A few hours ago news popped out about a Vice City Stories preview in the Official PlayStation 2 Magazine (UK). Screenshots with ugly watermarks surfaced on one website, but we now have them - in higher resolution too! The screenshots can be seen below - with the first two being brand new. Be sure to read the details from the article after the jump.

• The Phoenix and Stinger makes a return to Vice City.
• Vic and Lance have grown up poor, and you start off in a trailer park - that's brand new to Vice City.
• There's a whole new cast of characters.
• Not only is the city bigger, it's more detailed.
• Buildings look cleaner, signs are at a much higher resolution, and the palm trees look better.
• Brand new pedestrians, and groups of the same type appear less together.
• Missions are much more varied than previous GTA's.
• Water effects have been improved, with a ''choppy-looking surface'' and weather affecting vehicle handling and swimming.
• Helicopters control smoothly
• Rockstar Leeds has been listening to YOUR thoughts on Liberty City Stories, like controlling issues, swimming and flying etc.
• As you probably know, the biker gang makes a return to Vice City. But, according to this article Big Mitch Baker will be the leader again. So expect to see him in the game!
• In one screenshot we see a silenced SMG.

Something I didn't notice before that can be and seen in some screenshots, is that Vic has a tattoo on his right arm. He is after all a US Marine, so chances are he has this from the beginning of the game. We'll have to wait for more info in the coming weeks to see if there's any word on vehicle or character customization.

There's something interesting on the Horizon (September the 16th to be precise).

Amiga Big Bash has been an annual event in the Amiga calendar for the last few years, and is a get together of like-minded individuals for a generally good tme, with drinks and food.

How does this affect us as GP32/GP2x users you may ask??

WELL! There's talk this year of making it a joint venture and bringing Retro gaming into the fray. They (and I) have been talking to Craig at GP2X.co.uk and it looks like that if there's enough interest here, we at Gp32x and him may be able to get involved.

I had this message form my good mate Rob :-

"Would anyone be interested in Amiga Big Bash if it had a retro bend to it? Amiga Big Bash is being held on Saturday the 16th September, in Peterborough - which is a fairly central location.

The event is held every year, and is predominantly party centred, with a BBQ, music, and an Amiga fair. It was set up to bring the Amiga Community closer together. Numbers range from 50 to 250 with visitors from afar afield as Poland. The organisers are thinking about extending it to include retro gaming as well - but would like to know how many people would be interested if Retro Gaming was included? They have been in talks with Craig from gbax.com - and now wish to gauge numbers.

If numbers are good, things can proceed :-)"


It depends on the level of interest from here. I dont know about you, but I'd love it to happen! The big bash happens in a set of halls in Peterborough, and is definitely going to happen on September 16th. All it'll take from this side is a little interest, and it could well turn into a heck of a lot more It would be great to be able to get together again with forumers from this community (especially after the success of the Gp32x.com Brit meetup - can you believe that was almost three years ago???). This whole event would be bigger and better, with people from two communities coming together for a bit of a gathering. It would have a live podcast from the site for the event, and in the past has been great fun, just as an Amiga event.

This event is DEFINITLEY happening as an Amiga event. It just takes YOU LOT to make it into a joint thing.

Craig has said he has lots of the sort of kit that we'll need to make it a great retro gaming gathering. From what I know about what Craig has, he's not joking either! I'd aboslutely love for this to happen, and if the interest is there - it will! It'll be just £3.50 entrance (to cover the cost of the venue). It starts at around mid-day and will go on until about 11pm, though you of course dont have to be there for the whole time unless you want to!

Let me know here how you feel about it all. I'd love to meet you all. I'll be there, so will Craig (if the interest is there). There's even a bar for those of you who feel the need

Post here and let me now if you could make it. Again - I hope to see as many of you as possible there. All we need is the interest!

Cheers!

There's something interesting on the Horizon (September the 16th to be precise).

Amiga Big Bash has been an annual event in the Amiga calendar for the last few years, and is a get together of like-minded individuals for a generally good tme, with drinks and food.

How does this affect us as GP32/GP2x users you may ask??

WELL! There's talk this year of making it a joint venture and bringing Retro gaming into the fray. They (and I) have been talking to Craig at GP2X.co.uk and it looks like that if there's enough interest here, we at Gp32x and him may be able to get involved.

I had this message form my good mate Rob :-

"Would anyone be interested in Amiga Big Bash if it had a retro bend to it? Amiga Big Bash is being held on Saturday the 16th September, in Peterborough - which is a fairly central location.

The event is held every year, and is predominantly party centred, with a BBQ, music, and an Amiga fair. It was set up to bring the Amiga Community closer together. Numbers range from 50 to 250 with visitors from afar afield as Poland. The organisers are thinking about extending it to include retro gaming as well - but would like to know how many people would be interested if Retro Gaming was included? They have been in talks with Craig from gbax.com - and now wish to gauge numbers.

If numbers are good, things can proceed :-)"


It depends on the level of interest from here. I dont know about you, but I'd love it to happen! The big bash happens in a set of halls in Peterborough, and is definitely going to happen on September 16th. All it'll take from this side is a little interest, and it could well turn into a heck of a lot more It would be great to be able to get together again with forumers from this community (especially after the success of the Gp32x.com Brit meetup - can you believe that was almost three years ago???). This whole event would be bigger and better, with people from two communities coming together for a bit of a gathering. It would have a live podcast from the site for the event, and in the past has been great fun, just as an Amiga event.

This event is DEFINITLEY happening as an Amiga event. It just takes YOU LOT to make it into a joint thing.

