The handheld gaming market may soon become less crowded. According to Gamasutra, Tapwave has said it will cease production of branded Zodiac products. The Tapwave Zodiac is a Palm OS-based gaming platform, known for its fairly robust media capabilities...and slim game offerings.

Evidently, Tapwave plans to continue operations as the producer of cobranded OEM (original equipment manufacturer) products. There's a strong indication this means the Tapwave Zodiac will soon be discontinued in favor of a similar product released under a new name and manufactured by a different company. Calls to Tapwave's US publicity contact were not returned, and e-mails were bounced back.

The Zodiac first hit store shelves in June of 2004, almost a year after Tapwave began taking preorders for the device on its Web site. The original price of $300 for the 32MB Zodiac 1 and $399 for the 128MB Zodiac 2 were recently reduced to $270 and $350 respectively. However, the device failed to grab a foothold in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

The Zodiac has seen some growth in its game offerings, thanks to some new games from Sega, Atari, and Backbone Entertainment However, many are reissues of old titles, or ports of games from other platforms, such as Electronic Arts' Madden 2005 and Sega's Altered Beast.

Last October, the Zodiac entered the European market, but it's failed to make headway there as well. ...

As elder Jedi Yoda would say: "Shipped Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith has." The latest game based on the sci-fi phenomenon is now in stores for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, and DS. LucasArts is publishing the console editions, and French game studio Ubisoft developed and published the portable versions. A mobile version was released last month, and a PSP version is slated to be released later this year. Revenge of the Sith is rated T for Teen and retails for $49.99.

Fans of the Star Wars films who can't wait two weeks for the theatrical release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith will be happy to know the game features almost 12 minutes of footage from the movie and follows the same story. The game's plot will also expand on ideas briefly touched on by the film.

The third-person action game features some minor role-playing elements. Gamers will be able to play as both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, and they can get their Jedi on with a broad range of Force powers and lightsaber-swingin' action. As players progress through Revenge of the Sith, they will be able to both strengthen their mystical powers and push opponents with the flick of a wrist, in addition to even being able to shoot lightning from their fingertips.

The single-player campaign features 18 missions set in locations from the movie. Each mission has a set of objectives to complete, and finishing missions will unlock a slew of extras, including bonus missions featuring additional playable characters and special cooperative-based missions that let Anakin and Obi-Wan fight together.

A multiplayer mode lets Jedi duel against one another in arenalike combat. Nine fighters are available, including Count Dooku, General Grievous, and Mace Windu. The combatants will square off in 15 settings, all based on locations from the movie.

Revenge of the Sith for the Xbox and PS2 was developed by The Collective, which previously worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. The company is now working on the upcoming Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. The development house recently merged with Death Jr. creator Backbone to establish Foundation 9, the largest independent studio in North America. ...

Some other news

I finally got a Nintendo DS on past Friday. My new toy seems fun to code. I hope to port her (*yum*) some of my emulators.

Back to the GP32, I have to delay the f-day a couple of months due to some personal circumstances. As a gift meanwhile, let me unveil the mystery... yes, all my emulators will be updated on f-day, and I will release *all* of them, as some of you had guessed right :-)

More even, all ports have been ported from scratch, and quality is higher than ever. Now featuring triple buffering, auto frameskip, frame limiter, 32M/64M RAM support, 16bit stereo sound, chatboard, etc etc for all my emus, plus releasing them as open source (yes you heard it right :-). Bah, you won't be disappointed at all !

Please be patient, 'cos upgrading 13 emulators and my HyperPortable Library is taking me over ;-)

That's all for now, stay tuned...

http://www.retrodev.info/ ...

Mekanaizer has ported SDL Toms over to the Dreamcast, heres the news from the man himself:

SDL-toms can now be played on Dreamcast, source and unscrambled binary here. It is a very simple but fun game which 4 players can play and have fun. A Dreamcast keyboard and mouse is need to play it on Dreamcast.

Download Here. ...

It’s starting to become a habit. The unveiling of pieces of upcoming hardware keeps finding its way to our tips section just as we wrap up a hard day’s work. This time around we get a tantalizing pointer from Cybigamerz. It looks like the next issue of Nintendo Power has an E3 teaser, with Mario unveiling…something. The letters “LIN” and a blue/purple (Dolphin colored?) plastic thing peek out. It could just be a peek at the next Zelda, but it may also be the first glimpse of the next Nintendo console.

Anybody seen the issue yet? ...

