Source - Eurogamer

Top videogame creators Shigeru Miyamoto, Michel Ancel and Frederick Raynal are to be awarded with knighthoods in the Order of Arts and Letters in Paris next Monday, becoming the first game creators ever to receive this honour in France.

Miyamoto is the creator of many of Nintendo's world famous franchises, including Mario and Zelda, while Ancel is the designer behind Rayman, Beyond Good and Evil and last Christmas' hit title King Kong. Raynal is best-known as the creator of Alone In The Dark.

Up to 200 people are knighted in the Order of Arts and Letters every year, but this is the first time that creators of videogames have been included in the list. The awards will be presented to the trio by French Minister of Culture Renard Donnedieu de Vabres next Monday.

Unlike British knighthoods, the French knighthoods do not allow the holder to add "Sir" in front of their names. No game creator has ever been knighted in the UK, although both Argonaut founder Jez San and Lionhead and Bullfrog founder Peter Molyneux have been awarded OBEs. ...

Source - Eurogamer

Top videogame creators Shigeru Miyamoto, Michel Ancel and Frederick Raynal are to be awarded with knighthoods in the Order of Arts and Letters in Paris next Monday, becoming the first game creators ever to receive this honour in France.

Miyamoto is the creator of many of Nintendo's world famous franchises, including Mario and Zelda, while Ancel is the designer behind Rayman, Beyond Good and Evil and last Christmas' hit title King Kong. Raynal is best-known as the creator of Alone In The Dark.

Up to 200 people are knighted in the Order of Arts and Letters every year, but this is the first time that creators of videogames have been included in the list. The awards will be presented to the trio by French Minister of Culture Renard Donnedieu de Vabres next Monday.

Unlike British knighthoods, the French knighthoods do not allow the holder to add "Sir" in front of their names. No game creator has ever been knighted in the UK, although both Argonaut founder Jez San and Lionhead and Bullfrog founder Peter Molyneux have been awarded OBEs. ...

We'd imagine brows are getting sweaty over in the PlayStation 3 camp. Despite Sony's insistence that the console's set for Japanese launch this 'spring', there's still no official word on a release date or launch line-up. What's more, the patience of gamers everywhere is clearly reaching breaking-point, with no firm indication of further announcements before E3.
However, GDC director Jamil Moledina has stated that some chunky new morsels of PS3 info will be revealed in SCE boss Phil Harrison's keynote at this month's Game Developers Conference. Exactly what we'll come away with is unclear, but Moledina strongly encourages the press to attend the keynote.

"In general, platform providers have a unique opportunity at the GDC to share knowledge with and inspire the people who will make or break their consoles, namely the game developers themselves," said Moledina. "With that in mind, this GDC keynote, along with the Nintendo keynote by Satoru Iwata, have both been in development for several months, and contain significant editorial value and developer takeaway."
Many hope SCE will use the keynote to finally reveal the PS3's launch date, now heavily rumoured for delay due to difficulties finalising specs for the console's Blu-Ray drive.

Meanwhile Nintendo President Satoru Iwata is also touted to be dropping a 'Revolution bomb' in his GDC keynote. Speaking in an earlier interview, Nintendo marketing man Reggie Fils-Aime said that the battle for the hearts and minds of developers would "come to a head at GDC."

This year's GDC kicks off in San Jose on March 20 and we'll be there to bring you the news as and when its happen. ...

Here's another dock for your iPOD Video. You can use the USB port to charge your beloved player, there is a Video Out port and a remote control... but it looks less classy than the original one in my opinion.
http://www.akihabaranews.com/news-11...your+iPOD.html ...

Yamaha presents 3 new DSP AV amplifiers, the DSP-AX759, 559 and 459, available in gold and silver. These amps are entry level models, so no HDMI but rather D4, S-Video, composite for video and optical for the audio. The 759 is a 7.1 (100Wx7ch(6Ω)), has YPAO (Yamaha Parametric Room Acoustic Optimizer) and decodes 21 audio codecs (AAC, DTS, Pro Logic, ...). The 559 is a light version of the 759 that decodes 18 codecs, offers 5.1 (95Wx6ch(6Ω)) and also comes with YPAO. These 2 models (759 and 559) are compatible with the YDS-10, an iPOd docking station that allows you to use all the audio power of these 2 AV amplifiers directly from your iPOD. Finally we have the 459, it's not YPAO compatible, it does not have the iPOD docking station port, but it does provide 5.1 (90Wx6ch(6Ω)).
http://www.akihabaranews.com/news-11...by+Yamaha.html ...

