Microsoft's next-gen Xbox - also known as Xbox 2, Xbox Next, Xbox 360 or Xenon - will come with a removable iPod-style hard drive and feature customisable pop-on-pop-off covers like those diddy Smart cars.[br]According to internet reports, that is. The Xbox 2 rumour mill is on full grind right now, but it seems the speculation is homing closer and closer to the truth as the next-gen machine's expected late 2005 release date looms.[br][br]Most interestingly of all the whispers riding the winds of rumour, a report on gadget website Engadget suggests that Xbox 2 will indeed feature a detachable hard drive. This feature has been rumoured since Xbox big cheese J Allard spoke of such a removabel device last year.[br][br]According to Engadget's reports, the hard drive will slot neatly into a slick recepticle on the top of the system, "almost like the hood scoop on a muscle car". Furthermore, it's suggested that you will be able to buy Xbox 2 with or without the hard drive (with an option to pick one up later), an assertion that reinforces claims that the Xbox 2 will be available in three versions - a basic console, the console with hard drive fitted, and a PC-style version with additional features.[br]While this may sound strange considering the current Xbox has a hard drive, we imagine you'd still be able to hold your saved games on a memory card while the detachable hard drive would be used for multimedia files and memory-intensive applications.[br][br]So can we expect detachable hard drives? Engadget is quoting a source close to the product, and we've certainly heard whispers from our sources that we should expect a detachable storage device. Looking pretty likely, then.[br][br]But there's more. Gaming blog Kotaku is also carrying alleged Xbox 2 information, again from an "exclusive source". This little haul of details seems to confirm the Xbox 360 moniker (which certainly seems to be gathering legitimacy amongst powerful people within the industry), offers that the console design will look softer with "sweeps and curves" replacing the hard lines of the original Xbox, and suggests that the console's exterior can be customised with "designer face plates".[br][br]We've also heard that Xbox 2 will indeed strike a smoother, slimmer pose than its little brother. According to our sources, it'll weigh in with about the same size and weight as Sony's PS2 (the old one, not the wee one) and feature curved edges designed to slim it down even further.[br][br]And the official word on all this? Unfortunately, representatives from Microsoft UK were unavailable for comment at the time of press, but given the speculative nature of all these reports we think we can imagine the response we'd get...[br][br]We'll keep watching the rumours and bringing you the latest on Xbox 2. ...

