Fixed many small problems with video conversion and uploading.
* Added Cool/Lame ratings to the video player on the web site. View top-rated videos on the Xfire home page.
* The video tab automatically refreshes if you modify the video directory from another program.
* New games supported:
Rohan Online - Warriors Orochi - Alien Arena 2008 - Ninja Reflex: Steamworks Edition
Lunia - Uplink - Slayers Online - Second Sight
Imperium Romanum - Yu-Gi-Oh! Online: Duel Evolution - Assassin's Creed - Terra: Battle for the Outlands
Darkstar One - OpenTTD - NosTale - Jagged Alliance 2 Gold
American McGee's Alice - Skulltag - Saga Trackmania Nations Forever
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff - Kung Fu Panda Demo
- Added support for the TC0480SCP Taito tilemap controller
- Rewrote the System 16 tile rendering to allow proper col and row scroll and also support alternate tilemap selection
- Added Double Axle to the Taito Z driver
- Added 1942w to the 1942 driver
- Added more games to the System 1 driver
- Added iq_132s Green Beret driver
- Updated the CPS-1 mappers as per MAME
- Corrected clock in Varth
- Corrected clocks in the Kyugo driver as per MAME
- Corrected sprite positioning in the Kyugo driver
- Added a feature allowing users to go to fullscreen and back by double-clicking
- Added command line option -listextrainfo
- Fixed compile errors when using the MAME Z80 core with the Zet interface
- Updated the Mole, Green Beret, Pooyan and Gun Smoke drivers with BisonSAS' changes
More than four hundred years after the game was first announced, it's been confirmed that Duke Nukem Forever is still in development over at 3D Realms.
That's according to Shacknews, which recently got to see the game up and running.
Apparently they were shown "several different DNF gameplay scenarios, mechanics and environments" during a half-hour demo.
"We actually got to see the truth of Duke curator George Broussard's many past claims including environmental puzzles and interactivity, a host of finished weapons, the existence of an in-game forklift, and plenty of heads and arms being blown off," the Shacknews article reads.
"We both confidently agree that after seeing this demonstration, Duke Nukem Forever is looking great, and will easily stand apart from the crowd in both visual and gameplay styles."
For more on Duke Nukem Forever - well, for a load of old news stories about how late it is, really - visit the gamepage.
Wii Fit has barely broken a sweat to romp to the top of the UK All-Formats Top 40 in its first week on sale.
In the process it hurdled the previous Nintendo record set by Mario Kart just a few weeks ago to become the third fastest-selling game ever, netting around GBP 16.3 million.
Mario Kart Wii managed to hold onto second, though, although sales were down a significant 62 percent. And Mario & Sonic at the Olympics clung on at third to make it a Nintendo-dominated podium for the week.
Further down and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue took four, PES 2008 took five, and Call of Duty 4 climbed a little to six.
Then came SEGA Superstars Tennis at seven, Brain Training at eight, UEFA Euro 2008 at nine and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 at 10.
Big movers this week were WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2008 up from 34 to 21, while Condemned 2 tumbled down from 13 to 25, and Carnival Games plunged from 12 to 22.
Interestingly Halo 3 managed to bump its way back into the charts at 31, just below the other new entry this week, SingStar Summer Party.
Attention XP'ers -- your wildest fantasies are coming to fruition. Word on the street is that Service Pack 3 is now available for download all over the World Wide Web. When we say "all over" what we really mean is via Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center, though we doubt it will stay in one place for too long. Apparently, the new pack offers 1,100 hotfixes and patches, so maybe your obscure, cheapo soundcard will now function in stereo.
Fullscreen mode (Won't work for PJ64 though in the update as it is
harder to add for PJ64 then originally thought, but will be added at a
later time!)
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Fullscreen Video mode.
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Volume knob in Video controls(Ctrl+W to show the menu, Ctrl+E to hide the emu)
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Ctrl+F = Switch to fullscreen.
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Ctrl+D = Switch back to @ES screen
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NESTOPIA support (Works perfectly!)
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CRC check for rom covers (Works for all cartridge based consoles)
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Arcade emu's can now use the titlescreen packs that mame has available for download.
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Bug fixes in the Audio/Video and Games menu which caused @ES to crash sometimes.
* No more menu flickering in Windows XP!!!
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Full Media keys support.
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MSN Scrolling text
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MSN display the game name and the game icon while playing
