DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
wraggster
by Published on October 26th, 2008 11:19
When it hits stores Sunday, the fourth installment of the wildly popular Guitar Hero video game could become a test of the game industry's ability to weather the broader economic storm.
Activision Blizzard Inc.'s Guitar Hero World Tour is one of the company's most important games of the year. At $189.99, it will also be one of the most expensive games the Santa Monica publisher has ever released.
"In this economy, people will be a little more frugal," said Ricardo Torres, editor of Gamespot, a website that reviews games. "This fall, it's all about value."
For Aaron Green, who plays Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock with his 9-year-old son, Alex, the new game is still a good value.
But the price tag makes him pause. Instead of splurging on the game right when it comes out, as he would have in years past, the 43-year-old audio-visual coordinator from Rancho Mirage said he would wait to give the game to his son for Christmas.
"The price is a little steep," Green said. "But we still need our creature comforts to help us feel better."
That's music to the game's creators, who are pitching it as a great bang for the buck. It comes with a guitar controller, drum kit, microphone and software that lets players create and edit their own music.
"It's like several games in one," said Brian Bright, one of the lead developers. "So you get a lot for your money."
Sarah Wright-Killinger, 30, an operations manager from West Los Angeles, isn't convinced, though she likes to play music games with her husband.
"I'm afraid if I spend money on Guitar Hero, I'm just asking for it," she said. "It's just not the time to be spending money on things like that."
To persuade reluctant consumers, Activision is releasing several versions of the title, including a stand-alone game disc for as low as $49.99, which can be played using guitar controllers from previous versions of Guitar Hero or Rock Band, a competing franchise from MTV Networks. There's also a $90 version of the game that comes with a guitar controller only.
For Activision, hitting the right notes with consumers with World Tour is crucial. The Guitar Hero franchise is "one of the three biggest profit generators" for the company this year, Activision Chief Executive Robert Kotick said.
The company currently leads the music simulation category, but MTV is catching up fast, said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities.
Guitar Hero III, released last October, sold 9.1 million copies in the U.S., said Anita Frazier, an analyst at NPD Group, a market research firm. Rock Band, which came out last November, has sold 3.5 million copies.
"Activision needs this game to keep Rock Band from gaining market share," Pachter said.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...,2210989.story ...by Published on October 26th, 2008 11:18
Pediatric patients at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children (RMHC) in Denver today received new Xbox 360(TM) kiosks to play with, thanks to a collaboration between Microsoft Corp. and the Companions in Courage Foundation. RMHC is the only Colorado children's hospital to receive the custom-built game units from the program.
The Companions in Courage Foundation, started by hockey great Pat LaFontaine, established the Lion's Den Kiosk program with Microsoft Corp. Microsoft delivers the mobile game units to select children's hospitals to provide interactive, fun entertainment as a respite for children battling life-threatening illness.
"Microsoft is committed to keeping kids entertained in a variety of ways within a safe gaming environment, so partnering with Companions in Courage to offer children in hospitals a way to connect through something as universal as games, is a natural fit for the work we do," said Microsoft President, Entertainment and Devices Division, Robbie Bach. "The goal for this program is to give these kids a chance to have some fun and just be kids."
Colorado Avalanche hockey greats Peter Budaj and Ruslan Salei broke in the new game kiosks with pediatric patients today at RMHC.
"We are thrilled that Companions in Courage chose to help HealthONE's Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children continue to improve the lives of our patients and their families," said Reggie Washington, MD, chief medical officer for RMHC. "It is wonderful to witness the joy and excitement of these children and teens when they have a chance to break away from the normal hospital routine and let kids be kids."
The customized and hospital-friendly Xbox 360 kiosks are pre-loaded with a variety of E and E10+ rated games, Y-rated television programs, G-rated movies, as well as Xbox LIVE Headset and LIVE Vision Camera capabilities, which enable patients to communicate over a dedicated Xbox LIVE network, the world's largest social network connected to television. This network was created just for the Lion's Den Kiosk program and does not allow patients to communicate with individuals outside the network -- only with those children at other select hospitals around the country. The Xbox 360's parental controls, known as Family Settings, will be used to help restrict access to content outside of ratings parameters, as well as the times during which patients can use the kiosks or consoles.
Companions in Courage founder and NHL Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine said, "Entertainment, creativity and personal connections can be important factors in alleviating some of the isolation and discomfort these children experience each day. Xbox 360 offers young patients a fun escape through games, TV shows, movies and positive interactions with others over the Xbox LIVE network. These gaming stations are a perfect complement to our interactive Lion's Den playrooms." ...by Published on October 26th, 2008 11:16
News from Marcan:
Beta9 would have been out a few days ago, but then Nintendo came up with the new October 23 update with perfect timing, so we had to make sure the beta9 installer was compatible (read: exploited a new bug nobody knew about until then). So here it is.
Warning: We’ve updated the ELF loader to be compliant with the specs. Unfortunately, DevkitPPC ELFs currently are not (they will be in the next release), so they’ll break. App authors should distribute DOL versions. If they don’t, tell them to. If they don’t, convert it yourself:
powerpc-gekko-objcopy -O binary boot.elf boot.dol
Newer ELFs produced by the new toolchain (when it comes out, hopefully soon) will be compatible both with the new loaders (HBC beta9) and all the old loaders. All DOL files work as usual. The new linkerscript will also be more flexible (we’re using it for all the binaries involved in HBC, instead of a mixture of custom linker scripts). Authors of other loaders will like this.