We could easily pick up on some of the lesser publicised titles. Like Care Bears casting their pixellated magic on GBA SP. Or Ultimate Card Games being dealt out on the sparkling new DS.[br]But wouldn't that be a bit naïve, especially with all you ardent Nintendo-philes keen to get your fetid hands on the likes of Star Fox Assault, Killer 7 and WarioWare Twisted! as though they were a big, scaled-up pair of Jordan's knockers? Our point exactly.[br][br]The good news is that there appears to be a definite smidgen of happening across all the Nintendo formats in the months leading into Summer. The aforementioned and sweet-looking StarFox Assault finally crashlands onto GameCube on April 29, the sequel to super-addictive tub-thumper Donkey Konga arrives on June 3, and the stylus-enabled Yoshi Touch & Go is set to inject further quirkiness into the DS on May 6.[br][br]Other dates of note include Namco's Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (GameCube) on April 1, Viewtiful Joe 2 (GameCube) on April 1, Need for Speed Underground 2 (DS) on April 29, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories (GBA SP) on May 6 and WarioWare Twisted! (GBA SP) on June 3.[br]However, also glowing out from the release schedule like a 3,000 Volt lightbulb set against a bottle of King Kong's zit concealer is the mooted June 27 date of Capcom's blood-tinged, cel-shader Killer 7. Only recently it was suggested the game had slipped all the way back to September, caused by a knock-on effect from delays in Japan. [br][br]Yet despite the rumours, Nintendo still has the game pencilled in for end-June. So just what is the truth? "To be honest, we couldn't say whether Killer 7 will release in June, July, August or September," a Capcom spokesman told us today. "There was talk of it releasing in September, but it's possible it may be knocked down. It should definitely release in the Summer though."[br][br]Hopefully, we will have some more official confirmation on this in the coming weeks. In the meantime, check out the full Nintendo Q2 release schedule below:[br][br]GameCube:[br][br]Baten Kaitos - 1 April 2005 [br]Viewtiful Joe 2 (Capcom) - 1 April 2005[br]Star Fox Assault - 29 April 2005[br]Donkey Konga 2: Hit Song Parade (temporary title) - 3 June 2005[br]Batman Begins (EA) - June 2005[br]Madagascar (Activision) - June 2005[br]Killer 7 (Capcom) - 27 June 2005[br]Medal of Honor 4 (EA) - Q2 2005[br][br]GBA SP: [br][br]Yoshi's Universal Gravitation (Nintendo) - 22 April 2005[br]KINGDOM OF HEARTS CHAIN OF MEMORIES (Square/Enix) - 6 May 2005[br]Herby Fully Loaded (Disney / Buena Vista Games) - May 2005 [br]Care Bears (Game Factory/K.E. Media) - May 2005[br]Koala Brothers (Game Factory/K.E. Media) - May 2005[br]Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (Ubisoft) - May 2005[br]WarioWare Twisted! (Nintendo) - 3 June 2005[br]Mario Party Advance (Nintendo) - 24 June 2005[br]Batman Begins (EA) - June 2005[br]Madagascar (Activision) - June 2005[br][br]Nintendo DS:[br][br]Yoshi Touch & Go (Nintendo) - 6 May 2005[br]Need for Speed Underground 2 (EA) - 29 April 2005[br]Cocoto Card Racer (Neko) - April 2005[br]Space Invadors Revolution (Marvelous/Rising Star Games) - April 2005[br]Ultimate Brain games (Telegames) - May 2005 [br]Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (Ubisoft) - May 2005[br]Madagascar (Activision) - June 2005[br]Ultimate Card games (Telegames) - June 2005[br]Pac-Pix (NAMCO) - Q2 2005 ...

Our same reliable source who delivered the goods for us a few weeks back with the inside dirt that the name for the next Xbox is indeed the Xbox 360 has just hit us up with a couple of other nibblets: One, that the Xbox 360 is definitely going to come with wireless controllers; and two, that it’s going to have an optional hard drive that attaches to the top of Xbox 360 “in a really slick way, almost like the hood scoop on a muscle car.” Better still, “You’ll be able to add the hard drive afterwards without having to take the box apart if you didn’t buy the hard drive version of the Xbox 360.” Yeah, that means there are going to be (at least) two versions of the Xbox 360 available when it goes on sale, one with a hard drive, and one without. ...

Steve has released a new version of his Nes Emulator for the UIQ phones:[br][br] Version 0.81, released Feb 20, 2005: [br][br]Added configuration control of A92x/A1000 nav select button [br]Fixed problem with Pxxx button configuration [br]Attempted added Pxxx jog up/down/left/right/inward button configuration [br] [br][br]Download Here ...

Vampent have released an update to their Nes Emulator for the Nokia N-Gage and other symbian 60 phones, heres whats new:[br][br] Faster interpolation way [br]Language pack support [br]Siemens SX1 and SendoX support [br]Scroll key in full screen mode [br]Mapper 90,245 support [br][br]Download Here ...

