So how powerful will the Pandora be?

It is, without doubt, the most powerful portable games system ever and at the time of writing the most powerful mini computer, too. It has openGL 2.0 3D hardware, a 600-900Mhz CPU, media coprocessors, an 800x480 LCD and 128MB of RAM. The killer app with the hardware is that it is using an ARM Cortex A8 CPU, meaning astonishing battery life – over ten hours – which blows away similar mini PCs based on the old x86 chipsets. You will be able to play games like Quake III with ease and at the cutting edge even Doom III (if the engine goes open source soon, of course).

In terms of emulation, what kind of performance can we expect from the machine – what is the most advanced console/computer it can emulate at this stage, for instance?

Good PC emulation, most 32-bit consoles, Amiga 1200+ and all the usual suspects. Emulating something like the Sega Dreamcast would be pushing the hardware to the limits.

Aside from emulation and gaming in general, presumably you're envisaging other uses for the Pandora?

A complete desktop environment is already up and running – Ubuntu will run on the Pandora. This really is a PC the size of a Nintendo DS.

Do you think the machine could be a potential rival to the numerous 'Netbook' mini-laptops that are flooding the market at the moment?

Yes, and it has the advantage of a sensational battery life. We will be pushing to over take those other devices in 2009 in terms of functionality. After all, how many of them have complete game controls, a keyboard and an active programming community of tens of thousands of people?

When can we expect to see units on sale and can you confirm the price point for the UK?

They will be shipping before Christmas and the price in the UK is £199.99 (inc VAT) which is way under the cost and way over the specs of similar 'Mini PCs' which are mostly running a sluggish Windows Vista.

When will people be able to place pre-orders for the Pandora and what kind of numbers are you producing the unit in to begin with?

At the end of September via http://openpandora.org. The first production run is 3000 units which we hope will sell out before they ship.

So how powerful will the Pandora be?

It is, without doubt, the most powerful portable games system ever and at the time of writing the most powerful mini computer, too. It has openGL 2.0 3D hardware, a 600-900Mhz CPU, media coprocessors, an 800x480 LCD and 128MB of RAM. The killer app with the hardware is that it is using an ARM Cortex A8 CPU, meaning astonishing battery life – over ten hours – which blows away similar mini PCs based on the old x86 chipsets. You will be able to play games like Quake III with ease and at the cutting edge even Doom III (if the engine goes open source soon, of course).

In terms of emulation, what kind of performance can we expect from the machine – what is the most advanced console/computer it can emulate at this stage, for instance?

Good PC emulation, most 32-bit consoles, Amiga 1200+ and all the usual suspects. Emulating something like the Sega Dreamcast would be pushing the hardware to the limits.

Aside from emulation and gaming in general, presumably you're envisaging other uses for the Pandora?

A complete desktop environment is already up and running – Ubuntu will run on the Pandora. This really is a PC the size of a Nintendo DS.

Do you think the machine could be a potential rival to the numerous 'Netbook' mini-laptops that are flooding the market at the moment?

Yes, and it has the advantage of a sensational battery life. We will be pushing to over take those other devices in 2009 in terms of functionality. After all, how many of them have complete game controls, a keyboard and an active programming community of tens of thousands of people?

When can we expect to see units on sale and can you confirm the price point for the UK?

They will be shipping before Christmas and the price in the UK is £199.99 (inc VAT) which is way under the cost and way over the specs of similar 'Mini PCs' which are mostly running a sluggish Windows Vista.

When will people be able to place pre-orders for the Pandora and what kind of numbers are you producing the unit in to begin with?

At the end of September via http://openpandora.org. The first production run is 3000 units which we hope will sell out before they ship.

Zoombus has released a simple joke program. It's called The Story of Rick and Schmid

This is the first metronome ever coded for the Wii game system. This application will help you keep a tempo while practicing an instrument.

We can call it a tremendous development. Half a year since 0.11.1 passed pretty quickly, and we are pleased to announce the release of 0.12.0!