Edge, Future's internationally respected multiformat videogame magazine, celebrates its milestone 150th issue later this month with a world-exclusive expose of Microsoft's next videogame console.

The first videogame magazine in the world to deliver details of the next-generation Xbox hardware, Edge hits newsstands on Tuesday 17 May with unparalleled coverage of the new technology.

Before the global MTV unveiling was announced, Edge was given access to the next-gen console, its peripherals and Microsoft's massively ambitious strategy for the platform. In true Edge tradition, the unveiling of the new console gets a comprehensive eight-page rundown. Both hardware and software shots feature heavily, as Edge gets to grips with the concepts behind the hardware and explains how its feature set means videogaming will never be quite the same again.

Also helping to make Edge 150 an issue to remember, the magazine heads to Nintendo's Kyoto HQ to meet Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma. The enigmatic creative discusses the as-yet-untitled latest instalment in the long-running Legend of Zelda series, and Edge also delivers all-new information on the game and reveals the latest tantalising screenshots.

Edge's 150th issue also includes a new edition of the magazine's popular 'Get Into Games' series of supplements. This updated 32-page guide offers comprehensive practical advice to anyone wanting a career in the videogame industry, insider tips from those already at work within it, and details of educational courses and options available across the UK.

Tony Mott is Editor of Edge:

"Our readers have come to expect us to be first with details of new gaming hardware – we were first with next-generation Xbox specs in issue 148, and we're first again with images of the finished hardware and actual game shots in issue 150. But we're not ignoring current hardware, and I know readers will enjoy our eight-page article on the new Zelda. This is an exciting time to be editing Edge, and it's only going to become more exciting as the videogame world continues to evolve."

Matt Pierce is Publisher of Edge:

"We're delighted that Edge can celebrate this major publishing milestone with a duo of heavyweight videogaming exclusives. Edge remains the only videogame magazine with a remit to reflect the full scope of gaming's widening cultural impact, and these unveilings are a testament to the consistent high quality of Edge's editorial and its position as the uncompromising, respected voice of authority in the games industry." ...

This looks amazing and if there was one for sale i for one would snap it up, take a lookie at these pics: ...

Miqualke posted this review of the new Nintendo DS Flashcart:

First thing i've done, trying to put battery in the FlashCard. It's a bit hard, but it needs to. losing contact will make loose all gba savegame.

Then i installed the driver kits 0.8a , plug the kit, install drivers and lunch app.
I was wondering why from the moment i installed drivers, the small green ligth disapear on the slim loader ?
but anyway, let's continue, seems normal.

The app see my Neoflash card. w00t \o/ !
So the first thing I tried is my game DSBonga.

I add it without changing anything. Arf, there is a loader. i think i didn't swith to nds type.
So I restart the app in NDS type.
ok let's do it again, DSBonga.
Arf small bug, when I try to burn it. It burned it in a second. too quick i think i refreshed the app and it told me he didn't see the flash card anymore.
ok let's restart the app.
The app doen't want to start, there were only a blank window.
Hum i unplugged USB restart the app, ask Phantom who answer he didn't have any of my problem, well now it seems to work, i plug again USB, a refresh, ok it's work. i retry to add DSBonga, ok fine, now it's a bit longer, it's really burning.

Nice, so let's try,
my firmware flashed DS boot it perfectly without magic key as expected.

Well now let's try something all people are questionning, a rom. I tried Metroids Rom from golden sun team.
let's burn it.
few bugs like before, nothing really important . it burned it pretty fast 160seconds for the 128Mbits.
I boot without magic key. doesn't work. ok
Let's try with Magic Key, with Metroid in it. It worked !!!!
Nice, let's try also the flasme trick A B X Y. It worked.
It's enougth for me. I didn't try save game because i was worry about my save.

Later phantom explain to me how he think it work for savegame. so no need to worry, you can have several save on a card.

Well let's make a brief summry with adds and cons:
adds:
-512 to 1024 Mbits !!
-pretty fast !
-tiny
-Nice Design
-Nice GBA booter
-Boot some commercial game
Cons
-The app need to be more reliable
-Savegame system need to be improve. at least some way to backup those.
-Finition need to be improve a few
-No multyboot hombrew rom yet
-Boot some commercial game

More reviews here --> http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php?board=13.0 ...

I dont claim to be the worlds biggest linux fan by any stretch but the geek inside of me sure gets a kick out of seeing it running on the DS. As far as i know it is not yet released but for a few betas; though, given the nature of linux I expect a full release with source in the very near future. Good work Pepsiman! And thanks Davr for the screen shots. ...