• March 2013 - DCEmu Turns 9 Years Old and Still Going Strong

    Its Now March 2013 and DCEmu the Homebrew & Gaming Network is now 9 Years old. I actually started the sites back in 2002 but joined them under the DCEmu name back in 2004 when the site was foremost a Dreamcast Site, since then we have expanded and cover all homebrew scenes as new consoles come into play. To make sure the site gets back to what it does best i have merged the discussion forums and unmerged all the news forums, which for everyone makes for a better reading experiance, no one wants to search for PS2 news on a PS3 merged news forum because it takes ages to find it. Also this month we have launched new sites for PS4, GCW Zero and also an Open Source Handhelds website. Thanks for visiting DCEmu and please join in the discussion and remember if you are a coder then you can upload to our forum instead of using crappy internet upload sites.

  • July 1st, 2012

    Atari toyed with early game network 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on July 1st, 2012 23:01
    1. Categories:
    2. Retro Consoles/Translation News

    Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell talks about one of the company's experiments
    In a retrospective on Atari celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, co-founder Nolan Bushnell spoke with Time about the company's history, touching briefly on an experimental period. In 1976, after Bushnell sold the company to Warner Communications - which later merged with Time, Inc. to form Time Warner - Atari briefly toyed with the idea of an early game network.
    "Warner made a whole series of blunders which were not good for Atari," Bushnell began. "We were going to do this game network over telephone lines, but Warner couldn't figure out why people would want to play games with people they couldn't see."
    "If we had gone ahead and done it, it could have essentially been the Internet, in private hands. It's kind of fun to think about owning the Internet."
    Bushnell left Atari in November of 1978, after fighting with Warner executives. He only recently returned to the company in 2010, joining its board and serving as an advisor.
    "The brand is still powerful, and it's not just a retro thing. It has a whole bunch of really important intellectual property, and a lot of people still think of Atari as a company of innovation," he said.
    Atari is currently in the midst of releasing iOS remakes of its classic titles, including Asteroids, Centipede, Breakout. The full profile is available over at Time.

    http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...y-game-network

     ...
    Read More Read More

    3DS dominates first half of 2012 in Japan 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on July 1st, 2012 22:58
    1. Categories:
    2. Nintendo 3DS News

    Nintendo's hardware comfortably tops the chart, 3DS games take four of the top five slots
    The success of the Nintendo 3DS drove the Japanese games market to a marginal year-on-year increase for the first half of 2012.
    According to data released by Enterbrain and Famitsu,reported by Andriasang, the 3DS was the highest selling platform by far, shifting 2.22 million units versus second-place platform the PlayStation 3 with 695,000 units.
    The most recently launched hardware on the list, the PlayStation Vita, came in at fourth place, selling 353,000 units to take its lifetime total to 756,451.
    The 3DS was similarly dominant in the software list, taking four of the top five selling games: the recently released Pokemon Black & White 2, Dragon Quest Monsters, Mario Kart 7 and Monster Hunter 3G.
    The full hardware list, for the period covering December 26 2011 to June 24 2012, is below:

    • Nintendo 3DS: 2,219,548 (total 6,355,287)
    • PlayStation 3: 695,465 (total 8,112,613)
    • PlayStation Portable: 500,333 (total 18,737,441)
    • PlayStation Vita: 353,657 (total 756,451)
    • Nintendo Wii: 265,578 (total 12,433,321)
    • Xbox 360: 33,809 (total 1,554,547)
    • Nintendo DS: 20,239 (total 32,855,741)

    The full software list is below:

    • Pokemon Black & White 2 (3DS, Pokemon, 06.23.2012): 1,618,621
    • One Piece Pirate Musou (PS3, Namco Bandai, 03.01.2012): 806,578
    • Dragon Quest Monsters Terry's Wonderland 3D (3DS, Squenix, 05.31.2012): 743,967
    • Mario Kart 7 (3DS, Nintendo, 12.01.2011): 665,573 (total 1,747,964)
    • Monster Hunter 3G (3DS, Capcom, 12.10.2011): 665,394 (1,474,716)

    http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-2012-in-japan

     ...
    Read More Read More

    Wii U online service won't come with a fee 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on July 1st, 2012 22:54
    1. Categories:
    2. Wii U News