Changelog:
Installer / updater now works with the October 23 update
SDHC support
REALLY fixed the memcard bug
Installer now picks newest sane IOS, fixes some beta8 regressions
Added a reload button (for SD card changes)
Return to system menu skips warning
Fixed some graphical glitches
Saner XML load code
Many fixes to underlying stuff in the newer libogc
We’re keeping the new bug under wraps for now to increase the chances of us being able to use it for the BootMii-Core installer too
Even with beta9, I don’t recommend that you update unless you need to. You can use Muzer’s or tona’s installer to install IOS51 and the new Wii Shop only, which will keep all the old vulnerable IOSes too.
Download and Give Feedback and Compatability Reports Via Comments ...by Published on October 26th, 2008 11:10
Codemii have released a new version of the Homebrew Browser for the Nintendo Wii, heres whats new:
26 October 2008 (v0.2.3b)
Using dol instead of elf to work with HBC beta 9
Out of no where the HBC was updated to Beta 9 and what you might have figured out is that the HBC now only loads valid ELF files. This was news to me and as far as I’m aware they didn’t tell any homebrew developers about this. The only way you’d know about it is by reading the new README file that’s included or trying to run a elf file. It would have been nice if they had told us about this new ELF feature before they released it.
Those of you who have updated to HBC Beta 9 will have to re-download the HBB manually.
Download HBB v0.2.3b or run HBB on your Wii to update (you will need to update twice).
I was working on showing all the applications on your SD card before the newest HBC came out. You can view them by moving your cursor to the top left corner of the screen and pressing A.
Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...by Published on October 26th, 2008 11:05
A new beta release of Dolphin the Gamecube and Nintendo Wii Emulator for Windows has been released.
Dolphin is a Gamecube emulator. It also has preliminary support for Wii and basic Triforce emulation (this is pending a commit, and does not run games yet).
Gamecube compatibility is about the same (or worse, due to various core changes and lack of subsequent compatibility work) as previous releases.
Wii compatibility is very low. Some games show their intro movies, that's it. There is preliminary Wiimote emulation but it does not work yet.
Download Here and Leave Feedback and Compatability reports Via Comments ...by Published on October 26th, 2008 11:05
A new beta release of Dolphin the Gamecube and Nintendo Wii Emulator for Windows has been released.
Dolphin is a Gamecube emulator. It also has preliminary support for Wii and basic Triforce emulation (this is pending a commit, and does not run games yet).
Gamecube compatibility is about the same (or worse, due to various core changes and lack of subsequent compatibility work) as previous releases.
Wii compatibility is very low. Some games show their intro movies, that's it. There is preliminary Wiimote emulation but it does not work yet.
Download Here and Leave Feedback and Compatability reports Via Comments ...by Published on October 26th, 2008 10:58
Lino has released a new version of his excellent Nintendo DS Emulator for Windows:
Alpha version for my emulator, here's the changelog :
Fixed a bug in Optimize Loops.
Fixed a bug in mode4 rendering.
Fixed a bug in SaveState routines.
Fixed a bug in Alpha Blending with 3D layer.
Added support for EFS Lib.
Added support for external bioses and firmaware.
Added support for NinjaDS SD adapter.
Added support for Textures's Palette.
Download and Give Feedback and Compatability Reports Via Comments ...by Published on October 26th, 2008 10:44
Gaffer MiketheBSG got robbed, bigtime. Yesterday some burglar broke into his place, stole $26,000 worth of electronics, his girlfriend's jewelry and traumatized his dog. If there's a silver lining? His 228 Virtual Console and 30 WiiWare games were all restored by Nintendo to his new Wii. Ordinarily Nintendo doesn't allow such transfers. But my guess is they saw the volume of his catalog, not to mention heard about the 151 and 127 GameCube and DS games lost in the theft, and figured he was a good customer who definitely deserved a break. So, good on Nintendo. But the burglar is a piece of shit forever.
http://kotaku.com/5068815/wii-stolen...iiwarevc-games ...by Published on October 26th, 2008 10:42
There are many writers on the Joystiq payroll who are of the firm opinion that the Wii incarnation of Resident Evil 4 was the best version of the multi-platform title. That's why we were understandably disappointed when it was outed that Resident Evil 5 would not be coming to Nintendo's console -- though according the game's producer, Masachika Kawata, a Wii port of RE5 was never a remote possibility. Due to the game's graphical improvements over the previous installment, "the title screen of this couldn't have been done on PS2 or Wii," Kawata explained in a recent GameTrailers interview.
Nintendo fanboys shouldn't be too disheartened by this somewhat brash claim -- in a later, seperate interview with GameTrailers, Juntake Uchi, yet another producer for the title, said that Capcom would love to continue the Resident Evil franchise on the Wii, though such a reunion is "a couple of years down the road."
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/25/re...-title-screen/ ...by Published on October 26th, 2008 10:41
We're big fans of the Xbox Live Video Marketplace, largely due to our own barren DVD collection and our nationwide banning from Blockbuster Video following our refusal to pay a $230 late fee on Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. That's why this week's New Xbox Experience sneak preview on Gamerscore Blog caught our eye -- it focuses on the revamped Video Marketplace and the soon-to-be-added Netflix functionality.
No groundbreaking new information is revealed in the blog post, though some interesting statistics are given -- upon the launch of the NXE, Netflix Unlimited subscribers with Xbox Live Gold accounts will be able to instantly stream over 12,000 movies to their consoles. Combined with more than 20,000 pieces of content on the XBVM, the NXE is shaping up to be a cinematic treasure trove -- best of all, there's no late fees, meaning we can finally enjoy all that trouser-centric teen drama on our own terms.
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/25/ne...lix-previewed/ ...- Search DCEmu
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