News Via IGN

Sony Computer Entertainment was not expected to puts a big focus on its PSP presentation at this year's pre-E3 event -- it was always going to be all about PS3 -- but we still couldn't help but be disappointed with what was shown. Only one surprise title was in the line-up of games shown, and one game in the reel was actually already out stateside (a few others have already been brought out elsewhere but are premiering in the US this year.)


First up on the PSP reel this year was the sequel to the disappointing Ape Academy game, here with more minigames and the came cartoony look. From there, SCE went to the world premier Planet PSP -- a cool interactive travel guide non-game that casual PSP owners can take with them when they go out to see the world. Following that was the incredible PSP Killzone: Liberation (curiously left without its PS3 companion, although us PSP players will take this incredible-looking game as a winfall.) We also had LocoRoco, SCE Japan's brilliant tilt-around game played with gooey little characters. Gangs of London, SCE Soho's multiplayer gang game followed that, built upon the basis of the Getaway franchise. After that, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror ... and considering that this game was released months ago for PSP, we're not sure why (even though it is an incredible game for the system, and a defining online experience.) This was followed up with World Tour Soccer 2, SCE's new and improved footie sim. And then there was Talkman, finally bringing the Japanese and European language translator app/game to America.
Where was Ratchet & Clank PSP? We don't know, but we've played it, and it's already pretty rad. Where was SOCOM 2 for PSP? Where was ATV Offroad Fury Pro? What about Hot Shots Golf 2 and its GPS capabilities? Where was anything from any of the hard-working third parties working on PSP? Much of this will be debuted on the E3 show floor on Wednesday, but of the pickings SCE put together, it wasn't the kind of showing we expected from a console just now leaving its infant first years behind. Look for much more happy PSP impressions and anticipation when the E3 show starts on Wednesday. ...

Via IGN:

We were shown some of the latest footage of Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth at Square Enix's press conference, which marks the return of the series from the original PlayStation to the PSP. Building upon the original title, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth is the story of the Valkyrie Lenneth as she recruits and trains fallen warriors to fight for Asgard during the end of the world.

We were shown new footage of Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, including some of the updated CG cut scenes. Not only did they show off a number of warriors that you'll collect, but they showed off Lenneth brandishing her sword, extending her wings, and collecting souls. We also found out that some of the newly included cut scenes will contain specific hints that refer to the upcoming Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria.

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth will be released on July 18th, 2006. We'll have more on the game as E3 progresses. ...

Sata has released a new version of his NDS Eprom tool

Download Here ...

PepsiMan posted this News update:

When using IRC clients in DSLinux, the bottom few lines of the screen are corrupted when the chat is scrolled up.

I’ve looked into this problem, and it is a bug in the framebuffer console code - when scrolling the screen upwards in SCROLL_PAN_REDRAW mode with a limited scroll region set up, the wrong part of the screen is copied to the bottom few lines.

Having discovered this, the fix is quite simple.

This bug is present in the latest Linux kernel too, so I’ll be sending this fix upstream.

More Info --> http://www.dslinux.org/blogs/pepsiman/ ...

BigRedPimp posted this news:

My good friend MrMr[iCE] has made a web-based editor for Lox which I’ve been tweaking. Also, WinterMute (of devkitPro fame) has made an editor for use on the NDS. It will save to any device (I hope) that uses Chishm’s FAT libraries (GBAMP, MK2/MK3, SC SD/CF, etc).

More info --> http://dsdev.bigredpimp.com/ ...

Sgstair posted this news:

I thought I might mention that I’ve put some thought into the new DSTunnel protocol, and have written up some basic documentation on how I want the protocol to work, what kind of messages will be present, and how the system should behave. When I get some time I’ll be properly putting this into code, and hopefully getting a bug-free implementation going this time - some of the premises of the protocol have changed since last attempt, this one will act as a cross between a true p2p udp network and a server-client network, based on configuration and network ability… it will determine whether a p2p or client/server system is more effective based on connection speeds and lag times, and configure the network in an attempt to create the best performance for an arbitrary group of peers.

Additionally, since I know a bit more about what I’m up against now, I’ve designed some mechanisms in the protocol that will make managing some aspects of timing a lot easier… no idea if they’ll work as well as I hope, but they should at least work better than last attempt (which uh, really screwed a lot of timing stuff up) - Also I’ve designed the interface between the transport protocol and the hardware interface to be a lot more streamlined, and I will probably introduce a simple plugin system so people can write their own custom servers easily.

All this when I have time….

More info --> http://blog.akkit.org/ ...

Dynastab posted several updates of his Homebrew for the DS, heres what he posted:

I've added new updates to my site. Just some little hacks, at least one or two of which someone might find useful (thats the goal.)

MandelBrot Cube, a laZmike Cube Demo Hack. Pretty nifty if just showing how to modify texture memory real time and use transparency in 3d. Source included.

Life Cube, a laZmike Cube Demo Hack. Flood fill of color cycling life exploding in perfect 3 dimensional symmetry about each face is a sight to be seen imo. Binary included.

Sub Pixel Font Class, a Sylfurd SPFD hack. I've moved Sylfurd's Sub Pixel font renderer into a more easily useable class. Should be useful to someone! Source included.

DynaStabs Template. I've created my own template that should come useful when I start new projects in the future. It's easier to remove includes and lines of code than copy headers, edit make files, and such each time for the same basic functions. Source included.