Nintendo has let a few slip new details on its jaw-dropping new Zelda title for GameCube, as well as speaking about the importance of the massive series in the design and development of Nintendo DS.[br]Nintendo producer Eiji Aonuma, who says he's "two-hundred percent involved" in the development of the new Legend of Zelda on GameCube, has reportedly recently been interviewed by French publication Liberation. Although reluctant to talk about the title at any length Aonuma did have a couple of interesting nuggets to divulge.[br][br]"The next episode in the Zelda series for GameCube is already coming, but I can't say absolutely anything about it," Aonuma is said to have explained, before actually going on to reveal that the game "follows chronologically after the Wind Waker" and is currently pencilled in for a 2005-end release in Japan.[br][br]Not earth-shattering info perhaps, but certainly interesting. The new GameCube Zelda game's visual style was also touched on: "I can reveal one lone secret: it'll be very, very beautiful," Aonuma told Liberation. Having been bowled over by the screenshots released so far, we'd have to agree.[br]Aonuma then went on to talk about the influence of the Zelda series on the development of Nintendo DS, possibly dropping hints about what we can expect to see in the inevitable DS Zelda title.[br][br]"In fact, know that our ideas for Four Swords have greatly contributed to the concept behind the DS," he said, adding that: "The gameplay ideas we came up with for Four Swords [on GBA] provided examples on what kind of games would be possible on the Nintendo DS and what kind of advantages the double-screen would enable. [br][br]"It was all theoretical, but today we realize it's a pity - a real shame - that we haven't created a demonstration of a real, great Zelda game for DS." [br][br]Perhaps we'll see that demonstration as this year's E3. ...

Evilo has released a new version of his NeoGeo CD emulator for the Playstation 2, heres the news from this release:[br][br] Development has slowed down lately, as I'm busy with other stuff, however here is an nice little update that you should like ! Thanks to triple buffering almost all games are now fullspeed with sound and for games that are still not fullspeed (most noticable [br]symptom being looping sound) you can activate a frameskip from the menu. This is a basic frameskip of 1 that should be almost unnoticable in quality yet still be more than enough to run games at fullspeed! The funny thing is that neocd will now require some framerate limitation code, as now, depending of the combination of sound enable/disable and frameskip it can run faster than 100% ![br][br]Here is the changelog of this version : [br]- Triple Buffering using vsync callback (thanks to drakonite for the idea)[br]- CD now stop spinning once in the "insert" screen [br] which should help people using swap method.[br]- Fixed auto-animation speed (thx mame)[br]- Bit better sound emulation, but still not perfect[br]- Settings are now saved to MC, and restored at start-up[br]- Basic frameskip routine (off by default)[br]- Added an error message if bios is not found or is invalid.[br]- Source clean-up [br][br]Download Here ...

Schizno has released a new clone of a Flash game for the Xbox Console, heres the info from his site:[br][br] Worked on MadnessX.[br]Well I actually got to code a little bit, so we aren't officially dead.[br]Still a little bit to do, mainly adding guns and adding more blood, the rest should be somewhat easy... I don't see any huge obstacles in the way but who knows.[br][br]An Update:[br][br]Small Update:[br]- Added clothing accessories (ie you can have hats, glasses, beards, masks etc)[br]- Added some new weapons[br]- Fixed some chainsaw graphics[br]- Smacked kl0wn like a little bitch [br][br]Curious? screenshots etc Here ...

The emulator for the GBA and Nintendo DS has been updated to a new release (and clean too, if you downloaded a previous version, you will have to do a virus check as the author got infected), heres whats in this new release:[br][br] If I'm ever going to take advantage of the 3D hardware present in most computers that'll be running DSemu, it's probably wise to use some 3D-accelerated driver like DirectX or OpenGL to harness the hardware. Hence, as of today, both the GBA and DS cores draw onto a textured quad that is rendered by OpenGL. In the far future, the DS core will probably be drawing objects over the top of this '2D display' quad.[br][br]There are two nice side benefits to the OpenGL switch. Firstly, since the hardware is handling the scaling of the quad, you can now resize the DSemu window at will, and the display will stretch to match. Second, I actually got a good 10% speedup in frame rate by moving from GDI to OpenGL. See how it goes for you.[br][br]In other news, yet more core bugs that mic's ARMwrestler has been able to track down. Today, there was a nice little one in LDR-asr-by-32, where the wrong address would end up being read from. All patched up now, which means a clean sweep for the ARM core. (Thumb is still a different matter.)[br][br]Lots of news today. [br][br]Download the new clean version Here.[br][br]Download some Nintendo DS Roms (Freeware game and 4 Demos) Here ...