DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
wraggster
by Published on March 31st, 2011 00:19- Categories:
- PS3 News
The six vintage Mega Drive games heading to PlayStation Network over the next couple of months will feature online leaderboards and trophies, SEGA has revealed.
SEGA's Mike Kebby stopped by the PlayStation Blogto announce that Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Streets of Rage 2, Golden Axe 2, Altered Beast and Comix Zone would all be online enabled.
On top of leaderboards and trophies, Sonic 2, Streets of Rage 2, Altered Beast and Comix Zone will also feature online co-op play.
Kebby then divulged the full trophy list for classic platformer Sonic the Hedgehog, which hits PlayStation Network today.
Bronze
- Centurion – Get 100 or more rings
- Clear Green – Clear the Green Hill Zone
- Fast Green – Beat Green Hill Zone Act 1 in under 35 seconds
- Fast Marble – Beat Marble Zone Act 1 in under 80 seconds
- Star Light Zone – Get to the Star Light Zone
- Spring Yard Zone – Get to the Spring Yard Zone
- Labyrinth Zone – Get to the Labyrinth Zone
- Chaos Emerald – Get one Chaos Emerald
- Chaos Master – Get all the Chaos Emeralds
- Win – Beat the game
- Fast Win – Beat the game in under 40 minutes
- Perfect Win – Beat the game without dying
- Sonic 2 – free for PS Plus users on 6th April, released onto PS Store on 20th April
- Streets of Rage 2 – free for Plus users on 4th May, released onto PS Store on 18th May
- Golden Axe 2 – free for Plus users on 1st June, released onto PS Store on 15th June
by Published on March 31st, 2011 00:17
There are no new demos on the PlayStation Store this week, but there are new games, new special offers and downloadable content by the truck load.
The games to focus on are 8/10 action puzzler Swarm - made by DeathSpank and Penny Arcade Adventures studio Hothead - and The 3rd Birthday. The latter is a showy PSP crime shooter by Square Enix that involves a steamy, "erotic" shower scene.
Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime turned out to be a load of old ectoplasm (4/10 - Eurogamer).
There are new cars for new and good (8/10 - Eurogamer) racing game Shift 2: Unleashed. And DragonForce's wheat/chafe separator "Through The Fire And Flames" arrives for Rock Band 3. This made headlines way back with Guitar Hero III - how times have changed.
Disappointing final Mass Effect 2 DLC, The Arrival (5/10 - Eurogamer), also shows its face.
And would you look at the obscene amount of DLC for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters - are you sure it's not a free-to-play game, EA?
Today's PlayStation Store update courtesy of the European PlayStation blog:
...by Published on March 31st, 2011 00:12- Categories:
- Nintendo Wii News
Nintendo appears to have ruled out including 3D technology in the home console follow-up to the Wii, because of the likely need for players to wear glasses to make it work.
The news follows the launch of the 3DS handheld, which Nintendo of America hailed as a record-breaker for day one sales - although reports in other regions seem to indicate a mixed reception, with no official figures having yet been publicly released.
But with one of the main selling points of that device being the "glasses-free" 3D, the company is reluctant to move away from that concept in other new hardware.
"I think at Nintendo, we realise that any sort of goggle-type 3D technology was not going to work," Hideki Konno told CNN. "In order to make 3D technology viable with video games, we thought we needed to have glasses-free 3D."
And Reggie Fils-Aime added: "Glasses-free is a big deal. We've not said publicly what the next thing for us will be in the home console space, but based on what we've learned on 3D, likely, that won't be it."
Part of the problem for Nintendo is that while the company is able to pull together the entire user experience into one device on the 3DS, a home console implies the use of a TV - and while glasses-free 3D televisions are being worked on, they're unlikely to enter the market in an affordable way for some time to come.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-to-feature-3d
...by Published on March 31st, 2011 00:11- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
Microsoft has begun to investigate claims that users are purposefully manipulating the rating of Xbox Live Indie Games, in order to raise or lower titles in the overall rankings for the service.
"We are investigating a possible misuse of ratings on #XBLIG titles. We'll announce more information here as it develops," read a comment on the official XNACommunity Twitter account.
The issue was first brought to light by Robert Boyd of Zeboyd Games, developers of popular Indie titles Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves the World. Writing on a Gamasutra blog, Boyd recounted how the developer's game saw an unexpected drop in overall ranking from number six to number 11 in the space of a week.
After investigating he discovered that the creators of Indie game College Lacrosse had asked their fans to raise the ratings of their games - with some taking it upon themselves to give rival titles in the top 10 the lowest possible rating, even though in many cases they had not purchased the game.
Although Boyd was careful to point out that the College Lacrosse developers had not encouraged anyone to negatively mark rival games, they had explained how to create an account and vote even if a fan did not own an Xbox 360.
Boyd questioned whether ratings should be limited only to people who have played the game, or at least the demo, given the severe financial implications of losing a top 10 rating.
The Apple App Store currently allows only users who have purchased an app to rate it.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ve-indie-games
...by Published on March 31st, 2011 00:09- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
A new Xbox 360 System Update Preview programme has been announced by Microsoft, with the console manufacturer calling for US-based testers to help prepare for an "updated Xbox 360 disc format".
The announcement was made by Xbox Live director of programming Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, although he provided no detailed explanation of the system update or the change in disc format.
The Xbox 360 currently uses standard dual-layer DVDs, with Microsoft previously having supported a separate HD-DVD drive - but only for movie playback, not games.
Although there have been occasional rumours of Microsoft supporting the Blu-ray format the description by Hryb seems to imply only a software update, possibly one that allows developers to use more of a DVD's maximum storage space of 9GB.
Currently only up to 7GB of space can be used for game data, with many games using far less. A recentDigital Foundry analysis suggested that Alan Wake uses only 2.5GB of space.
Update: Digital Foundry sources suggest that the update does indeed relate to increased storage space on the DVD - with an extra 1GB becoming available. The extra space has been found by reducing a DVD-Video partition containing anti-piracy security.
Digital Foundry also speculates that the free copy of Halo: Reach uses the new disc format and is therefore an intrinsic part of the testing program.
Although the Blu-ray disc format used by the PlayStation 3 allows for more storage, only a few Xbox 360 titles have ever had to be shipped on multiple discs - generally ports of Japanese titles such as Final Fantasy XIII and Lost Odyssey. Although Dead Space 2 is a more recent Western example.
Xbox 360 owners wanting to help out as testers are asked to visit the Microsoft Connect site and complete a short survey. Hryb indicates that the company is looking for "multiple thousands of participants", who will be thanked with a copy of Halo: Reach and "other possible rewards".
A few points to add:
The new disc format is not a 'hint' it is a reality, it is known as xgd3 and will have the following addition 'benefits', extra 1gb of game data space for developers, an extra layer for security but not tri-layer, real time integrity checks to fight piracy (ap methods)
Also, the 'testers' are US only, no Canada, Asia or Europe allowed!
Xbox/M$ will never use Blu-ray as they wouldn't want to pay for the rights for every console sold, there is also the arguement that the next generation will be without optical media which would essentially limit piracy and bricks and mortar businesses.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...t-for-xbox-360
...by Published on March 31st, 2011 00:07- Categories:
- Nintendo 3DS News
Although Nintendo of America has claimed record day one sales for the 3DS, it is still unclear how the new format has fared in the UK - with rumours continuing that it has performed below expectations.
Despite talk of pre-orders exceeding 140,000 consoles in the UK, and potential sales prediction of as much as 200,000, Nintendo UK has still failed to release any new information regarding the March 25 launch.
The impact on 3DS software on the most recent UK sales chart was relatively minimal, and the queues for the launch appeared, on anecdotal evidence, to be lower than expected - perhaps affected by the launch of the iPad 2 on the same day.
By fulfilling pre-orders alone, the 3DS should have beaten the DSi opening weekend sales of 92,000 units - the UK's fourth fastest-selling console. Nintendo indicated prior to launch that shelf stock would be "well in excess" of pre-orders
However, an investigation by sister site Eurogamer has seen a mixed response from retailers, when questioned over the success of the launch.
"The 3DS has been huge for us," ASDA told Eurogamer. "In fact, it was our biggest ever format launch, driven by really strong online sales and our a fantastically-priced opening bundle."
"It's certainly among our fastest ever selling consoles," HMV added, "but still a little too early to give a final figure/view."
"The category manager tells me that the Sony PS3 [launch] was the biggest for us," Currys explained to Eurogamer, "and maybe even further back Sony PS2. "The 3DS is the biggest Nintendo one for us, though."
"The 3DS hasn't actually been our fastest ever selling console, yet, anyway," said Sainsbury's.
"As a company we do not release info on sales or statistics so cannot disclose this answer," Toys R Us began. "However, I can tell you that we have not sold out."
"As in previous years," GAME told Eurogamer, "we're not able to talk about the results of a console launch until our next trading update. For this period, that will be 27th April."
"The simple answer is that yes, the 3DS will have been the quickest selling by a country mile," declared Morrisons to Eurogamer.
"That's mainly because we had a pre-order system for the first time which allowed us to get much more stock than we would have got under previous circumstances, and also incentivised customers to come in and buy it on the day of or day after release."
"Sorry, not prepared to share numbers but we had an extremely good share of the supermarket sector, Nintendo have said we were number two."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-3ds-uk-launch
...by Published on March 31st, 2011 00:05- Categories:
- Nintendo Wii News
Nintendo has confirmed that it will be building a new, ¥12 billion research and development centre in its home town of Kyoto which will accommodate 1500 employees and become the company's main research facility.
The facility was first mooted in 2009 after a 2008 land purchase, but Nintendo officially confirmed the scale of the project today viaNikkan (via Andriasang). The facility is due for completion in 2013.
The new building would move Nintendo's research centre much closer to the company's main offices in Kyoto. The current R&D centre is already based in the city, but at much greater distance than the new site in the Higashikujo Matsudacho area of Kyoto's Minami Ward.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...r-and-d-centre
...by Published on March 31st, 2011 00:03- Categories:
- PS3 News,
- Nintendo 3DS News
Nintendo has quasi-acknowledged that its 3DS can cause headaches and should not be used by children under 7. The glasses-free 3D handheld gaming device launched this week. Meanwhile, new research commissioned by the Blu-ray Disc Association is trying to improve the health image of 3D. Its research shows that the brain is more attentive when watching a 3D movie than when watching HD or SDTV, making the movie a more pleasurable experience. The issue, doctors say, is that 3D works by tricking the brain into making you think you are physically moving in relation to your surroundings. But you aren't. So your inner ear is not experiencing the movement that corresponds to what the eyes are seeing. This doesn't normally happen in real life. No one would deny that 3D is more immersive; that's why people like it, particularly for gaming. But the question is ... does the brain love 3D or not? Answer: not really."http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...-Happy-Or-Ache ...by Published on March 31st, 2011 00:01- Categories:
- PC News
Desktops to be replaced by 'room computing'
Microsoft's research and strategy boss expressed doubt on the long term prospects of tablet computers.
Speaking at a an economic development event in Sydney yesterday, Microsoft executive Craig Mundie said that there was an "important distinction" between mobile and portable.
"Mobile is something that you want to use while you're moving, and portable is something that you move and then use," Mundie said according to a Sydney Morning Herald report.
The Microsoft research boss said that the categories were set to "bump into one another" and that the tablet category sat somewhere between the two categories.
"Personally I don't know whether that space will be a persistent one or not," he said.
Mundie also predicted that the desktop computer would be replaced with a "room computer" with users interacting via mechanisms such as motion detection.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/36055...-tablet-future ...by Published on March 31st, 2011 00:00- Categories:
- PC News
Game Freak director says boxed product presents a more secure model than online games
Pokemon’s creators say the browser games market is not safe enough for younger players.
Game Freak director Junichi Masuda – who produced Nintendo’s new chart-topping DS titles Pokémon Black and White – told MCV that the traditional boxed retail model presents a safer and more secure platform than online games.
When asked whether he is under pressure to change Pokémon’s boxed business model following the rise of social network and mobile gaming, he replied: “I don’t feel pressured.
“What I consider to be most important when releasing a video game is to ensure it reaches everybody and to make sure it can be enjoyed by players safely and securely.
“For example, Facebook and MSN are mainly for adults, but what’s very important is that everyone can enjoy a Pokémon game without feeling any fear. So that’s what I think about whenever I produce a new video game.”
Masuda made the comments as Pokémon Black and White achieved sales of 1m units across Europe last week. The new DS titles became the fastest-selling in the series, and brought Europe’s total install base for Pokémon games up past 35m.
The series continues to be a huge global phenomenon, with new toys, cards and movies on the way.
Game Freak art director Ken Sugimori said: “In Japan we are expecting movies in the summer so I’ve been working on these. Pokémon Black and White are huge in Japan right now so I’ve been drawing up new images for related merchandise and the trading card game.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/43742/Pokm...games-not-safe
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