Louie Iturzaeta has emailed me and now he has an official site for his new musical app for the PSP Official Site), heres whats new:

I made a simple website for my drum machine and re wrote my sequencer code so the timing issues should be gone.

and more info:

This software was inspired by the PSPKick software. I saw a lot of potential and thought it would be a cool experiment to design my own drum machine software that had a user interface similar to the classic Roland TR series drum machines.

I was originally going to make a TR-707 clone but decided to use a digital screen type display because it was more versatile.

Since I am a novice C programmer most of the code I used to make this program had it's origins in the SDK examples and code from wavloader by jpadams (audio) and the Nem's Hello World source (graphics). I have to give these guys props for sharing thier code to show us newbs how to do it. The sequencer code was all mine and is rather simple.

Thanks also go to my brother for making me some kick ass samples to use and Tri for making some great looking graphics!

In the future I plan on adding a series of new features and possibly posting my source code. If you have any suggestions please email me at rconlives|at|yahoo|dot|com.

Download this Project here --> http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/PSPRhythmComposer.shtml

Thanks for the Emails Louie ...

Apple Computer may be forced to pay royalties to Microsoft for every iPod it sells after it emerged that Bill Gates's software giant beat Steve Jobs' firm in the race to file a crucial patent on technology used in the popular portable music players. The total bill could run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

Although Apple introduced the iPod in November 2001, it did not file a provisional patent application until July 2002, and a full application was filed only in October that year. In the meantime, Microsoft submitted an application in May 2002 to patent some key elements of music players, including song menu software. Apple and Microsoft were two of several companies that developed portable players, but the iPod, with its sleek design and user-friendly controls, has dominated the market.

IPods make up three of every four portable music players bought in the US and account for almost one-third of Apple's sales. Piper Jaffray, a US analyst, believes Apple will sell 25 million iPods this year, bringing the total sold in the four years since its launch to 35 million.

In July, the US Patent and Trademark Office rejected Apple's application, saying some ideas were similar to an earlier application filed by a Microsoft employee, John Platt. The dispute, which emerged this week on the closely watched website, Appleinsider.com, could lead to Apple having to pay a licence fee for the technology of up to $10 a machine.

David Kaefer, Microsoft's director of intellectual property licensing and business development, said: "In general, our policy is to allow others to license our patents so they can use our innovative methods in their products."

Apple has signalled it will resist the move. A spokeswoman said Apple would continue to try to get its patent recognised. The company could take the case to the patent office's appeals board. "Apple invented and publicly released the iPod interface before the Microsoft patent application was filed," it said in a statement.

The battle comes as Microsoft is squaring up against another competitor, Google. Microsoft last month launched a lawsuit against the search-engine giant, accusing it of poaching a top executive to head a new research laboratory in China. The Redmond, Washington-based company also sued the executive, Kai-Fu Lee. ...

Apple Computer may be forced to pay royalties to Microsoft for every iPod it sells after it emerged that Bill Gates's software giant beat Steve Jobs' firm in the race to file a crucial patent on technology used in the popular portable music players. The total bill could run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

Although Apple introduced the iPod in November 2001, it did not file a provisional patent application until July 2002, and a full application was filed only in October that year. In the meantime, Microsoft submitted an application in May 2002 to patent some key elements of music players, including song menu software. Apple and Microsoft were two of several companies that developed portable players, but the iPod, with its sleek design and user-friendly controls, has dominated the market.

IPods make up three of every four portable music players bought in the US and account for almost one-third of Apple's sales. Piper Jaffray, a US analyst, believes Apple will sell 25 million iPods this year, bringing the total sold in the four years since its launch to 35 million.

In July, the US Patent and Trademark Office rejected Apple's application, saying some ideas were similar to an earlier application filed by a Microsoft employee, John Platt. The dispute, which emerged this week on the closely watched website, Appleinsider.com, could lead to Apple having to pay a licence fee for the technology of up to $10 a machine.

David Kaefer, Microsoft's director of intellectual property licensing and business development, said: "In general, our policy is to allow others to license our patents so they can use our innovative methods in their products."

