New theme released for Wiz:

Turns most of that old orange into some snazzy blue!

1.0 - Everything but the APNGs have been changed. Still have to figure out how to make changes to existing APNGs...

Installation: Extract the "Bluez" folder to your SD card. Then, run the install.gpu via Wiz Explorer.

http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/...0,0,0,0,50,260 ...

News via http://www.eurasia.nu/index.php

source: xbox-scene.com] There's been a discussion thread on our forums about a way to 'uncripple' your harddrive AFTER you got banned. As you know Microsoft decided to 'remove' some HDD features (like play games from HDD, etc) when your console gets banned. Microsoft does this by modifying data in the secdata.bin on the NAND (that's why write-lock the NAND was a way to prevent HDD-crippling). But people found out the NAND has an older (backup?) copy of secdata.bin stored on the NAND as well. Now the hack consists of copying the old version of secdata.bin on the location of the new/current secdata.bin. Both secdata.bin are tagged with a date stamp so you can easily find out which one is the new and old one. As your console is already banned, it does not really matter if MS can detect this or not. Thwack wrote a good tutorial for this on our forums.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.p...&#entry4573643 ...

Crackdown 2 developer Ruffian Games has said that its relationship with Microsoft and the Xbox 360 controller "is a big reason for sticking with the 360", but that it doesn't think of itself "as exclusively 360 for the rest of time".

Talking with Square Go on the subject of Ruffian developing multiplatform titles in the future, Crackdown 2's producer James Cope said:

"We've been working with Microsoft for a long time so we have a lot of experience with the 360 but not so much with the PS3.

"We don't think of ourselves as exclusively 360 for the rest of time. As a company we have to keep things open and think about how to survive without Microsoft sometime in the future but that doesn't mean we're set in our ways.

"We're happy with the situation at the moment. We don't contain ourselves in any way. We want to make great games and we want to make great games on any console."

Creative Director Billy Thomson then added:

"And I prefer the 360 controller which is a big reason for sticking with the 360."

It's an off the cuff comment, of course, but we're certainly not going to disagree with Billy's taste in control pad. Do you?

Crackdown 2 launches exclusively on Xbox 360 next year.

http://www.gamerzines.com/xbox-360/n...r-ruffian.html ...

Recent days have seen intense speculation around mobile games publisher Gameloft's support for Android, sparked by negative comments made by the company's CFO. Something that hasn't been talked about, though, is how Gameloft's fiercest rival sees Android. Has EA Mobile thrown its weight behind the platform?
In a word: no.
Comprehensive Android app directory AndroLib lists just two EA Mobile games on Android Market: The Sims 3 and Bejeweled.

Meanwhile, the smartphone section of EA Mobile's own website only lists one Android phone – the venerable T-Mobile G1 – and just one game for it.
By contrast, the site says EA has 66 games available for the BlackBerry Pearl 8100, and 29 games for the WinMo-sporting Samsung i760.
Sister site ME contacted EA Mobile to get its views on Android, and while the publisher declined to respond directly, it did supply a 'recent quote' from its VP of worldwide publishing Adam Sussman:
"We look for Google’s Android platform to become an important channel for EA Mobile and we have already launched some of EA Mobile’s most popular franchises on Android including Bejeweled and The Sims 3 with more to come, including Surviving High School, Spore Origins and many others."
EA is hardly wary of new mobile platforms, having supported N-Gage, ploughed resources into iPhone, and recently took the stage at BlackBerry's developer conference to showcase its plans for OpenGL 3D games on RIM's handsets.
The picture that is emerging, then, is that the two biggest mobile games publishers in the world are still decidedly wary of Android - with EA even resisting the urge (so far) to simply port across its existing Java game catalogue.
Concern about Android's handset and OS-version fragmentation? Dissatisfaction with the performance of paid apps on Android Market? Waiting for handsets like the Droid to sell in their millions before committing resources?
The reasons are unclear, but it seems Google has work to do to make Android a serious mobile gaming platform.

http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/295...ake-of-Android ...

First digital expansion for latest Call of Duty expected to arrive some time this spring
As well as rapidly easing past the half-billion dollar revenue milestone just days after its global release earlier this month, Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter has predicted that Activision could generate as much as $140m in revenue from its upcoming Modern Warfare 2 digital content.
Furthermore, Infinity Ward’s community man Robert Bowling has confirmed via Twitter that the first of that DLC should be with us in the spring.
“Call of Duty DLC can be a solid contributor for Activision,” Schachter told IndustryGamers. “As with the last two COD titles, the game itself should maintain its $60 launch price until the next iteration, but Activision will also benefit significantly from the high-margin DLC potential enabled by the packaged product's success.
“We estimate that Activision will generate at least $100m-$140m in gross revenue from Call of Duty DLC in 2010. After paying the platform holders an estimated 30 per cent, this should generate roughly $59m-$85m.”
If true, this would be a remarkable step up from the digital success Activision enjoyed with last year’s Call of Duty: World at War, which made an estimated $45m from its post-release digital content.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/36668/MW2-DLC-could-make-140m ...

