An unnamed source from inside EA has revealed exactly how revolutionary the next Nintendo console will be by leaking details of the prototype Revolution control pad, which is devoid of face and shoulder buttons, and also lacks any analogue sticks.

In place of these traditionally crucial joypad features is a touch-screen, which can be programmed to display - and indeed use - any configuration of buttons, levers and steering devices, or anything else developers can devise and see fit to program into their game.

This could provide developers with a level of freedom never before seen when developing control schemes, decreasing limitation and offering more innovative methods for controlling games.

However, despite promising a 'pad for all occasions', it's possible the pad may not work for complex games requiring many buttons. And not being able to feel where buttons are may limit player responses in both judgement and accuracy.

But complexity for future games is definitely not Nintendo's direction according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

Speaking recently with Japanese publication Nikkei Business Daily, the Nintendo boss pointed out the need for simplicity in games, in order to draw in causal gamers normally put off by the complexity of modern games.

"A goal of ours with Revolution is to expand the target market for games," said Iwata. "The current consoles are constantly getting more complicated and the number of buttons on joypads has been increasing steadily in recent years. Hardcore players can still manage, but for inexperienced players and beginners the degree of complexity is too big a barrier."

Iwata's comments regarding Revolution being a mass-market device, able to open up gaming to new audiences, echoes Nintendo's sentiment for DS, which, as we know, uses a touch-screen.

This, in our eyes, makes a touch-screen joypad for Revolution highly plausible. Don't rule out the possibility of a built-in microphone either. ...

News from Dreamcast Scene ( http://www.dreamcast-scene.com )

This year's largestest pure demoscene event, the Breakpoint 2005 in Bingen / Rhein (Germany) might be over, but gave every Dreamcast fan out there a new demo.


The Austrian / German demogroup Speckdrumm released not only the entertaining PC demo The Nonstop Schlachthaus Experience, but also their first Dreamcast demo on Breakpoint, which was mainly done by phenomenon and blockbuster.


Unfortunately I can't remember the name because I drank too much Becks. Also, there are no information on pouet.net, speckdrumm.org, scene.org, breakpoint.untergrund.net or any other website yet. Seems like we have to wait until someone is awake again.


Update! We spoke with sobec of Speckdrumm and he told us, that the title of their Dreamcast demo is "raytracement killers". You can download it here:
http://www.speckdrumm.org/Release/[sd]_raytracement_killers_dj.rar


By the way, you can get the first impressions from the Breakpoint party here:
http://www.andersdenkend.com/zwischenraum/BP05/
http://kemppi.loppu.net/bp05/3/

...

Loopy figured out how to read the firmware from the DS.

Here is a program to dump it in blocks of 32KB.
http://natrium42.com/blog/ ...

Kojote has posted some news over at PDroms that will be of interest to Pokemon Mini Fans (heres the link to Justburns Pokemini emulator for Dreamcast http://www.dcemu.co.uk/pokeminidream.shtml )

Heres the info:

Team Pokeme released a really KICKASS demo on the recent held Breakpoint 2005 (German Demoparty in Bingen/Rhein). It made the first place in the real wild category. The downlaod is hidden in their filesection, be sure to get "SHizZLE.zip". Pokemon Mini emulators will need a BIOS, which is NOT available here or at Team Pokeme's homepage, please _do not_ ask for it.

http://pokeme.shizzle.it

Thanks to Kojote of PD Roms Fame ( http://www.pdroms.de/index.php ) ...

Three years ago, Northern California technology company Immersion Corporation brought a suit against Sony Computer Entertainment and Microsoft Corporation claiming patent infringement of its proprietary technology used in the controllers for the companies' home consoles: the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.

Microsoft settled out of court with Immersion in 2003, avoiding messy legal proceedings for $26 million, which also got Microsoft a 10 percent stake in Immersion.

Sony, on the other hand, left the decision up to the courts, a move that appears to have cost the company a serious chunk of change. Last Thursday, United States District Judge Claudia Wilken ordered the electronics giant to pay Immersion $90.7 million in patent infringement damages. The fine stems from the $82 million awarded to Immersion by a jury's decision on September 21, 2004, plus prejudgement interest of $8.7 million tacked on last week, which Sony unsuccessfully objected to.

The tiff involves Immersion's technology that creates the "rumble" feature that causes controllers to vibrate in sync with events in games. The court found in favor of Immersion's claims that Sony's Dual Shock controllers, the standard sticks for Sony's PlayStation and PlayStation 2, and several of its games infringe on two of its patents.

The Oakland, California, court also ordered an injunction stating that Sony is to immediately stop selling the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, both versions of the Dual Shock controllers, and 47 games found to use the vibration technology, including Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Gran Turismo 3. The injunction only effects sales in the United States.

Sony immediately appealed the decision and has been granted a stay of permanent injunction, allowing Sony to sell its products as normal during the appeals process. However, Sony will have to pay a licensing fee to Immersion for the duration of the stay. ...

Following on from our appearance on the worlds best Star Wars site yesterday, today news of the Millenium Falcon Dreamcast Mod reaches Engadget at this url http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000690037909/

Nice to see the Dreamcast Scene get more attention

Thanks again to PTR Lynch for his great Mod. ...

Goity a week ago released an update to his Beats of Rage Mod called Goits of Rage, this is what he posted in the GP32X forums:

I have updated Goits of rage,
Mainly music, and scenes and stuff have been updated, and bugs

This release in Pak Form should work with Dreamcast, GP32, PS2 and Tapwave Zodiac versions of Beats of Rage.

Download at DC Homebrews Goits of Rage Here. ...

As a Star Wars fan its an honour to have any news that sees the Dreamcast scene posted on such a major site as the The Force.Net but thanks to Ptr.Lynch and his Millenium Falcon Dreamcast Mod that has happenned.

May the force be with us

2 months to go till Episode 3 ...

I spotted on DC France ( http://www.dc-france.com/ ) that a new website for Dreamcast has been released, the site is a French site also called DreamSRS.

Check it out at this address --> http://srs.epita.net/index.php/DreamSRS ...