Final Fantasy Crisis Core fans had something to look forward to at the Square Enix Party today in Japan, as they have at just about every Square Enix event for the past year or so. In addition to a brand new playable build (we'll have details on this latest testament to the PSP's power shortly), Square Enix aired a new trailer of the game as part of its "Closed Mega Theater" video presentation.

The best news came at the end of the presentation as the numbers 9, 13 and 2007 appeared on the screen. That's right, years after its first announcement, Crisis Core now has a final Japanese date of mid September.

Of course, this doesn't mean anything for the English language version of the game, as given the amount of dialog hinted at by the playable demos we've seen so far, this installment in the Final Fantasy VII compilation is going to make Square Enix's translation staff spend lots of time at the office.

Via IGN ...

via gta4.net


So there you have it. ...

via innerbits

The release of the 1.60 firmware six weeks ago was recently followed by the release to developers of the corresponding 1.60 SDK. The SDKs always come out a few days after the firmware so that Sony can iron out any bugs, issues and complete the documentation for the new and changed features.

Ozymandias recently did an comparison between the 360 and the PS3, and their memory footprints. Some of the numbers used for the PS3 are slightly out of date, and thanks to this release, we have obtained access to the latest memory footprint of the various key system utilities.

First, the base memory footprint of the PS3 OS in main memory has been reduced from 56 MB to 52 MB. These values will lead to some confusion, as we’ve previously reported that the memory footprint was 64 MB. 8MB of memory was given back to developers sometime before Christmas, and now a further 4 MB has been returned. Currently, as of SDK 1.60, the PS3 operating system takes up 52 MB of main memory and 32 MB of graphics memory (84 MB total). As a comparison, the Xbox 360 still only uses 32 MB of shared memory for all its system utilities.

We have also learned that processing-wise, games are expected to maintain at least 30 frames per second, regardless of how much CPU time is used by the OS. Specifically, there is a Sony technical requirement that states that titles cannot rely on the CPU processing speed. There is no explicit ceiling set on how much processing time the OS can use through its higher priority threads. Of course, Sony will make sure whatever is performed in the background will have very minimal impact on processing time, but the lack of an explicit cap concerns us.

Finally, we present a breakdown of the memory requirements for various key system utilities. In order to make use of them, developers must allocate the specified memory amounts to the OS. These allocations are done in the form of Memory Containers:

As of SDK 1.60, developers can use standard PS3 message dialogs at no extra cost. The standard on-screen keyboard still requires 7MB of memory.
Developers can now choose to support the Remote Play functionality (which allows players to play their PS3 titles on their local wireless LAN using their PSP. Remote Play requires 8MB of memory to be allocated to it.
The various utilities providing saving, loading, and reading off the hard disk now require no more than 5MB of memory to be used.
8MB of memory is required for the online startup utility. This includes both supporting online play, and is a requirement for any of the other Network Platform (NP) utilities. There are several NP utilities, but we will only address the most important one next.
Full support of the NP Friend List utility is currently a staggering 24MB of extra memory (on top of the 8MB needed for the startup). This utility provides the support of the NP friend’s list, allowing players to add, remove, block and communicate with their friends along with the corresponding GUI interface. The extraneous demand on memory has been met with with concern from developers. Since this is just the first iteration of the utility, Sony has vowed to reduce the memory impact of the utility to something more manageable (20MB is the rumored target for the next major release expected in late May – early June).
Video chat (supporting up to 6 concurrent users) requires 26MB of memory, while voice chat (supporting up to 12 users) requires 8MB. The utility allowing for in-game microphone configuration is also 8MB.
Finally, developers can choose to support an integrated web browser. The memory cost for a web browser can vary from around 40MB to 90MB+, depending on the web sites being browsed, and the number of windows and tabs used.
We won’t rehash the same argument we have made previously that developers could have benefited from some of these features earlier on, or that functionality such as friends list should not cost developers extra memory. Sony has chosen to go down the route of Memory Containers, using that flexibility to continuously expand their feature list, without forcing all developers to use the same features.

Sony is making every effort to both provide new functionality and dampen the impact on memory. Some of the features being provided (such as the integrated web browser) are unique to the console. However, the friend’s list still represents a hefty investment in memory for now, and we hope that Sony can continue to make every effort to make such core features less of an impact on memory for developers. After all, integrating with the Network Platform is something Sony should encourage in every game. This would go a long way in addressing the lack of consistency in the online experience across the various titles currently available. ...