Yoichi Wada says trade must prepare for switch to digital distribution and server-based games
Square Enix chief Yoichi Wada is preparing his firm for the demise of physical media – and potentially the death of home consoles.
In an exclusive interview with MCV that will be published next week, the CEO of the publisher – which now owns Eidos and is famous for its epic disc-based Final Fantasy games – said that a dramatic change will come in the next decade offering more opportunity for market growth, but fundamentally transforming the traditional industry.
“In ten years’ time a lot of what we call ‘console games’ won’t exist,” he said.
Wada warned that “all the distributors and sales firms will suffer a big negative impact” from a new era in which interactive entertainment switches from software run on hardware in the home to server-based offerings, game streaming and digital distribution.
He claimed that format-holders including Sony and Microsoft are already prepared for the shift – and that third-parties must follow suit.

“Somewhere around 2005 the console manufacturers’ strategy shifted,” he said.
“In the past the platform was hardware, but it has switched to the network. A time will come when the hardware isn’t even needed anymore.
“With that, any kind of terminal becomes a potential platform on which games can be played – that’s exponential growth in the potential of gaming. The potential size of the market is enormous.”
He explained that Square Enix is preparing for this change by ramping up production of social and browser games at its Japanese studios, and also closely monitoring 2010’s beta roll-out of PS3 MMO Final Fantasy XIV.
“Social and browser games are going to grow dramatically – especially in areas like Asia which does not have as big a console market,” he said.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/36665/Squa...for-extinction ...

Microsoft has patented a new invite system for Xbox Live which could be used for "viral" gaming similar to Facebook applications, but exclusively on the Xbox 360.

As reported by Siliconera the new patent was registered by director of platform development Gary Hall, previously head of casual developer Carbonated Games.

The concepts are all based around the current party system, with the most basic simply allowing invited friends to invite their own friends, whether they are known to the original party creator or not.

Other examples though describe a travel diary in which each user can fill in an entry and pass it on to their own friends, creating a pyramid scheme style distribution model. Another simple idea involves a "tug of war" where two players attempt to invite more friends than the other to their side.

More game-like variants are based on common party games, such as an icebreaker concept where players write down facts about themselves and others have to guess who they describe. If they guess incorrectly the fact can then be passed on to additional friends.

Additional examples include searching for a common link between otherwise unconnected friends and a variation of board game Taboo where players must guess a phrase one word at a time.

The patent is the second this week to give insight into Microsoft's ongoing plans for Xbox Live, with an earlier submission describing a GameFAQs style user-created help system. As with any patent though there is no indication as to when the concepts described will be implemented, if at all.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-plans-article ...

Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver moved up to the top of the software sales chart last week, breaking through the 3 million units chart in the process, according to the latest data from Media Create.

Tomodachi Collection jumped up two places to fourth while Wii Fit Plus edged closer to the 1 million mark in third - if it continues to sell at close to its current rate it should break that barrier in the first week of December.

Inazuma Eleven 2: Threat of the Invaders took fourth while a couple of new entries packed out fifth and sixth places - Taiko Drum Master Wii 2 with sales of around 28,000 units and Left 4 Dead 2 on around 27,000.

Konami just pipped SEGA in the battle of the football titles for seventh and eighth, with World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 and J-League Pro Soccer Club 6, while Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the Nintendo DS was a new entry in ninth and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast took tenth place.

Overall sales were relatively slow, with the number one position shifting 55,000 over the week ending November 22.

Nintendo dominated the top ten with four published titles in the list, while games for its Wii or DS platforms took six slots.

The top ten run down is as follows:

1. Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (DS)
2. Tomodachi Collection (DS)
3. Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
4. Inazuma Eleven 2: Threat of the Invaders (DS)
5. Taiko Drum Master Wii 2 (Wii)
6. Left 4 Dead 2 (360)
7. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PS3)
8. J-League Pro Soccer Club 6 (PSP)
9. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS)
10. Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (PS3)

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

The release of the PlayStation 3 Slim has given the platform a good momentum going into the Holiday season, a move which has been received well by third party publishers, and is in fact in their best interests.

That's according to Sony Computer Entertainment president and CEO Andrew House, who told GamesIndustry.biz that he publishers were happy with the price point, and that console was in a strong position.

"Just anecdotally, it's been enormously positive," he revealed of the feedback he'd had since the Slim was released. "People have been telling us we've reached the price point they were hoping for, and as a result we've got the wind in our sales - that the market really is there for the PS3 to command."

He added that publishers should be keen to support the platform, specifically because third parties made up a high percentage of sales for it at a time when Nintendo's first-party dominated Wii console was falling away.

"I think at a time when we're seeing one of the major competitors somewhat losing a sense of momentum - at least in many of the markets I've looked at - it's gratifying to see a platform that's always had a very significant share of sales go to third party publishers capture that momentum again," he said.

"The knock-on effect can only be a positive one if publishers are making up 75 per cent of the sales on a particular platform, as opposed to a much smaller share elsewhere, then that's the platform I think it's in their interests to see succeed - and I think that's the dynamic we're seeing return right now.

"From data that we're starting to see, in some of the publicly-released figures, we're seeing a significant year-on-year downturn for the Wii. I think that's just a factor of this Holiday season."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...e-ps3-momentum ...