DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
wraggster
by Published on March 18th, 2013 19:38- Categories:
- DCEmu
When cell phone unlocking became illegal last month, it set off a firestorm of debate over what rights people should have for phones they have legally purchased. But this is really just one facet of a much larger problem with property rights in general. 'Silicon permeates and powers almost everything we own. This is a property rights issue, and current copyright law gets it backwards, turning regular people — like students, researchers, and small business owners — into criminals. Fortune 500 telecom manufacturer Avaya, for example, is known for suing service companies, accusing them of violating copyright for simply using a password to log in to their phone systems. That's right: typing in a password is considered "reproducing copyrighted material." Manufacturers have systematically used copyright in this manner over the past 20 years to limit our access to information. Technology has moved too fast for copyright laws to keep pace, so corporations have been exploiting the lag to create information monopolies at our expense and for their profit. After years of extensions and so-called improvements, copyright has turned Mickey Mouse into a monster who can never die.' We need to win the fight for unlocking phones, and then keep pushing until we actually own the objects we own again.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/03/...rything-we-own ...by Published on March 15th, 2013 22:55- Categories:
- Apple iPad,
- Apple iPhone
If you've been lusting after Apple's latest tablet offerings but couldn't muster the funds to snag one, you just might have your chance now. Seemingly a rite of passage for Apple products, the Cupertino company is now offering the iPad Mini and the 4th-gen iPad for slightly cheaper prices as refurbs. Depending on the model, they're on sale for anywhere from six to ten percent off. For example, the 16GB 4th-gen iPad sans LTE is now $449 after a $50 discount, while an LTE-free 32GB Mini is $389 after a $40 discount. Not every single iteration is in stock at the moment -- the base 16GB Mini isn't listed, for instance -- but we're sure the inventory will be filled out soon enough. Have a peek at the source to see if you can score yourself a sweet deal on a bonafide Apple tablet that's almost as good as new.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/ipad
...by Published on March 15th, 2013 21:08- Categories:
- Android News
The Samsung Galaxy S4 arrived in New York on Thursday in a blaze of glory that did its utmost to hide the fact that this new phone, although probably establishing itself at the top of the phone world for a while, was by no means going to blow our minds.Of course, as those that have been following Apple for any length of time will know, it’s not easy to blow people’s minds with a phone: there’s only so much you can crow about a new processor, a different material or a bigger screen.Which means that manufacturers are turning to other areas to try to convince us that their shiny slab of silicon, aluminium and glass is better than another’s.One of the big things showcased by Samsung for their Galaxy S4 was a gaming peripheral called the Game Pad – an uninspiring chunk of white plastic and garish buttons – which will turn your no-longer humble smartphone into a games system.If you are rolling your eyes at this then you may well not have been paying attention to the changing landscape of phone gaming. With Ouya, Nvidia’s Project Shield and GameStick all leaning heavily on Android, this is a platform that is transcending its casual roots and showing the green shoots of a sophisticated gaming system.Yes, it’s early days – but let’s remember that these phones are perfectly capable of the kinds of graphics and raw processing power that wouldn’t have seemed out of plave on a desktop PC only a handful of years ago.The S4 has an octo-core processor, 2GB of RAM and a HD resolution screen. If you put those stats on a mythical Xbox Mobile, games players would be champing at the bit to get their hands on it.There are drawbacks, of course. Not being a dedicated gaming device brings its own set of issues, not least the ever-present spectre of battery life. It’s still okay for your gaming device to die after a strenuous gaming session, less so your primary communication device.These problems, though still relevant, are becoming less so. As devices become bigger and more powerful they have more redundancy and that creates room for gaming. When you only need a tiny percentage of your handset’s power to work as an actual phone, you start to think about other things to do with that extra power.So when Samsung is pushing a Game Pad, it’s clear that the company is well aware that its mobile devices may well begin to compete for gamers’ attention.And it doesn’t stop with the S4. For those that think (just under) 5 inches of Super AMOLED screen is simply not enough for their portable gaming, you’ll be pleased to know that the official site suggests that it will work for devices with a 6.3 inch screen. That’s almost certain to be Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 – a pocket-busting device that won’t even be announced until later this year.With PS Vita not setting the world alight, dedicated gaming handhelds are not guaranteed to have a strong future, but mobile gaming certainly will, and phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 will surely blur the lines even further between core gaming and casual....