    Satoru Iwata said Nintendo evaluated Xbox Live-like subscription but decided against it
    Nintendo held its annual shareholder's meeting this week, and one of the topics raised in the discussion was how Nintendo would approach its online network for Wii U and 3DS. Nintendo is aware that it needs to do more to bolster its online offerings, which is why Nintendo of America just hired a senior vp of network business, but the company feels that charging online users is the wrong approach.
    According to a translation (by Andriasang) of comments made at the meeting, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata noted that Nintendo did think about the idea of a paid online service similar to Microsoft's popular Xbox Live but ultimately the company decided it would limit the number of online users Nintendo would attract.
    Keeping the online service open and free, and "by having everyone use the Miiverse together, word of mouth will more easily spread. This will lead to greater hardware and software sales," reads the translation.
    Wii U launches this holiday season, and Nintendo has high hopes for much better third-party support than the company saw with Wii. In fact, Iwata mentioned that "Nintendo started sharing information with third parties at about the same time as its internal teams" and "Nintendo also holds seminars and dispatches employees to other companies."
    http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ome-with-a-fee
     ...
    Read More Read More

    Battlefield Premium hits 800,000 registered players 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on July 1st, 2012 22:52
    1. Categories:
    2. Xbox 360 News

    Only two weeks in, EA's premium FPS service has almost reached a million users
    EA's Battlefield Premium service for Battlefield 3 has enlisted more than 800,000 users since its launch two weeks ago. The service offers discounts and early access on the game's expansions, including the recently-released Close Quarters. EA Games Label executive vice president Patrick Soderlund told USA Today that the initial response to the service has pleased the publisher.
    "We are very pleased with the performance so far. We're actually only two weeks into it, so it's a little early to tell how this is going to pay off," said Soderlund. "It certainly it looks very promising right now."
    Soderlund also expects EA to launch more original properties down the line, as it did with Dead Space and Mirror's Edge for this console generation.
    http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...stered-players
     ...
    Read More Read More

    One in three US gamers would choose digital over retail 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on July 1st, 2012 22:50
    1. Categories:
    2. DCEmu

    NPD Group has revealed that almost one third of US gamers would rather buy their games digitally than in a shop.
    The firm surveyed 8,500 consumers as part of its Online Gaming 2012 report. It asked if a game was available to buy physical and digital at the same time at the same price, what would they buy? 65 per cent said physical, while a surprisingly high 35 per cent picked digital.
    Practically all PC games are released digitally and physically at the same time, but that trend is now starting to come to the console space. It is a requirement that all publishers release Vita games digitally and physically at the same time, while Nintendo says it will now be offering that option - beginning with next month's New Super Mario Bros 2.
    Xbox 360 currently gives a three to six month gap between the physical launch and its digital counterpart.
    The survey also revealed that 40 per cent of those surveyed obtained at least one game in both the physical and digital formats over the past 12 months.
    “Gamers are growing more comfortable in acquiring content online, as we saw the preference for digital increase ten percentage points from last year,” said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
    “The proliferation of free games on mobile devices has reduced the barrier of entry for online gaming to zero, fueling an increase in acquisition.”
    The report also revealed that there's been an increase in entertainment use on consoles and portable devices, with a slight increase in users who say entertainment apps cause them to spend less time gaming.
    More than one-in-five online gamer state that other members of their house are using their machines for other entertainment activities outside of gaming.
    “Every year at E3, we hear about new non-gaming features being added to major console and portable device manufacturers’ online services,” added Callahan.
    “It is reasonable to expect changes in the share of time and spend as consumers become aware and increasingly comfortable with the number of features, including gaming, available through their multifunctional devices.”
    ...
    Read More Read More

    Vivendi to sell $8.1 billion stake in Activison Blizzard? 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on July 1st, 2012 22:47
    1. Categories:
    2. DCEmu