New release from Tails of his Dicesoldiers game:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

News/release from SuBCeRo


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

Psychowood has updated DLDIrc:

v0.51
-Added the option to rename .gba in .nds after DLDI patching

Download and Give feedback Via Comments ...

Crunchy2 has released a new version of the Snes Emulator for the Nintendo Gamecube and Nintendo Wii:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

via guardian

Internet giant Google has drawn up plans to compile psychological profiles of millions of web users by covertly monitoring the way they play online games.
The company thinks it can glean information about an individual's preferences and personality type by tracking their online behaviour, which could then be sold to advertisers. Details such as whether a person is more likely to be aggressive, hostile or dishonest could be obtained and stored for future use, it says.

The move is intended to customise adverts shown to players of online video games by tailoring them to specific tastes and interests. But it has worried privacy campaigners, who said the implications of compiling and storing such detailed information were "alarming".
Sue Charman of online campaign Open Rights Group said: "I can understand why they are interested in this, but I would be deeply disturbed by a company holding a psychological profile.

"Whenever you have large amounts of information it becomes attractive to people - we've already seen the American federal government going to court over data from companies including Google."

The plans are detailed in a patent filed by Google in Europe and the US last month. It says people playing online role playing games such as Second Life and World of Warcraft would be particularly good to target, because they interact with other players and make decisions that probably reflect their behaviour in real life.

The patent says: "User dialogue (eg from role playing games, simulation games, etc) may be used to characterise the user (eg literate, profane, blunt or polite, quiet etc). Also, user play may be used to characterise the user (eg cautious, risk-taker, aggressive, non-confrontational, stealthy, honest, cooperative, uncooperative, etc)."

The information could be used to make adverts that appear inside the game more "relevant to the user", Google says.

Players who spend a lot of time exploring "may be interested in vacations, so the system may show ads for vacations". And those who spend more time talking to other characters will see adverts for mobile phones.

The patent says Google could also monitor people playing on any game console that hooks up to the internet, including the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft's Xbox. It says information could be retrieved from previous game details saved on memory cards: "Such saved information may be thought of state information, and offers a valuable source of information to the advertisers."

Not all the inferences made by monitoring user activity rely on subtle psychological clues, however. "In a car racing game, after a user crashes his Honda Civic, an announcer could be used to advertise by saying 'if he had a Hummer, he would have gotten the better of that altercation', etc," the patent says. And: "If the user has been playing for over two hours continuously, the system may display ads for Pizza Hut, Coke, coffee."

Some web companies already scan online activity such as internet searches and email for keywords in order to display adverts based on basic attributes and behaviours. But the extensive profiles proposed in the patent go some way beyond existing examples. It would be relatively straightforward to combine information sources to put names and addresses to the anonymous profiles, experts said.

When contacted by the Guardian, Google said it did not have any plans to roll out the technology in the near future, and that it was just one of a large number of patents that it has filed in recent months. A spokesman said: "Google registers different patents irrespective of whether we actually intend to use them."

The company, which has built its success on delivering adverts over the internet, spent $23m (£11.5m) this year acquiring a game advertising company called AdScape. The move was seen as part of a broad expansion of its business into other media, including television and radio.

Although using the proposed profiling techniques would require games publishers to actively incorporate Google's technology, industry experts said that games publishers are increasingly looking for new ways to make money.

"Publishers are becoming more like media companies," said Justin Townsend, the chief executive of IGA, an in-game advertising company. "More games are being optimised for advertising." But he said that privacy concerns should be paramount. "Both consumers, publishers and the advertising industry are very aware of privacy issues," he said. "You cannot afford to be vague in these areas."

Booming market

Experts estimate that around $500m (£250m) will be spent on advertising inside games this year, rising to $2bn by 2010. While more straightforward games such as online poker are already hugely profitable, it is predicted that virtual three-dimensional worlds and role-playing games will soon be among the biggest moneyspinners on the net.

One of the biggest titles is the Lord of the Rings-style fantasy game ...

via siliconera

Nintendo announced four games coming out next week in Japan for the Wii’s virtual console:

Tsuppari Oozumou (Famicom / 500 points)

Bare Knuckle 2: Shitou no Chinkon Uta (Mega Drive / 600 Points)

Out Live (PC Engine / 600 Points)

Sengoku Mahjong (PC Engine / 600 Points)

Sega announced Streets of Rage 2 for the US, maybe that will come out next week too? If it does, get it. Streets of Rage 2 is one of the best beat ‘em up games out there. I doubt Sengoku Mahjong will ever get a release, but Out Live, a racing game made by Sunsoft, might be another one of next week’s US virtual console games. ...