http://www.edge-online.com/features/...re-and-casual/by Published on March 15th, 2013 00:24- Categories:
- Wii U News
Major retailers Amazon and Asda have both discounted the WiiU Console by £50 in a move by both stores to breathe new life into the stagnant sales of Nintendo`s latest flagship console.The 32GB WiiU Premium Pack is now selling for £249 and the 8GB WiiU Basic Pack is now £199. Theres no official Word from Nintendo if these are officially sanctioned price reductions.by Published on March 14th, 2013 23:53- Categories:
- DCEmu
The Xbox 360 reigned supreme in North American hardware sales last month, marking its nineteenth straight victory.According to the February NPD Group report, hardware sales increased in February next to January figures, with the Wii U and PS Vita experiencing significant sales boosts during the period at 40 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.Meanwhile, Dead Space 3 was the highest selling game in February, beating out Black Ops II and Crysis 3 respectively. February marks the end of a three month chart blitz for the Call of Duty franchise.Overall industry sales continue to decline however: the $810 million generated last month amounts to a 25 per cent drop from $1.09 billion in February 2012. Hardware sales dropped 36 per cent year-on-year, while physical software sales experienced a 27 per cent drop.Video game accessories generated $219.7 million in sales last month, a 3 per cent drop on the previous year.February's Top 10 Games:
- Dead Space 3
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Crysis 3
- NBA 2k13
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
- Aliens: Colonial Marines
- Just Dance 4
- Far Cry 3
- Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
- Madden NFL 13
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...d-in-february/ ...by Published on March 14th, 2013 23:45- Categories:
- Android News
Another year, another Galaxy S flagship smartphone from Samsung. 2013's version of the crown jewel, the Galaxy S 4, has just been officially announced at its Unpacked event. Since we know you're dying to find out what's new, let's dive straight into the details. The GS 4 features a 5-inch 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) Super AMOLED panel which offers a pixel density of 441 ppi. It's also a powerful beast: it packs 2GB RAM and will come with either a 1.6GHz Exynos Octa-core chip or a 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm, depending on your region. (Unfortunately, Samsung hasn't yet specified which Snapdragon we can expect, but we're guessing it's at least a 600 if not an 800.) Refreshingly, it will also come with Android 4.2.2 on-board when it launches.
Dimension-wise, the GS 4 is 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm (5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inch) and weighs 130g (4.59 ounces). The chassis itself is actually 0.8mm skinnier, 0.7mm thinner and 3g lighter than its predecessor, which is impressive given its larger screen size and 2,600mAh battery. It will launch in black and white hues, though Samsung plans to add more colors to its lineup as the year progresses. Head below the break as we continue to reveal what else you can expect from the newest Galaxy device.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/14/s...lly-announced/ ...by Published on March 14th, 2013 23:40- Categories:
- PS4
Chip-maker exec says Sony wasn't offering enough money to justify the opportunity cost
NVIDIA
nvidia.co.uk
Nvidia's work won't be used in the PlayStation 4 hardware, but the graphics chip maker doesn't seem overly concerned about losing Sony as a business partner. Speaking with GameSpot, Nvidia senior VP of content and technology Tony Tamasi said the opportunity cost of signing up for the PS4 would have been too great for the money on the table.
"I'm sure there was a negotiation that went on," Tamasi said, "and we came to the conclusion that we didn't want to do the business at the price those guys were willing to pay."
Tamasi said that Nvidia's experience providing chips for the original Xbox and the PlayStation 3 have taught the company plenty about the economics of console development.
"In the end, you only have so many engineers and so much capability, and if you're going to go off and do chips for Sony or Microsoft, then that's probably a chip that you're not doing for some other portion of your business," Tamasi said. "And at least in the case of Sony and Nvidia, in terms of PS4, AMD has the business and Nvidia doesn't. We'll see how that plays out from a business perspective I guess. It's clearly not a technology thing."
Nvidia isn't abandoning console work entirely. The company is preparing its own Project Shield to launch later this year. The system combines a controller, console, and monitor into a single form factor, and will play Android games or stream PC titles from a user's computer.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...nvolved-in-ps4
...by Published on March 14th, 2013 23:39- Categories:
- DCEmu
Microsoft's console continues its good adoption rate this late in the cycle
Many of us might be thinking about the next generation already, but consumers in the US continue to buy Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, which topped the competition in February for the 26th straight month, selling a total of 302,000 units.