Yamaha alsready took care of your iPOD, and now it's Denon's turn with this ASD-1R, that can be hooked up to an amplifier or Denon HiFi set but also to an S-Video port. If you connect this docking station to a Denon set (there's a long list of units), you can control the iPOD with the remote control of your HiFi set. Connecting the iPOD to this dock also charges it.
http://www.akihabaranews.com/news-11...your+iPOD.html ...

Panasonic, a dominant force in the development and marketing of DVD products, is now poised to take a leadership role in the introduction of the Blu-ray Disc format to European market. At CeBIT, the company not only revealed plans for the roll-out of high-definition Blu-ray hardware, but underscored its role in the manufacture and authoring of Blu-ray discs, and the factors driving the acceptance of this next generation HD format.
Blu-ray Disc – Revolutionizing Home Entertainment
The rapid and continued growth of High Definition Television (HDTV) has sparked consumer demand for both pre-recorded HD movies and the ability to record HD content at home. With its high 50 GB capacity, Blu-ray discs can accommodate the high recording bit rates needed to deliver pristine picture quality and lossless audio, for a true home theater experience. The BD format has gained the support of leading Hollywood studios, to include Twentieth Century Fox, Buena Vista, MGM, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony Pictures and Lions Gate.
A significant advantage of Blu-ray is its backward compatibility with other video formats. With Blu-ray products consumers may continue to enjoy all the existing DVD formats.
The format also allows for the presentation of multiple entertainment content, such as games, movies and music, on one disc. Blu-ray’s enormous capacity lets users record and store video, digital photos, music and data for playback on multiple devices and computers, and enables the seamless movement of HD content across platforms.
Products:
At a press conference held here during CeBIT 2006, Panasonic announced plans for a Fall 2006 launch of a next-generation Blu-ray disc player to European market, that will play back all existing DVD formats as well as new high-definition Blu-ray discs including BD-ROM package software titles which is expected to be delivered by the studios supporting BD format around the time of the launch.
The Panasonic Blu-ray player will have full-HD 1080 progressive output capability, targeting for best-in-class picture and sound quality to be core piece of the company’s full-HD home theater concept. The preliminary version of the player and the full-HD theater system is on demonstration at Panasonic booth.
The Blu-ray player will be also equipped with “HDAVI Control” to simplify the connection with other audio/video devices, which is Panasonic’s proprietary technology based on HDMI format and interface. HDAVI Control function enables the user to enjoy the home theater with the touch of a single button on the remote. Panasonic is starting to add HDAVI Control capability to a part of 2006 Spring line-up for VIErA PDP displays, DIGA DVD recorders, and home theater products.
To meet consumer high-definition recording needs, Panasonic also announced plans to introduce a series of blank 50GB and 25GB rewriteable and write-once Blu-ray discs this spring. The new discs utilize a dual layer structure first introduced by Panasonic in the Japanese market in 2004 that helps realize the large 50 GB capacity – more than ten times the capacity of conventional 4.7 GBDVD discs.
Disk Production
To meet the anticipated needs for blank media, Panasonic has already begun production of both 25GB and 50GB dual-layer BD Discs in Japan. In addition, to support the studios’ activities to introduce their movie titles to BD-ROM format, Panasonic has started BD-ROM pilot production line in Torrance, CA, USA. Panasonic has been working closely with the movie studios and its replication partners to help fine tune our disc capacity requirements, and will be ready to meet the needs of both content providers and consumers as Blu-ray hardware comes to market.
Industry Support:
The Blu-ray format is supported by consumer electronics manufacturers representing 85% of the industry; the majority of major motion picture studios, to include Twentieth Century Fox, Buena Vista, MGM, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony Pictures and Lions Gate; the world’s two largest music companies; and top computer brands Apple, Dell and HP. ...

Lik Sang have done it again and are the first to show photos of the new Enamel Navy and Ice Blue Editions of the DS Lite, heres some screens:





Lik Sang today received samples units of the Nintendo DS Lite in Enamel Navy and Ice Blue colors. Take a look at the snapshots of the bad boys below, all taken prior to leaving our fingerprints all over the see-through plastic layer of the new Lites

Huge Backlog of Preorders, Big Fat Heavy Shortage in Japan

We are deeply sorry for the long delay, but we truly don't know when remaining orders will be shipped out next. As per current circumstances, it looks like it could even be April before the entire backlog will be cleared. It all strongly depends on Nintendo's production and shipping schedule. Please understand that Nintendo's exact shipping and production schedule is unknown, so that only the heads of Nintendo knows if they will ship more units tomorrow, next week, or maybe end of March.