This new version of ScummVM adds support for 5 completely new games. The games that now run smoothly on many more platforms than was initially intended are: The Legend of Kyrandia: Book Two: Hand of Fate, The Legend of Kyrandia: Book Three: Malcolm's Revenge, Lost in Time, The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble and Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back.

The number of supported platforms grew as well. The PS2 port has been revived, and the GameCube and Wii are now supported too. Take your Wiimote and make your beloved adventure game protagonist run around the screen .

ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!

Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.

0.12.0 (2008-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for The Legend of Kyrandia: Book Two: Hand of Fate.
- Added support for The Legend of Kyrandia: Book Three: Malcolm's Revenge.
- Added support for Lost in Time.
- Added support for The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble.
- Added support for the PC version of Waxworks.
- Added support for the Macintosh version of I Have no Mouth, and I
must Scream.
- Added support for Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back.

General:
- Added CAMD MIDI driver for AmigaOS4.
- Revived the PS2 port (was already in 0.11.1 but was forgotten in the
release notes).
- Plugged numerous memory leaks in all engines (part of GSoC'08 task),
- Added audio double buffering to the SDL backend, which fixes the
problems with the MT-32 emulator on Mac OS X (for now only enabled
on Mac OS X).

AGOS:
- Fixed crashes during certain music in Amiga versions of Elvira 1 and
Simon the Sorcerer 1.
- Fixed palette issues in Amiga versions of Simon the Sorcerer 1.

Queen:
- Speech is played at the correct sample rate. (It used to be pitched a bit
too low.)

SCUMM:
- Rewrote parts of Digital iMUSE, fixing some bugs.
- Rewrote the internal timer code, fixing some speed issues in e.g. COMI.
- Improved support for sound effects in Amiga version of Zak McKracken.
- Added support for mixed Adlib/MIDI mode in Monkey Island 1 (Floppy).

We can call it a tremendous development. Half a year since 0.11.1 passed pretty quickly, and we are pleased to announce the release of 0.12.0!

This new version of ScummVM adds support for 5 completely new games. The games that now run smoothly on many more platforms than was initially intended are: The Legend of Kyrandia: Book Two: Hand of Fate, The Legend of Kyrandia: Book Three: Malcolm's Revenge, Lost in Time, The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble and Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back.

The number of supported platforms grew as well. The PS2 port has been revived, and the GameCube and Wii are now supported too. Take your Wiimote and make your beloved adventure game protagonist run around the screen .

ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!

Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.

0.12.0 (2008-08-31)
New Games:
- Added support for The Legend of Kyrandia: Book Two: Hand of Fate.
- Added support for The Legend of Kyrandia: Book Three: Malcolm's Revenge.
- Added support for Lost in Time.
- Added support for The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble.
- Added support for the PC version of Waxworks.
- Added support for the Macintosh version of I Have no Mouth, and I
must Scream.
- Added support for Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back.

General:
- Added CAMD MIDI driver for AmigaOS4.
- Revived the PS2 port (was already in 0.11.1 but was forgotten in the
release notes).
- Plugged numerous memory leaks in all engines (part of GSoC'08 task),
- Added audio double buffering to the SDL backend, which fixes the
problems with the MT-32 emulator on Mac OS X (for now only enabled
on Mac OS X).

AGOS:
- Fixed crashes during certain music in Amiga versions of Elvira 1 and
Simon the Sorcerer 1.
- Fixed palette issues in Amiga versions of Simon the Sorcerer 1.

Queen:
- Speech is played at the correct sample rate. (It used to be pitched a bit
too low.)

SCUMM:
- Rewrote parts of Digital iMUSE, fixing some bugs.
- Rewrote the internal timer code, fixing some speed issues in e.g. COMI.
- Improved support for sound effects in Amiga version of Zak McKracken.
- Added support for mixed Adlib/MIDI mode in Monkey Island 1 (Floppy).