Microsoft's had an incredible run in America, outselling the competition each month, and it's expected that the company will be unveiling its next-gen Xbox in the coming months (possibly as early as April). Sony, meanwhile, just held a huge press event in New York to start the buzz around PlayStation 4, which the company labelled as "the most open console ever." PS4 is confirmed to launch this upcoming holiday season, and many analysts believe Microsoft will be there as well with its new Xbox.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...h-302-000-sold
...by Published on March 14th, 2013 23:36- Categories:
- Gameboy News
[Akira] can play any Game Boy, GBC, GBA, NES, SNES, or SMS game while on the go thanks to all the work he put into this portable gaming hack. The outside seems familiar; it’s an original Game Boy case. But you should immediately notice that it has a few extra buttons. That’s the first clue that what’s inside isn’t stock… which is a huge understatement.
The idea for the project started off rather simple, but quickly got out of hand (check out the build log for full details on that). He thought it would be nice to have a backlight for the original screen. After mixed results he scrapped the original mainboard and started anew with some Nintendo DS Lite hardware. It had a broken LCD connector so he tried a couple of different fixes to get it working again. After some success he started adding more equipment, like the extra pair of buttons, a better speaker on the battery door, and the microSD add-on you can see above.
You can catch a demo of the finished goods after the jump.
http://hackaday.com/2013/03/14/extre...ge-of-systems/ ...by Published on March 14th, 2013 23:22- Categories:
- PS4
Sony Santa Monica’s Jason McDonald and Mark Simon are, surely, exhausted. They’ve been flown into PlayStation’s London office for a day of press interviews and they’re flying back to Santa Monica later that same day to continue to refine God Of War Ascension’s new multiplayer mode. Singleplayer might be done, but online play is the kind of job that never ends, says McDonald with a weary smile. They are both cheery and enthusiastic speakers, nonetheless.We’re here to talk about God Of War, but really we want to know about PlayStation 4. We enquire whether Sony has asked them what they’d like to see from the new console as it was being built, in keeping with the rhetoric that emerged from PlayStation Meeting. Sony Santa Monica has been so hard at work getting Ascension finished – or as finished as it can be before online multiplayer feedback begins to filter though – that Jason McDonald and Mark Simon weren’t asked. But they can give us a sense of the feeling internally about the new machine.“Everyone’s excited about it for sure,” says Ascension’s lead combat designer McDonald. “The last hardware release was seven years ago so it’s not like this happens every couple of years – we’re ready.”Mark Simon is lead game designer on Ascension. “Our studio is filled with gamers too so you have that buzz – we see the new games and thinking as a developer is almost secondary,” he says. “You can see the possibilities but really you’re like ‘Man, I really wanna play this game.’“I think they’re concentrating on the social aspect which is great, because we’re kind of delving into it now with [God Of War] multiplayer. We’ve found that it’s not like you develop the game and then you ask afterwards what people liked and didn’t like. Now it’s what’s working and what’s not working and we can fix that. So that’s the thing for the next generation hardware and PS4 that I think is exciting, that we’re embracing that and saying that that’s important and games are about having fun with one another.”McDonald is most interested in the implications of that Share button. “The spectating, in particular, is very new,” he tells us. “You get a little taste of that on PC where people can just stream their games on PC – people like it so having a way to do that on a mainstream console is going to be big. With games like Ascension people are going to get competitive and want to stream and see other people play.”The raw power of the new console will open up greater opportunities for games like God of War, too. “The hardware possibilities are crazy,” adds Simon. “I’m excited that things like depth of field will look great next-generation. It’s going to mean real cinematography, and real in-game is going to look like a pre-rendered movie. That is awesome, because then our cinematic games becomes really cinematic all the way through and there’s no quality change between pre-rendered and in-game.”Though he’s had little hands-on experience with PS4, Simon can nevertheless explain why all the talk of creating games on PS4 suggests it’ll be easier to code for. “Generally you have to write a lot of low-level code in order to work with architecture from PS2 and PS3 and then you go to this standard that everybody is programming with on PS4,” he says. “So what that means is it frees a lot of people to stop thinking about low-level code. Obviously it was a strength of the PS3 because the sub-processor was a badass, but it took a lot of work to use the full architecture of the PS3. But now by using something that’s more common across all of programming land, that frees up time, and programmers with freed up time can make better tools and that’s going to make for better games.”Simon also acknowledges that Sony has learned lessons from outside the console business. “Maybe in the future you start to see some things that are happening in mobile and on the web are starting to happen on console. I think those worlds are going to blur – and I think it’s because of popularity and profit.”The move to a more social, data-driven style of game development through online play has just begun, it seems. On PS3, God Of War Ascension’s multiplayer will be tinkered with for the next few months, even years. When PS4 arrives, neverending, service-style game development might leave some at Sony Santa Monica looking back fondly upon the days when a project had a more definite beginning, middle and end....
http://www.edge-online.com/features/...e-development/- Search DCEmu
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