This has been an exceptional week for the Nintendo DS with Fireflys excellent Wireless Multiboot so now you can put DS Homebrew onto the console without the PassMe Device. Theres also work going on to Work on a replacement firmware and finally the release of the first Emulator to work on the DS. Watch yer back PSP ...

Jate has posted news of a new Beats of Rage Mod called Asterix and Caesar´s Challenge, Belavi has created another awesome mod for the Dreamcast, more information and screenshots/downloads here --> http://www.dreamadictos.com/index2.php ...

Erwan the webmaster of the excellent DC France website has posted news of a new release of ScummVM for the Dreamcast, check out this topic on DC France`s forums -->: http://forum.dc-france.com/viewtopic.php?t=146

Thanks to JMD on IRC efnet #dcemu for the news ...

Vilmos has again updated his port of MAME to the Tapwave Zodiac and Pocket PC, heres whats new:

MANY more games working and the NeoGeo module is included.

The launcher has a new option, the little P and L icons on the bottom of the launcher screen let you load the game in Portrait or Landscape mode. Note that some game drivers do not support this, so it won't work on all games and on none of the NeoGeo. The joystick also switches control from landscape to portait as you switch.

Download from Here. ...

FluxCapacitor has released a Magic: The Gathering Clone for the Palm and Tapwave Zodiacs, download Here. ...

Dream Coding Grand Prix 2004 was a great start to our annual Dreamcast coding Competition but this year i want the comp to be much bigger with say a 4 MONTH limit on the comp and the competition will have no limitations which means Fenix Games, Beats of Rage Mods, Doom, Quake Mods, Emulators, Homebrew, Tools , apps.

Anything and i mean anything as long as its legal :P

Im proposing prizes to be

Winner - Nintendo DS

Second Place- NeoGeo Pocket Colour & 6 Games

3rd Place - GameKing with 13 games

This competiion is not designed to harm DreamOn but coexist nicely with it. Ill Finalize everything soon, if any one wants to donate prizes (im looking at companys not individuals) then that would be excellent, im looking at starting on May 1st 2005.

I look forward to your thoughts and comments. ...

A new version of VBA Link has been released, VBA Link is the multiplayer version of Visual Boy Advance (GBA Emu for Windows). Cant say whats new as theres no read me and the sites in japanese so stumped again but you can download Here. ...

News from Dreamcast Scene:

Even after the release of Trizeal, the Dreamcast gets more official games in Japan. This time, the detective novel-like "Higurashi no naku koro ni" doujin PC game by 7th Expansion will be ported to Dreamcast and PlayStation2?. Alchemist (whom brought Baldr Force EXE to DC and PS2) will be responsible for porting the game, which features three separate murder cases which will come together in the end to complete the story. Unfortunately, an official release date hasn't yet been set.

http://www.dreamcast-scene.com/index...shiAnnoucement ...

In 1999, Sega used the MTV Video Music Awards to introduce the Dreamcast to US audiences. The man behind that effort? Peter Moore, then marketing boss for the US subsidiary. The following year, the VMAs were the chosen platform to give the Sega.net initiative standing with the coveted gamer demographic. Again, it was Moore who spearheaded the effort.


This year, Moore, now part of the massive Xbox team at Microsoft (he is Corporate vp of Worldwide Marketing and Publishing) has once again chosen MTV as the primary vehicle for introducing a new product to the North American marketplace--this time the next-gen Xbox.

We spoke with Moore earlier this week.

GameSpot: Peter, how does a deal like this evolve?

Peter Moore: A year ago my team and I sat down to try and figure out how we bring this platform to life, not only to the trade show crowd at E3, but more importantly, to the tens of millions of people that have got us to where we are today with Xbox. And the tens of millions of more that are going to join us in the next generation.

We discussed how do we do it in an entertaining way, in a constructive manner, and unexpectedly. And how do we do it with a great partner, and do it simultaneously, globally. And tie in music and celebrity, and all that cool stuff.

GS: So you picked MTV…

PM: As you might remember, in my past life, I worked with MTV on a regular basis, using the VMA's as a launch platform for one particular console.

So I went to see my old friends there in April of last year; we got into some great conversations about an entertaining way to do this. We've been working on this ever since.

Only a few weeks ago, finally got all the details nailed down and felt comfortable in announcing this at the right time and the right place, and that's what we did last week.

GS: Does this send a message that E3 isn't as big as it used to be--as a platform to broadcast news to the game industry?

PM: Not at all. Not at all.

We have so much to say. We wanted to say things first to the consumer, and give them a sneak peek--albeit in a 30-minute television show--that will give them a peek under the tent of what's going on and allow them to see it at the same time as the rest of the world does.

GS: What's left for the E3 audience?

PM: Then on the Monday night, May 16, we do a real deep dive and will show the games in their full glory--getting into more detail in the Rob, J and Peter show [Robbie Bach, J Allard, Peter Moore].

And, of course, then on the E3 show floor itself…where we can really show you the power of the platform.

GS: What grade do you give Xbox, version one, in the area of marketing and advertising?

PM: I'd say a B. One of the things that probably stopped us from being an A- is, [even though] we created a very cool and aspirational brand, we need to broaden the appeal of the brand. Not losing, or disenfranchising in any way, the gamers that got us there today--which is always a marketing challenge--but we have to grow.

But at the same time, we need to make sure we continue to talk to the more hard core gamer, the early adopters. That has been an important part of our success, and we fully intend to do that. At the same time, we need to provide an even more approachable feel and tonality to the brand, and we need to do things differently.

GS: Is there an area you feel Xbox excels at?

PM: We're the thought leader in this generation. We need to turn that into market leadership in the next generation, and this is just one small example of how we will do that, and do that in a very aggressive manner, globally.

GS: Is there a little bit of cat and mouse with Sony behind this move--to show off the new console the week before E3?

PM: Not really.

GS: Not really?

PM: A number of people have asked me: "was this in response to Sony moving their press conference and getting first place for the unveil?" I don't know. As I said, regardless of what our competition wants to do, we had a very clear plan in mind that goes back a year now to meetings in New York at the MTV headquarters.

GS: Is it a two way street with MTV…any upside for them?

PM: We are very important to them. We're starting to drive an entertainment business that rivals music. As Nielsen reported two weeks ago, consumers are spending more money on video games than they are on music. That wakes people up.

But you have to have your own strategy and you've got to stick with it once it's nailed down. This is part and parcel of a strategy that's been in development over fifteen months now.

GS: How many people are you expecting to reach with this MTV effort?

PM: We haven't put any metrics behind it, but clearly you want millions upon millions of people to see it. I certainly think that with MTV, we should get those numbers.

What I've always been impressed with--and my consumer marketing hat goes on here--is how they've changed their entire persona to the outside world, from a network that just broadcasts three-minute video music clips to being the originators of reality television with Real World, ...