Sony Computer Entertainment promised at this year's E3 event that the dreadful dearth of classic PlayStation games for download to PS3 and PSP would finally be coming to an end with new releases in the coming weeks and months, and it looks to be that they meant it. This week alone, PSone fans have been able to download and re-enjoy Final Fantasy VII, Medal of Honor and Street Fighter Alpha 2, and on June 18th the acclaimed Metal Gear Solid will grace the PlayStation Store.

But has this all this PlayStation classic activity been hooey and applesauce to cash in on the excitement of E3? Not likely. This week, Sony and its publishing partners have registered with the ESRB six more titles for release on the PlayStation Store -- none reach the heights of a FF VII or MGS (and the fact that a game is rated by the ESRB does not necessarily mean that these games will actually be released any time soon,) but the fact that there's so much activity surrounding PSone classics can only be a good thing for those of us hoping for more and better classic games to buy on the service. Here's a list of the six new games listed as evaluated by the ESRB this week:


Contra Legacy of War
Dead in the Water
Ford Racing
Mobile Light Force -- aka Gunbird & Castle of Shikigami
Spec Ops: Airborne Commando
XS Junior League Soccer

http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/992/992101p1.html ...

As previously announced, Harmonix Music, the leading developer of music-based games, and MTV Games, a part of Viacom's MTV Networks, (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), along with distribution partner Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), will offer 12 tracks from Iron Maiden, one of the world's most successful rock bands, June 9 in the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and the Wii system.

The release of these downloadable tracks coincides with the U.S. release of Flight 666 on Blu-ray and DVD as well as a double-CD soundtrack album and limited edition double-vinyl picture disc. Flight 666 documents the first leg of Maiden's legendary SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME WORLD TOUR, which took them 50,000 miles around the planet, playing 23 concerts on five continents in just 45 days. One of the stars of the movie is the band's customized Boeing 757, Ed Force One, which carried the band, all their crew and 12 tons of stage equipment and was piloted by Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, a fully qualified and active Airline Captain with Astraeus Airlines.

Live recordings of "Aces High," "Hallowed Be Thy Name," "Fear of the Dark" and "Iron Maiden," featured on Flight 666, are among those available for download in the Rock Band Music Store June 9. The other eight songs were among those featured on the band's Somewhere Back in Time World Tour during the first leg of which Flight 666 was filmed. This will mark the first time master recordings from Iron Maiden have been made available on Rock Band games.

"Fans have been asking us to do something with Rock Band for some time, and this seemed to be a perfect opportunity," said Maiden manager Rod Smallwood. "Our recent Somewhere Back in Time tour was perhaps the most enjoyable one we have ever undertaken and certainly the most successful with almost 2 million people catching the shows around the world. So it just seemed a good idea to make some of the songs we played available now so fans can play along with the band on the tour. Then we shall see if they can keep up with the band!!"

(All tracks are original master recordings)

Track / Album
"Aces High (live)" Flight 666 (2009)
"2 Minutes to Midnight" Powerslave (1984)
"The Trooper" Piece of Mind (1983)
"Wasted Years" Somewhere in Time (1986)
"The Number of the Beast" The Number of the Beast (1982)
"Run to the Hills" The Number of the Beast (1982)
"Can I Play With Madness" Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
"The Clairvoyant" Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
"Powerslave" Powerslave (1984)
"Hallowed Be Thy Name (live)" Flight 666 (2009)
"Fear of the Dark (live)" Flight 666 (2009)
"Iron Maiden (live)" Flight 666 (2009)

The Iron Maiden tracks will be available for purchase as part of the "Iron Maiden Pack" or as individual tracks for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system. These tracks will be available for purchase as individual tracks only for Wii.

Release Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2009
(Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360 and in-game Rock Band 2 Music Store for Wii)

Thursday, June 11, 2009
(PlayStation Store)

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

Price: $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) for Xbox 360 per track
$19.99 (1600 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for "Iron Maiden Pack"
$2.00 (200 Wii Points) per track ...