As soon as units hit the market, Lik Sang will snatch some of them. We unfortunately don't know yet when that will be, and how many units will make their way through from Japan to our warehouse. Next time we will get stock could be tomorrow, but it could as well be in a week or later. We also don't know if the next time when we will get stock we will receive 10 units, 23 units, or maybe even over 500 units. It is something impossible to predict. This chaotic context is also the reason why the price has been hiked everywhere compared to the initial "suggested" tag. Lik Sang is no exception on this and had to take a 30 US$ raise from suppliers, but judging by other places, it turns out we are still the cheapest offering around the net right now, despite the last minute mark-up. In short: Everybody is affected, in and out of Japan.

All this for sure leaves some of us asking what the heck is wrong right now at Nintendo of Japan. Nintendo DS is currently the hottest selling product of the Kyoto based firm and in fact is probably the fastest selling video game machine on the marketplace if you judge by the sales charts of the last six months. It's in Japan that demand is the strongest. Yet, Nintendo managed to strike the island with a shortage of standard Nintendo DSes from January 5th till February 28th, and by the time the NDS Lite finally comes to the rescue, it is largely under-produced, and brought to the store shelves way too slow. One has to wonder what is going on. This sure doesn't look like the perfect plan, as there is a lot of missed sales at stake. This proves that even a big corporation like Nintendo is just run by human beings and can face problems and crises, same as everybody else does. We truly wish them good luck at facing the crisis!

One thing is sure: until now Lik Sang successfully got each single customer his own console on all past systems releases ever. We won't let you down. Please understand and hang in there with us, the storm will calm down and in the end it will be all good.

OK out of all the 3 colours of the new DS lite which do you like most ?, me i choose the Enamel Navy ...

Lik Sang have done it again and are the first to show photos of the new Enamel Navy and Ice Blue Editions of the DS Lite, heres some screens:





Lik Sang today received samples units of the Nintendo DS Lite in Enamel Navy and Ice Blue colors. Take a look at the snapshots of the bad boys below, all taken prior to leaving our fingerprints all over the see-through plastic layer of the new Lites

Huge Backlog of Preorders, Big Fat Heavy Shortage in Japan

We are deeply sorry for the long delay, but we truly don't know when remaining orders will be shipped out next. As per current circumstances, it looks like it could even be April before the entire backlog will be cleared. It all strongly depends on Nintendo's production and shipping schedule. Please understand that Nintendo's exact shipping and production schedule is unknown, so that only the heads of Nintendo knows if they will ship more units tomorrow, next week, or maybe end of March.

As soon as units hit the market, Lik Sang will snatch some of them. We unfortunately don't know yet when that will be, and how many units will make their way through from Japan to our warehouse. Next time we will get stock could be tomorrow, but it could as well be in a week or later. We also don't know if the next time when we will get stock we will receive 10 units, 23 units, or maybe even over 500 units. It is something impossible to predict. This chaotic context is also the reason why the price has been hiked everywhere compared to the initial "suggested" tag. Lik Sang is no exception on this and had to take a 30 US$ raise from suppliers, but judging by other places, it turns out we are still the cheapest offering around the net right now, despite the last minute mark-up. In short: Everybody is affected, in and out of Japan.

All this for sure leaves some of us asking what the heck is wrong right now at Nintendo of Japan. Nintendo DS is currently the hottest selling product of the Kyoto based firm and in fact is probably the fastest selling video game machine on the marketplace if you judge by the sales charts of the last six months. It's in Japan that demand is the strongest. Yet, Nintendo managed to strike the island with a shortage of standard Nintendo DSes from January 5th till February 28th, and by the time the NDS Lite finally comes to the rescue, it is largely under-produced, and brought to the store shelves way too slow. One has to wonder what is going on. This sure doesn't look like the perfect plan, as there is a lot of missed sales at stake. This proves that even a big corporation like Nintendo is just run by human beings and can face problems and crises, same as everybody else does. We truly wish them good luck at facing the crisis!

One thing is sure: until now Lik Sang successfully got each single customer his own console on all past systems releases ever. We won't let you down. Please understand and hang in there with us, the storm will calm down and in the end it will be all good.

OK out of all the 3 colours of the new DS lite which do you like most ?, me i choose the Enamel Navy ...