Please leave a comment, good or bad. Also looking for advice on stopping tearing with massive amounts of texture updates. bLaStY's glTexImage2D hack?

More info etc at his site here --> http://dynastab.drunkencoders.com/ ...

Via Revfanboy

Perhaps you heard a loud rumbling sound several moments after our friend, Krazy Kutaragi, took the stage at the Sony E3 press conference and revealed what was, according to him, a big "secret" regarding the new old and improved PS3 controller. The source of the noise was undoubtedly the countless gamers rolling their eyes in unison at a new "innovation" that, if you're at all interesting in gaming, is unlikely to have struck you as very innovative at all. It's arguable that Nintendo's Wii merely uses parts that have been around for ages and isn't particularly innovative in that sense, but it's difficult not to raise an eyebrow when a competing console manufacturer decides to implement a control interface that, until recently, was considered unorthodox. It was pretty shameless.

But there's no need to be pointing fingers and gyroscopic contraptions in an effort to blame one for stealing from the other. A better reaction would be to consider how the two devices compare, though the technical qualities are less important than the factors related to gaming. Consider that Nintendo's system has been built to utilize the more wobust wiimote right from the start, with every single game being created to take advantage of the primary controller in some way or another. The Sony press conference gave the impression that the opposite was true with the PS3, with Phil Harrison stating that Warhawk had been "adapted" to take advantage of the Dual Shake's newly announced abitlies. How late was the decision made to add the new functionality to the controller? My guess is that the idea can't have been implemented too long ago, as none of the other PS3 games at the conference seemed to make use of motion sensing. In which case it seems that, at least initially, the Wii wil simply have a greater quantity of games that boast integration with the unique controller. Given the increased development time, it's fair to expect Nintendo's first volley of games to be a good deal more intricate in those regards as well.

Sony's strategy of combining a traditional controller with a weird one is valid (it's an added feature, after all), but it may end up being more limiting, almost to the same degree that Nintendo's controller is limiting when it comes to traditional controls. While Nintendo's controller allows for more aerobic activities such as swinging a sword and aiming a gun (note the examples my violent mind immediately conjures up), the Dual Shake's design makes that sort of thing somewhat less practical. This not only puts a confinement on what developers can do, essentially forcing a balance between traditional and non-traditional controls, but puts Sony in an unpleasant position of being put alongside a competitor that's likely to have a much cheaper product. If you want to play unique games built upon motion sensing concepts, it's clear which system is the better choice (hint: the cheaper one).

On the other wand-waving hand, however, one could argue that those who prefer traditional games and have less interest in unusual mechanics would be far better off with a system that, in a sense, offers a glimpse of both worlds. As always, it boils down to the games and how well each system takes advantage of its specific capabilities. The Wii doesn't have much choice in that area, but the PS3 does run the danger of having a host of games that have tacked-on motion sensing functionality as opposed to more elaborate experiences. But then, the games on the PS3 don't depend on the controller nearly as much as Wii titles do. It'll be interesting to see which games will make the most out of the controllers they're given and we expect to be able to add more to this discussion after Nintendo's press conference . Nothing stopping you from adding to it right now, though. ...

Via TeamXbox

Our first query to Chris Satchell was to step outside of his competitive structure and simply provide thoughts on the briefing, purely as a gamer. ''I’d have to say that I came away a little disappointed.'', claimed Satchell. ''We really didn’t see anything that was innovative – it was the same experiences we’ve seen before.''

When asked to comment on the briefing from a competitive standpoint, Shane Kim elaborated, ''I’ve said this before, but there was nothing from Sony’s briefing that would make us change anything regarding our plans. We are very confident in our approach, especially now. We have a much better online story and much better content. Finally, we feel that our superior price point provides us an advantage.''

Two areas where Sony demonstrated forward thinking was in the EyeToy card demonstration and the 6-axis controller, but we still question how mainstream these will become. Does Microsoft feel in pressure in being the only next-generation system to not feature a motion-sensing controller?

''We actually had a very similar product on the market for the PC – the (Sidewinder) Freestyle Pro.'', Kim recollected. ''It was a great controller for a very specific set of games, but wasn’t accepted as an overall controller. We considered the technology when developing the Xbox 360, but felt it wasn’t the way to go.''

Satchell mentioned, ''I view Sony’s motion-sensing controller more as an attempt to address what Nintendo is doing with the Wii. While I thought the EyeToy demo was cool, I do question if the masses will play a game that way.''

As for Sony’s online focus, Microsoft appeared confused. ''They talked a lot about building an online community, which is something we’ve already established very well on Xbox Live. Surprisingly, they didn’t mention anything about their online gameplay structure.''

When asked if they were surprised that Sony was now adopting many of the same principles that Microsoft has touched on in previous E3’s, such as giving the game creators the power to realize their visions, Kim stated, ''I think we found that Sony was touting much of the leadership thinking that we’ve previously shown.''

So what can we expect from Microsoft’s own E3 press briefing tomorrow (Today)?

''I’d say you can expect a lot of leadership to be demonstrated tomorrow.”, proclaimed Kim. ''We are in a good position with our first-party lineup, not to mention the stellar support from our third-party partners.''

At this point, Microsoft has no announcements regarding a price drop on the Xbox 360 to combat the PS3 launch, nor did they mention eliminating the Xbox 360 Core package. ...