Apple has signalled it will resist the move. A spokeswoman said Apple would continue to try to get its patent recognised. The company could take the case to the patent office's appeals board. "Apple invented and publicly released the iPod interface before the Microsoft patent application was filed," it said in a statement.

The battle comes as Microsoft is squaring up against another competitor, Google. Microsoft last month launched a lawsuit against the search-engine giant, accusing it of poaching a top executive to head a new research laboratory in China. The Redmond, Washington-based company also sued the executive, Kai-Fu Lee. ...

Nintendo's creative genius Eiji Aonuma has told the official South American Nintendo magazine that Satoru Iwata has entrusted him with the task to bring Zelda to the Revolution.

There are no details on the name for the Zelda Revolution, but he is currently overseeing the work on 'The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess' for the Gamecube. His past projects include Zelda's Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and The Wind Waker. ...

Gamegossip are reporting on an article in Time magazine and also on the Time magazine website in which Microsoft CEO Bill Gates confirms that Halo 3 is in development for the Xbox 360.

The one thing that stands out however, is that the game is not due to be launched with the next-gen console, rather used as a time-bomb set to go off with the release of the Ps3.

“It seems that the next Halo won't be an Xbox 360 launch title, but a title set to launch as a disruption to the PlayStation 3 launch, arriving as a second wave of titles during spring of 2006.” ...

Following up its E3 showing in May, Midway Games today held an annual Gamers Day in Chicago with an unsurprising cast of games and almost no surprises.

The big titles were the same ones we'd seen at the previous events, E3, and in between. The basic message of the event was this: Our games have progressed, we're expanding, and we're looking good.

After its fourth acquisition in four years, the latest being Australian developer Ratbag (World of Outlaws: Sprint Car Racing), and steady review scores in 2004 and 2005, President and CEO David Zucker was not lying. Under his helm, the company has made a concerted, steady comeback from years of ineffectiveness and rumors of being bought out to a growing company with big name titles, a healthy stable of development teams, and a wide variety of game types.

While steady progress on the The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Blitz: The League, Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War, and LA Rush were shown via demonstrations and hands-on gameplay time, the lack of any next-generation games or announcements took a little zing out of the whole event.

Sure, we watched a video of Stranglehold, the John Woo shooter scheduled for a 2006 release, but it was the same one we saw at E3. And though we got to see Ed, Edd, and Eddy footage, in addition to seeing a new Rampage, which looked and played a lot like the old Rampage, no one game made people sit back and whisper and coo.

The interesting things about Midway's event were more subtle than startling. For every louder than necessary video presentation (it was like E3, only just one booth), there was something else happening behind the scenes that spelled good news.

For instance, while I'm complaining about a lack of next-gen games, Midway's approach for this next generation is significantly different than its been in every other console launch. It's holding back development and waiting until Microsoft's Xbox 360 has an installed base. It's taking its time so the games look good, instead of rushing out unfinished or unready product. While that sounds dull, this is a big move for a company that's always rushed to market with some arcade game that was never all that good.

The other good news is that Stranglehold is in development with the Austin studio, which created Psi-Ops, generally considered a financial success at Midway. This studio is experienced in FPSs and has a set of heavyweight designers and programmers who are, without doubt, going to have fun with the next gen hardware.

Third, all Midway's games really are progressing well. MK Shaolin Monks looked and played well, mixing arcade simplicity with fighting depth and excellent co-op gameplay. The Suffering Ties that Bind is genuinely distrubing, requiring a different mindset, and Blitz: The League will be the first non-licensed football game since EA gobbled up every license even slightly related to football last year. Blitz is violent, uncensored, and takes a very different look at football, one you would not see with a licensed product. LA Rush is a fast-moving arcade racer, but it doesn't feel or look like a Rush game in the least. If the hardcore followers can see past this notion -- that it's just a different game -- then this game might do well. And everything else looks like it's coagulating and simmering with just the right amount of care and craft. That said, we have yet to play a version of the new Gauntlet Seven Sorrows or see anything beyond a trailer. Guess it's still far from ready...