Craig has said he has lots of the sort of kit that we'll need to make it a great retro gaming gathering. From what I know about what Craig has, he's not joking either! I'd aboslutely love for this to happen, and if the interest is there - it will! It'll be just £3.50 entrance (to cover the cost of the venue). It starts at around mid-day and will go on until about 11pm, though you of course dont have to be there for the whole time unless you want to!

Let me know here how you feel about it all. I'd love to meet you all. I'll be there, so will Craig (if the interest is there). There's even a bar for those of you who feel the need

Post here and let me now if you could make it. Again - I hope to see as many of you as possible there. All we need is the interest!

Cheers!

When I opened my mailbox ten minutes ago I found this:

Hello Nintendo Gossip crew,

I love the concept of your website so I thought that this ‘gossip’ was something I should share with you instead of leaking it to a big website in the game industry.

Certain developers have received a new accessory from Nintendo. This accessory for the Nintendo DS goes in the GBA cartridge. The one I held in my hands was made for the DS lite but off course there will also be one that fits in the old Nintendo DS. Inside this cartridge is a gyro-sensor. You may remember Wario Ware: Twisted from Intelligent Systems, a game that uses the same type of movement sensor. The sensor registers movements the same way the cartridge did in Wario Ware: Twisted but when I played with the new sensor I got the feeling that it’s slightly better. This DS gyro-sensor doesn’t contain a rumble pak. Nintendo says they tried to fit a rumble pak in the cartridge but it would have made the cartridge too big.

One of the first games that will use this gyro-sensor is Tony Hawk Downhill Jam for the DS. You’ll have to tilt your DS from left to right to steer your skater down the hill. This will give us the feeling like we’re playing with our Nintendo Wii on the road. Other developers got great ideas when they heard about this new accessory but I can’t share them with you yet.

Games like Excite Truck and Tony Hawk Downhill Jam for Nintendo Wii will allow you to connect your Nintendo DS (lite) wireless with your Nintendo Wii. The DS will be used as a controller. Don’t expect too much of this feature since the gyro-sensor cartridge for the DS isn’t as accurate as the Wiimote.

The size of this accessory is the same like the rumble packs for the Nintendo DS and the DS lite. Nintendo will show off this new accessory at the Leipzig Games Convention. I don’t know if there will be any games using this sensory playable on the show floor.

Greets,
Anonymous

Added initial .SAM sample support. Works best with FS = 0. May implement using "streams" in the next version for smoother playback when FS != 0. Samples archive download below. SAMPLES go in GPMM:/GPMM/MAMEGP32/SAMPLES

Added Sega System 16: New fully working games: Alien Syndrome (aliensyn), Altered Beast (altbeast), SDI (sdi), Shinobi (shinobi), Wonderboy III - Monster Lair (wb3bl). Currently using 'C' Z80 core for sound, though it also works with DrZ80 core however always seems to crash on exit. This is consistent with the GP2X version which freezes on exit when using the "fast" version. Use "Old Core" to get graphics displaying correctly.

Added Atari game Liberator. It's a largish resolution game that requires "Old Core" and screen scaling to display correctly.

Added Atari game Canyon Bomber. Great Nostalgia!

Added initial version of Punch Out. Severe graphic glitches, and not really playable (yet).

Major update to 'C' Z80 core. Should be faster with some smart idle-loop detection and more accurate. 1942 and Jungle King now work! Possibly other Z80 games now working.

Compiled with DevkitARM r18 using GCC 4.10.

Latest 0.68 Cyclone/68K. Better compatibility.

Optimized, faster video functions. Thanks to Franxis and Chui.

Fixed sync problem with SonSon. Music should be played now.

Increased volume when sound is in accurate mode.

Changes/optimizations to sound code. New Option for 22050hz and 11025hz modes. Other minor increases optimizations when sound is not emulated. Most games gain from 2-4FPS in the 11025hz modes.

Updated Bubble Bobble/Tokio driver.

Updated driver for Berzerk and Frenzy from MAME 0.35b5.

Updated vector game Quantum. Orientation now portrait, not landscape.

Updated sound driver for Battlezone. Full sound with no samples required.

Updated Phoenix sound to use samples.

Updated Stargate to used improved controls (like Defender).

Rearrange taito.c sound effects driver to take priority over music channels. Means sound effects play now (Jungle King, Alpine Ski, etc ).

This is the last time the "fast" versions of the modules will be built. The DrZ80 Z80 core just isn't compatible enough to make it worth the while. Next release will have a single module that will incorporate all the functional DrZ80 games.

ZeroGS KOSMOS 0.95 written by Zerofrog is out! This is the plugin of choice for people using graphics cards supporting Pixel Shader 2.0 or 3.0.

ZeroGS KOSMOS has greatly improved over its previous release, now it is significantly faster, an example would be 'Final Fantasy XII', which is now 3x faster ingame!

Less graphical flaws are present with many games looking absolutely stunning, and even the least capable PS2.0 supporting cards, such as the nVidia 5xxx series will show little to no loss in quality.

ZeroGS KOSMOS also supports the MTGS (Multi Threaded GS) feature of PCSX2, this allows users with Dual Core or Multi CPU machines to get even more speed out of PCSX2, however until the next release of PCSX2, the current MTGS issues will persist.

ZeroGS KOSMOS supports various new features including video recording, Bilinear Filtering, 2 and 4xAA, wireframe mode and more!

Note that the newest DirectX Runtime is required to run ZeroGS KOSMOS.

EDIT: It looks like ATI Radeon 9600-9800, ATI X800 series of graphics cards are having minor problems running under 0.95. This issue is getting resolved as soon as possible.