As previously announced, Harmonix Music, the leading developer of music-based games, and MTV Games, a part of Viacom's MTV Networks, (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), along with distribution partner Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), will offer 12 tracks from Iron Maiden, one of the world's most successful rock bands, June 9 in the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and the Wii system.

The release of these downloadable tracks coincides with the U.S. release of Flight 666 on Blu-ray and DVD as well as a double-CD soundtrack album and limited edition double-vinyl picture disc. Flight 666 documents the first leg of Maiden's legendary SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME WORLD TOUR, which took them 50,000 miles around the planet, playing 23 concerts on five continents in just 45 days. One of the stars of the movie is the band's customized Boeing 757, Ed Force One, which carried the band, all their crew and 12 tons of stage equipment and was piloted by Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, a fully qualified and active Airline Captain with Astraeus Airlines.

Live recordings of "Aces High," "Hallowed Be Thy Name," "Fear of the Dark" and "Iron Maiden," featured on Flight 666, are among those available for download in the Rock Band Music Store June 9. The other eight songs were among those featured on the band's Somewhere Back in Time World Tour during the first leg of which Flight 666 was filmed. This will mark the first time master recordings from Iron Maiden have been made available on Rock Band games.

"Fans have been asking us to do something with Rock Band for some time, and this seemed to be a perfect opportunity," said Maiden manager Rod Smallwood. "Our recent Somewhere Back in Time tour was perhaps the most enjoyable one we have ever undertaken and certainly the most successful with almost 2 million people catching the shows around the world. So it just seemed a good idea to make some of the songs we played available now so fans can play along with the band on the tour. Then we shall see if they can keep up with the band!!"

(All tracks are original master recordings)

Track / Album
"Aces High (live)" Flight 666 (2009)
"2 Minutes to Midnight" Powerslave (1984)
"The Trooper" Piece of Mind (1983)
"Wasted Years" Somewhere in Time (1986)
"The Number of the Beast" The Number of the Beast (1982)
"Run to the Hills" The Number of the Beast (1982)
"Can I Play With Madness" Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
"The Clairvoyant" Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
"Powerslave" Powerslave (1984)
"Hallowed Be Thy Name (live)" Flight 666 (2009)
"Fear of the Dark (live)" Flight 666 (2009)
"Iron Maiden (live)" Flight 666 (2009)

The Iron Maiden tracks will be available for purchase as part of the "Iron Maiden Pack" or as individual tracks for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system. These tracks will be available for purchase as individual tracks only for Wii.

Release Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2009
(Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360 and in-game Rock Band 2 Music Store for Wii)

Thursday, June 11, 2009
(PlayStation Store)

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

Price: $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) for Xbox 360 per track
$19.99 (1600 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for "Iron Maiden Pack"
$2.00 (200 Wii Points) per track ...

As previously announced, Harmonix Music, the leading developer of music-based games, and MTV Games, a part of Viacom's MTV Networks, (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), along with distribution partner Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), will offer 12 tracks from Iron Maiden, one of the world's most successful rock bands, June 9 in the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and the Wii system.

The release of these downloadable tracks coincides with the U.S. release of Flight 666 on Blu-ray and DVD as well as a double-CD soundtrack album and limited edition double-vinyl picture disc. Flight 666 documents the first leg of Maiden's legendary SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME WORLD TOUR, which took them 50,000 miles around the planet, playing 23 concerts on five continents in just 45 days. One of the stars of the movie is the band's customized Boeing 757, Ed Force One, which carried the band, all their crew and 12 tons of stage equipment and was piloted by Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, a fully qualified and active Airline Captain with Astraeus Airlines.

Live recordings of "Aces High," "Hallowed Be Thy Name," "Fear of the Dark" and "Iron Maiden," featured on Flight 666, are among those available for download in the Rock Band Music Store June 9. The other eight songs were among those featured on the band's Somewhere Back in Time World Tour during the first leg of which Flight 666 was filmed. This will mark the first time master recordings from Iron Maiden have been made available on Rock Band games.