Finally, pehaps the most genuine and awe-inspiring part of the event was a surprise visit by the Brice Mellen, the blind gamer who's been making rounds in the media. Mellen cannot see, but that doesn't prevent him from playing videogames, and he demonstrated his superior skills by playing Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon at his own game and beating him. The crowd of 50-plus people at Midway's event gathered around in shock and awe as the young man played by sound and used button memorization to play Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. It was an amazing, hopeful, and inspiring sight, no pun intended, one I'll remember for the rest of my life. ...

Whilst we'd seriously like to question the wisdom of Microsoft herding hundreds of journalists and industry figureheads to Amsterdam and plying them all with free alcohol, that's exactly what Bill's lot will be doing this October, as Microsoft plans this year's X0 event.

For those of you in the dark, Microsoft has held an event at a different location in Europe each year since 2002, with Pierre Cardin's Bubble House in Cannes, La Isla Magica theme park in Seville and a beach club in Juan-les-Pins all previous venues for the event, which is exclusively intended for industry and press types. Like us. Presuming we get our mitts on an elusive invitation.

It's at these events that Microsoft shows off its latest console wares, and this year's X05 event should have a strong Xbox 360 flavour to it, with an array of completed, playable 360 code expected. So if all goes as planned, on October 4th and 5th PALGN will hopefully be found socialising and networking with a decent-sized portion of the games industry in the Dutch city, all whilst listening to what Microsoft has planned for the future and trying out the latest titles weeks or months before they hit shop shelves. Tough job, this. And even if we don't get over to Holland, we'll still bring you the latest coverage of events there as they unfold, albeit whilst sulking a bit.

If they've not already been revealed, then we'd expect an announcement on the Xbox 360's launch and price tag as well, another reason for us to stay firmly focused on the job at hand, rather than swanning off and enjoying the, um, extra-curricular activities the city can offer visitors. And why Amsterdam? 'To tell you our rationale for choosing Amsterdam would reveal some of our plans and we want to keep those as secret as possible!' proclaimed regional VP of Xbox for EMEA Chris Lewis. We can imagine.

More news as it breaks. ...

Mad Catz Interactive announced today financial results for the three-month period ended June 30, 2005. The company also revealed it has obtained a license to manufacture Xbox 360 accessories.

Darren Richardson, President and CEO of Mad Catz Interactive, stated: "These new products are expected to further diversify Mad Catz' revenue sources. However, in the near-term, we see a continuation of some of the slow market trends that we faced in the first quarter. In our historically strong fiscal third quarter, the Xbox 360 will be released. As an official Microsoft peripheral licensee for North America and Europe, we will produce a range of Mad Catz branded products that will be officially endorsed by Microsoft and carry the Xbox 360 license logo."

Yesterday, C|Net revealed that the Mad Catz license agreement limits the manufacturing on the type of controllers Mad Catz can make. Mad Catz can only manufacture corded controllers, while Microsoft itself is making wireless controllers. The Mad Catz license agreement also excludes light guns, memory units, hard drives and cheat cards. Licensed Xbox 360 accessories include game pads, steering wheels, arcade sticks, flight sticks and dance pads.

The agreement also revealed a new royalty program that will only allow authorized third-party accessories to work with the Xbox 360. This is possible thanks to a new security mechanism that checks if the peripheral is an Xbox 360 authorized accesory or not. ...

Xbox 360 has been designed to only work with Microsoft approved and branded pads and peripherals, according to industry sources.

A contract between Microsoft and peripheral makers Mad Catz has revealed that an anti-piracy 'security feature', found inside every 360, will allow the machine to decide which devices it will and won't work with, according to reports circulating the geekier depths of the web.

If this proves to be true then any third-party company planning to make a dance mat, lightgun or steering wheel for the next-gen console would have to pay Microsoft up-front for the technology, or allow Bill to take a certain percentage of royalties on each device sold.

This might sound like just another way for the Seattle giant to make money, but a similar system currently operates with software, where publishers pay Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to have their game released on their consoles.

And, if these rumours do prove true, then only companies with Microsoft's blessing and its logos slapped on their boxes will be able to sell equipment to plug into Xbox 360. Which has one obvious implication: joypads may become more expensive.

It could also seriously affect anyone currently planning to plug their camera, MP3 player, webcam, PSP or Mac into the next-gen console. ...