DCEmu Featured News Articles

Deus Ex and Epic Mickey mastermind Warren Spector has been blogging about E3, and in his latest update, he delivers a frothing love letter to the Nintendo 3DS, declaring himself "blown away".

"Nintendo got 3D right - righter than anyone else. Ever. By far," Spector wrote.

He first points to the fact the machine doesn't require glasses, the lack of image degradation comapred to 2D displays and the way the user can adjust the 3D effect themselves, before going on to praise the machine's packed feature set.

"As each new 3DS feature was described, my jaw got closer and closer to the ground... I swear if they'd said it was a phone, too, I would have dashed back onto the stage and snatched the prototype and run like the wind! I half expected to hear it would tuck me in at night!"

The veteran designer loved the line-up of content, too. "Every title – movie or game – was a hardware-selling brand, each one looked cool and each was genuinely enhanced in some way by the 3D effect." And the effect itself? "The 3D effect is basically perfect. I mean PERFECT."

Spector said the machine changed his mind about 3D altogether - he'd thought it was a fad, but 3DS has convinced him it's here to stay. He was also excited about the possibilities for game development.

"As a consumer, I'm in. Sign me up. Price no object (or not much of one). As a game developer, well, sign me up for that, too… I mean, how could anyone NOT want to play with this tech?

"I've been hoping something like this would come along since Origin and Looking Glass supported VR headsets in Wings of Glory and System Shock back in the mid-nineties, but I never actually believed it would happen. Well, it's happened. The Nintendo 3DS changed everything for me.

"The 3DS was - dare I say it? - almost Disney-like in the magical feeling it evoked in me and I suspect you’ll have a similar reaction when you get your hands on it."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/sp...y-nintendo-3ds ...

Google disclosed in a blog post on Thursday that it remotely removed two applications from Android phones that ran contrary to the terms of the Android Market. From the post: 'Recently, we became aware of two free applications built by a security researcher for research purposes. These applications intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads, but they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data — or system resources beyond permission.INTERNET. As the applications were practically useless, most users uninstalled the applications shortly after downloading them. After the researcher voluntarily removed these applications from Android Market, we decided, per the Android Market Terms of Service, to exercise our remote application removal feature on the remaining installed copies to complete the cleanup.' The blog post comes a day after security vendor SMobile Systems published a report saying that 20% of Android apps provide access to sensitive information."
Update: 06/25 16:44 GMT by S : Clarified last sentence, which incorrectly suggested that 20% of Android apps were malicious. According to the report (PDF, which we discussed recently), "a majority of these applications were developed with the best of intentions and the user data will likely not be compromised.

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/...Android-Phones ...

Puzzle Quest 2 and Ancients of Ooga are due out on Xbox Live Arcade next Wednesday.

That's according to our old friend Major Nelson, who also reminded us that Puzzle Quest 2 will cost 1200 Microsoft Points (£10.20 / €14.40), while Ooga is down for 800 MSP (£6.80 / €9.60).

Puzzle Quest 2 builds on Infinite Interactive's successful attempts to blend match-3 puzzling and role-playing game elements.

Ooga is a 2D platformer in which, according to developer NinjaBee's website, players "eat, chant and even puke" through a primeval world.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/pu...xbla-next-week ...

Sony has revealed the line-up of PlayStation Plus content due to be made available to subscribers in its first two months of operation.

The bounty for the first month - officially starting 29th June and ending 3rd August - includes WipEout HD, Killzone 2 DLC and of course a free copy of LittleBigPlanet as a sign-up bonus.

In month two - officially 4th August to 1st September - you can look forward to the likes of Zen Pinball, Alien Zombie Death and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift's Adrenaline Pack.

As detailed yesterday, PS Plus subscribers will be able to access said content for the duration of their subscriptions.

Other benefits including scheduled downloading for patches and firmware updates, full game trials, and a range of discounts. In month two, for example, you can get 20 per cent off WipEout HD Fury.

Check out the full list of subs content below. Subscribing to PlayStation Plus will cost £11.99 / €14.99 for 90 days or £39.99 / €49.99 for a year.

Month 1: June 29th - August 3rd

Intro offer: LBP (standard edition)
PSN PS3: Wipeout HD
minis: Field Runners, Age of Zombies
PSone: Destruction Derby
Full Game Trial: Shatter, Savage Moon
Discounts: LBP God of War Pack - 50%, LBP: LocoRoco costume pack - 50%, Gravity Crash - 20%, Fat Princess DLC - 20%
Premium Game Element: KillZone 2: Steel & Titanium DLC
Push demo: ModNation Racers, Heavy Rain
Themes: LBP Theme, SCEE produced: PlayStation "Game Is Just The Start" Dynamic Theme
2 x Fat Princess Premium Avatars
Month 2: August 4th - September 1st

PSN PS3: Zen Pinball
minis: Blast-Off, Alien Zombie Death
PSone: Medievil
Full Game Trial: Inferno Pool, Mushroom Wars
Discounts: Zen Pinball Earth Defence Table - 20%, Warhawk Triple Combo Pack - 50%, Super Stardust HD - 20%, WipeOutHD Fury - 20%
Premium Game Elements: Motorstorm Pacific Rift: Adrenaline Pack
Push Demo: Flower, Pixel Junk Shooter
Themes: "SCEE produced: PlayStation + Dynamic Theme (in production), Heavy Rain Crime Scene Theme
2 x Heavy Rain Avatars (Bird and Butterfly)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ps...ntent-detailed ...