    Word from the US is that Vivendi wants to sell its majority 61% stake in Activision Blizzard - worth $8.1bn.
    According to Bloomberg, someone close to the matter says Vivendi wants to sell on its ownership of the powerful US games publisher, responsible of course for Call of Duty, as pressure mounts to reduce debt liabilities.
    This week Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levy had already been ousted after resisting a restructure - and now Chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou is apparently being told by investors to shape up the giant firm.
    Vivendi is a telecommunications and media powerhouse, with interests in music, games, TV plus mobile and landline telecoms.
    Rumours about a sell-off have been swirling all year.
    It bought Activision and merged it with World of Warcraft creator Blizzard - creating Activision-Blizzard - in 2006. The publisher acts independently, but Vivendi is the majority shareholder, having retained the 61 per cent.
    But Bloomberg also reveals that, if no buyer emerges to make an offer for the valuable but expensive Activision, Vivendi may be forced to sell part or all of its shares in the publisher on the open market.

    http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/viven...lizzard/098774     ...
    Read More Read More

    Steam top ten sellers chart: June 24-30 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on July 1st, 2012 22:44
    1. Categories:
    2. PC News

    Valve has announced Steam’s top ten selling titles and products from the past week.
    The DayZ mod phenomenon shows no signs of slowing, with ArmA II: Combined Operations taking the top spot for the second time in three weeks, and buzzing around the upper end of the charts for nearly two months now to boot.
    The Civilization V expansion Gods and Kings continues to do well, settling for the runner-up spot this week.
    A couple of Warhammer products also make the list thanks to a massive discount this weekend.

    1. ArmA II: Combined Operations
    2. Civilization V: Gods and Kings
    3. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Complete Pack
    4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Collection 2
    5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
    6. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
    7. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
    8. Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
    9. Max Payne 3
    10. Spec Ops: The Line

    http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/steam...e-24-30/098824 ...
    Read More Read More

    Kirby's Dream Collection lands in September 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on July 1st, 2012 22:42
    1. Categories:
    2. Nintendo Wii News

    Nintendo has announced a US release date for Kirby’s Dream Collection.
    The six-game compilation celebrating the classic Nintendo icon’s 20th anniversary will arrive on September 16th, Nintendo of America revealed on its twitter account.
    Emulated versions of Kirby's Dream Land 1, 2, and 3, Kirby's Adventure, Kirby Super Star, and Kirby 64; along with new challenge levels, an interactive timeline, soundtrack extras, and a collectible booklet do make the collection sound rather dreamy.
    The Wii title is set to arrive this month (July 19th) in Japan. No word on an exact release date for Europe, but September waspreviously promised.

    http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/kirby...ptember/098825     ...
    Read More Read More

    Quake 3 Source Code Review 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on July 1st, 2012 22:39
    1. Categories:
    2. Retro Consoles/Translation News

    "id Software has a history of releasing the source code for their older games under the GPL. Coder Fabien Sanglard has been taking it upon himself to go through each of these releases, analyze the source code, and post a detailed write-up about it. He's now completed a review of the Quake 3 source code, diving into the details of idTech3. It's an interesting read — he says he was impressed in particular by the 'virtual machines system and the associated toolchain that altogether account for 30% of the code released. Under this perspective idTech3 is a mini operating system providing system calls to three processes.'

    http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/0...ce-code-review     ...
    Read More Read More

    Google Trying New Strategy to Fix Fragmentation 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on July 1st, 2012 22:37
    1. Categories:
    2. Android News

    Google announced a new version of Android this week with some impressive new features, but it's unclear if it's done enough to solve a problem that has dogged its mobile OS: fragmentation. Even as it announced the imminent launch of Android 4.1, or Jelly Bean, the majority of users are still running Gingerbread, which is three major releases behind. According to Google's own figures, just 7 percent are running the current version, Ice Cream Sandwich, which launched last October. That means apps that tap into the latest innovations in the OS aren't available to most Android users. It also means developers, the lifeblood of the platform, are forced to test their apps across multiple devices and multiple versions of the OS. So when Google's Hugo Barra announced a Platform Developer Kit during the opening keynote at I/O this week, the news was greeted with applause. The PDK will provide Android phone makers with a preview version of upcoming Android releases, making it easier for them to get the latest software in their new phones. But is the PDK enough to secure for developers the single user experience for big numbers of Android users that developers crave? In a 'fireside chat' with the Android team, the packed house of developers had more questions about OS fragmentation than Google had answers.

    http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/07...-fragmentation     ...
    Read More Read More
    Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast