News from http://www.psp-ita.com/?module=news&...7&view_reply=1

New updates from the coder to patpat CTFtool GUI, PC application, now at version 3.9, allowing you to create themes for the CXMB PSP-compatible addition to allowing the extraction of files from format issues. Ctf ready. This new release adds some new features and updates the forms for extracting files from PTF themes.

Changelog v3.9:

Quote:

Note: The following files were removed from the archive:
- 5:50 Folder: game_plugin.prx, game_plugin.rco, msvideo_main_plugin.rco, music_main_plugin.prx, paf.prx, visualizer_plugin.prx, vshmain.prx, common_gui.prx
- Support folder (3.71 - 4.01): common_gui.prx, vshmain.prx, paf.prx
- Support folder 5.00: common_gui.prx, vshmain.prx, paf.prx, msvideo_main_plugin.rco

These files have been removed because, for a range of domestic policy of PSP-ITA, are not allowed to post on the forum.
To seek, you must use the PSARDUMPER and extract them from their firmware.

- Added "Toolbar Mode", with support for Drag & Drop
- Add History (right click)
- Updated the forms of abstraction from PTF themes, added six new icons for Custom Theme Converter v1.6.0.0; fixato a bug that did not allow to extract the default icon
- Rewritten the form of conversion are now supported conversions 5.00/5.03/5.50
- Added drag and drop functionality for decompression of files PRX
Adding Drag & Drop functionality for compression / decompression of files RCO
- During the creation of CTF themes, files common_gui.prx, vshmain.prx, paf.prx will now be compressed
- Fixati bugs

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Usually, when we label a headline as a "PSA," it's in a joking manner; say, "PSA: Bacon is delicious, good for you." However, we're pretty sure this post constitutes a legitimate public service announcement: Ars Technica recently published an article that the frequent trade-in-ers among us should probably read. In short, if you're not erasing your consoles' hard drives before trading them in, there's a pretty good chance you could be robbed blind. (Or at least robbed astigmatic.)

Seriously, if you're thinking about trading in or pawning one of your gaming consoles sometime soon, follow the helpful tips provided in the Ars piece. They'll ensure that you don't accidentally leave your credit card information in the system's memory for its next owner to exploit. You also don't want to leave your Avatar, Mii or PlayStation Home account on there, either. That's how e-stalkers get started, donchaknow.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/21/ps...efore-selling/ ...

Show of hands. Who has heard of the video game Dancetown? You know, the video game that National Public Radio reports might better whip you into shape than Wii Fit.

NPR's Morning Edition, the radio show I wake up every morning, got around to covering a study we covered in November that shows people can get more fit from non-gaming exercise. But the surprise in the report, revealed by NPR, is that a game called Dance Town — maybe this DDR-looking game? — is better for some of you than Wii Fit.

NPR Reporter: "Cedric Bryant is chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise which recently studied the fitness benefits of the Wii Fit and Dance Town. Dance Town is a video game where participants follow on-screen prompts to dance steps.. Bryant says the study found that generally, video game workouts alone arent enough of a good thing. Take the running games on the Wii for example."
Cedric Bryant, American Council of Exercise: "[Wii Fit's] Free Run and the Island Run yielded about five and a half calories per minute. Real running you would expect to get about twice that."
NPR Reporter: "The study found that just using the Wii isnt enough for people in their twenties or for older folk who are reasonably fit. But Bryant says Dance Towns moderate and hard levels are sufficient for many older adults, especially those who are sedentary."

http://kotaku.com/5454052/the-wii-lo...-to-dance-town ...

News via http://www.nintendomax.com/portal.php

jilocasin proposes the set of 60 cards on the DS card game fantasy "Elemental Clash".

http://dsgamemaker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3493

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No one knows for certain what exactly will be announced at Apple's semi-exclusive, invitation-only event in San Francisco next week. But a lot of us are thinking it will be the unveiling of an Apple tablet. Here's why you should care.

Apple has finally woken up to the potential and fiscal importance of gaming on the iPhone. Nowadays their popular smartphone, and the iPod Touch, are both marketed as gaming devices. The tablet would be a great way for Apple to extend their reach into gaming.

This morning the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is actively working with Electronic Arts to show off the device's gaming capabilities. And let's not forget that several gaming sites, including Kotaku, have been invited to the big show on Jan. 27.

Tablet as Gaming Platform?
I think we can all agree that gaming is most certainly going to be a part of the tablet's future. But how big a part?

That depends on a lot of variables. The biggest, unfortunately, is the guts of the device itself. Will the tablet be a glorified iPhone or a stripped down laptop?

Even if the tablet doesn't have much more processing power than the iPhone 3GS, that doesn't mean there can't be interesting games for the device. The iPhone 3GS brought with it beefier graphics processing which allows for faster framerates, and better shading. It also includes a faster CPU and more memory. Most importantly, there aren't a lot of games pushing the 3GS to its limits yet.

I'd be surprised if the tablet didn't have some sort of step up, perhaps a major one, from the iPhone 3GS' muscle power, and there are a couple of other interesting things that the tablet could be bringing to portable gaming too.

There are the rumors of a built-in camera, built-in WiFi and 3G and new tech that would allow Apple to create a more accurate and thinner touch screen. Of course all of this would be running on a much larger screen, thoughtto be 7 to 11 inches, compared to the iPhone's measly 3.7-inch screen.

All of that will come with a price, ballparked between $700 and $1,000. Sure, that's pricey, but considering people were paying $400 for the original iPhones, I don't think it will be a deal breaker for a massive group of early adopters.

The Games
The tablet will most certainly not be just a gaming device, with publications reporting that it will be an e-reader for magazines, books and text books. And I'm sure it will include broader apps and iTunes music and videos at the bare minimum.

But what sort of games could we see on the device? And with a strong possibility of no physical controller, no mouse or keyboard, what sort would we want to see on the device?

Bigger iPhone Games
The most obvious types of games we'll see on the tablet will likely be ports or remakes of games that worked well on the iPhone. Sure, the device is bigger, perhaps so big that you couldn't hold it and play as you stand around, but I think there are plenty of games that could make the leap. Besides Apple needs to show off some games during their unveiling.

Plants Vs. Zombies, which keeps getting pushed back and is now due to hit the iPhone within a week of the Apple press conference, seems like a fantastic fit. The larger screen and table-top play are great additions to the game and could resolve the only concerns I have about an iPhone port of this tower defense title.

Ubisoft seems to be getting more and more interested in growing their mobile gaming market, in particular the iPhone market. So I wouldn't be too surprised to see some of them up on stage with EA at some point showing off games. They've already shown a willingness to experiment with controls for the iPhone, that's the sort of development that will be necessary to help the tablet succeed in the realm of gaming.

And why stop with ports of handheld games? We've seen R.U.S.E played on a a surface computer. I'm not sure if the tablet would have the processing power to run this Ubisoft strategy title, but if it did I couldn't think of a better fit.

Another big player will be Electronic Arts, but what can we expect from them? Both the upcoming Tiger Woods game and a Madden port seem like the sort of big-name, mainstream titles that Apple would love to see on a new gaming platform. And both the Sims and Spore would be solid fits.

Besides the obvious, there will have to be at least one surprising title, something created from the ground up for the tablet. A game that uses whatever new tech is packed into the device to prove that it can hold its own in gaming.

While the iPhone's poster boy for gaming seemed to be Trism early on, I don't see Apple giving that away to a third-party developer this time. This is going to be a game developed internally, I think.

Looking over the roster of people Apple has hired over the past year, folks like former Ensemble Studios developer Graeme Devine, I personally think it's going to be big.

Devine's most current expertise is real-time strategy, the last two games he worked on were Halo Wars and ...

Well, we heard a raft of complaints of Blu-ray drive failures and other issues when Sony rolled out the 3.0 and 3.1 firmware updates for the PlayStation 3, and it looks like things may have taken another turn for the worse with the recent 3.10 and 3.15 updates. While it's a bit early to call things widespread, some forums are once again starting to heat up with reports of various problems that mostly seem to have occurred after the 3.15 update rolled out last month -- although some folks also seem to have had trouble with the earlier 3.10 update. As with last time, the issues being reported vary a bit, but the 60GB PS3 seems like it may be the most affected, with one completely unscientific poll on the official PlayStation forums finding that 27 users of the 60GB model had no issues after the 3.15 update, while 35 users had either some "bad" issues or a complete system failure ('course those with no problems aren't that likely to be seeking out threads about problems). So, anyone notice that their PS3 isn't behaving like it should? Let us know in comments.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/21/r...sole-failures/ ...

News via http://www.wii-addict.fr/forum/WiiXp...97-t18156.html

Updating in rev97 the file explorer on the Wii made by dimok and r-win.

You can delete, rename, copy / paste / cut and see the properties of files on your SD or SDHC card.

* r97
- Added source forwarder to the branches and modified / fixed stuff in it
NOTE TO dj_skual: I apploaded has compiled and ready to use deceit. You can take it
to insert into your channel.

- Added Memory Debugger if the source is compiled with DEBUG_MEM

- Changed the ImageViewer to a class and did lots of changes to it. Zoom
In / Out is now dynamic. The image starts of in the original size (except if its
over the maximum / minimum size)
Maximum sizes can zoom the image / is the load to screenwidth / screenheight for now
Because it over the app seems to freeze. Minimum size to zoom / load is to 4x4
pixel or 5% of the image size.

R96 *
- Language files updated

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An All Spark Xbox 360 seems like a clever idea, that is, until your TV turns into a robot during a Golden Girls marathon and your head is decapitated by a very strange amalgamation of pop culture motifs.

http://gizmodo.com/5453822/xbox-360-...-the-all-spark ...

brkirch has released a new version of Gecko:

Changelog:

Gecko 1.9.3.1


Fix Gecko Pause Start option

Gecko 1.9.3


Loading games no longer requires a second disc spin-up
Added support for the new Homebrew Channel ID
Fixed channel loading to use the selected hook type, instead of always using the VBI hook
Improved the 002 error prevention method for channels
Add support for using cIOS for rebooter
Fix dol/elf loading
Add support for System Menu 4.2
Bug fix for poke function in gameconfig.txt (thanks to WiiPower)

http://wiird.l0nk.org/forum/index.php/topic,3228.0.html

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