Sony is reportedly on the verge of announcing a deal with US-only video on demand service Hulu, despite continued rumours of a deal with Microsoft.

According to a Bloomberg report, a deal could be announced as soon as next week, with a subscription-based service apparently being planned that would give access to current and past shows from U.S. TV network NBC, ABC and Fox.

Long-standing rumours of a similar deal for the Xbox 360, believed to involve a $9.95 a month subscription, were thought by many to be culminating in an announcement at this year's E3 expo, but this do not materialise.

Currently the web-based service is free to use, with revenues gained purely through advertising. Hulu is unavailable outside of the US and attempts to create a similar service in the UK have so far been frustrated by a lack of licensing deals.

A new version of the BBC iPlayer is due to arrive on the PlayStation 3 this year though, with website TechRadar apparently confirming iPlayer 3 would feature improved functionality and social networking features.

The current version of the iPlayer on the PlayStation 3 is the same used on Sony and Samsung televisions, as well as the Wii. The new version was launched late last month.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-coming-to-ps3 ...

Apple has admitted that complaints of reception problems with the new iPhone 4 are an issue, with the issue being hardware rather than software related.

The main complaint of the new device, which launched earlier in the week, is that if the bottom-left hand corner of the phone is held reception can be impaired or even lost.

Apple's advice so far is to use a cover for the phone, to prevent physical contact with your hand, or simply to hold it differently.

"Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas," suggests an official Apple statement obtained by website Engadget.

"Avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases," concludes the statement

In addition to the reception problems there have also been multiple reports of screen discoloration, although a post on the AppleInsider forums suggests this is a result of the bonding agent on the glass not fully evaporating. As such the issue is expected to resolve naturally after a period of days.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...e-4-complaints ...

Microsoft's Senior Regional Director for Northern Europe, Neil Thompson, has said the company isn't currently focusing on bringing BBC iPlayer to Xbox 360.

The news emerged when Thompson was asked by OXM about the possibility of the iPlayer coming to Microsoft's box.

"I think the way we look at the services we have with our TV services, we're very happy with what we're doing with Sky," he said.

"What we really want to do is ensure that we can differentiate and bring new things and that's about really looking at the services we have and saying "how can we improve those and make those even more interactive and more differentiated?"

He added: "Now that we have Kinect coming to the platform as well I think that's all we're going to focus our energy on and that's where we're going to put all of our focus on in the next year."

"iPlayer is available on a lot of platforms, people connect to that content in a lot of ways today and it's like 'where would we add value to that particular property at this point?' and we think we can probably add value in other areas at the moment."

Last year The Telegraph cited "sources close to the BBC," admitting that problems arose due to Microsoft's desire to limit iPlayer access to users of the paid-for Xbox Live Gold Service.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...

The growing trade in pre-owned games is the driving force behind the High Street’s struggle to combat year-on-year declines in video games sales, according to a report by analyst group Cowen and Company.
The study compares the current hardware userbase of the PS3 and Xbox 360, which it claims at this moment in time is comparable to how PS2 and Xbox stood in 2003. However, current software sales for the two next-gen machines are around 20 per cent down on what they were for PS2 and Xbox, standing at 106m and 85.5m respectively.
The report adds that sales of games in their second month of availability are also down. Since 2001 they have on average fallen by 62 per cent. Examples cited include Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII, which saw sales drop 93 per cent in its second month compared to the first.
The second hand games market is more fearsome now than it ever has been. A decade ago the only outlets for second hand games was High Street specialists and the then burgeoning number of UK indies.
Now, all manner of retailers are getting in on the act including HMV, Tesco, Asda and Best Buy, as well as US chains Toys R Us, Amazon, Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/39761/Pre-...market-decline ...

Music streaming service, Last.FM is only exclusive to Xbox 360 for one year, it's been revealed.

The news, revealed via an interview with Last.FM VP, Orlena Yeung in the latest Official Xbox Magazine, has sparked speculation that the service could soon make it over to PS3 once the November exclusivity date passes.

The Xbox 360 launch was a huge success for the service, seeing more than two million console users sign up in the first four months alone. Surely then, Last.FM has its eyes firmly on the other big current-gen powerhouse.

Regardless of which box it's on though, Yeung says new console-focussed features will be coming to service in the near future.

"There is a nice parallel between the community-driven experience at Last.FM and the gamer community on Xbox Live," she told OXM.

"I think we can create more experience where users are socialising their music taste across gaming and music. We will see..."

Earlier this morning it was revealed that movie streaming service Hulu - another Xbox 360 exclusive - could make its way to Sony's box.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...