"Fans have been asking us to do something with Rock Band for some time, and this seemed to be a perfect opportunity," said Maiden manager Rod Smallwood. "Our recent Somewhere Back in Time tour was perhaps the most enjoyable one we have ever undertaken and certainly the most successful with almost 2 million people catching the shows around the world. So it just seemed a good idea to make some of the songs we played available now so fans can play along with the band on the tour. Then we shall see if they can keep up with the band!!"

(All tracks are original master recordings)

Track / Album
"Aces High (live)" Flight 666 (2009)
"2 Minutes to Midnight" Powerslave (1984)
"The Trooper" Piece of Mind (1983)
"Wasted Years" Somewhere in Time (1986)
"The Number of the Beast" The Number of the Beast (1982)
"Run to the Hills" The Number of the Beast (1982)
"Can I Play With Madness" Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
"The Clairvoyant" Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
"Powerslave" Powerslave (1984)
"Hallowed Be Thy Name (live)" Flight 666 (2009)
"Fear of the Dark (live)" Flight 666 (2009)
"Iron Maiden (live)" Flight 666 (2009)

The Iron Maiden tracks will be available for purchase as part of the "Iron Maiden Pack" or as individual tracks for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system. These tracks will be available for purchase as individual tracks only for Wii.

Release Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2009
(Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360 and in-game Rock Band 2 Music Store for Wii)

Thursday, June 11, 2009
(PlayStation Store)

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

Price: $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) for Xbox 360 per track
$19.99 (1600 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for "Iron Maiden Pack"
$2.00 (200 Wii Points) per track ...

GEMISIS is back with a new release of the Homebrew Super Smash Bros clone for DS, heres his release notes:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

Neoflash have posted news of their upcoming Sega Master System flashcart, like the Snes and N64 flashcarts mentioned this will be MASSIVE to those who like me want to play games on the real hardware

heres the details

the NEO MK III Myth cart SPEC:
more info: http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index....ic,5637.0.html


* support the rom up to 16M

* support the Multi games

* support all save type

* download games from USB to NEO2 cart via Slim Loader IV

* upload/overwrite game save to PC via USB via Slim Loader IV

...

News via gbatemp

You may have seen our previous news piece that showed a Nintendo DSi playing various video formats directly (AVI,WMV,RMVB) without the initial need to transcode to a DS friendly format like DPG, today we are proud to announce that this will indeed be possible thanks to a new slot-1 cart that is currently being created by a new team.

Many of you speculated that this cart may be running in DSi homebrew mode which unfortunately is NOT the case. In fact, the new cart has a powerful on-board CPU that makes possible media playback that wouldn't normally be achievable on a Nintendo DS. (DSi mode being a different story)

Due to fears regarding Nintendo copyright infringement the cart is not being designed with game backup playing in mind, however it will still support DLDI homebrew. The cart is first and foremost a media player, and it will also support various audio formats as well as video.

While the hardware itself is completed, the carts software is still being wrapped up and is due to be completed early next week. GBAtemp have secured the first sample and will hopefully be receiving the finished product late next week, so stay tuned for more information and a full review.

...

News via gbatemp

Fanadicalcowhead and Fisk have announced the revival of the DSDoom project. The current binary release date is somewhere in early July. Please see the planned change log below for more information.

QUOTE(Planned Change Log)
• Better controls
• Fixed saving
• Removal of doom shadow fading for an increase in FPS
• Iwad and Pwad selector
• Better user interface ...

News via dsscene

While browsing for chiptune software earlier i came across Matthew Applegate's blog, aka Pixelh8. He's a British composer best known for his custom-designed music software such as the Music Tech V2.0 for the Gameboy series of handheld systems. He recently announced that hes working on a project for Nintendo DS named The Pixelh8 Music Tech Master Stroke DS. The most recent post on his blog implies that the project is 95% done and he will release this software to the public once he finishes work on his third album.

Note: All sounds are produced via the on board sound chip and no samples or sample manipulation is used, this is a real time chip tune synth for the DS.

...