Great news for Gamecube owners from Lik Sang [br][br] Since Team Star Fox first followed the beckoning stars into space opera action on the SNES in the nineties (with the FX chip built-in the cart!), the series has seen many a console's incarnation. For fans, it took perhaps too long after the latest installment, Star Fox Adventures from Rare (now a Microsoft subsidiary), until Namco finally let their take on the popular Nintendo franchise loose. Our stock of Star Fox Assault has been received in Hong Kong from the USA a couple of days ago and preorders have been all cleared by now. We tested this US version for Freeloader compatibility and you'll be happy to hear that it works fine on both Japanese and PAL consoles as well. Preordering folk, rejoice - your copy of Star Fox Assault is on its way to you already. New orders are welcome for only US$ 59.90, all Free Shipping Worldwide of course! The US version is definitely the game of choice right now, since the Japanese one is still some way off release-wise and (for those language conscious ones) perhaps won't prove that import friendly after all.[br][br]Movies etc [br][br]Who has time to enjoy the views when engaged in fierce space combat? Believe us, if you find a moment to take your breath, you'll gape in astonishment at the visuals, before the driving orchestral soundtrack worthy of a sci-fi stint like this will push you further. Ready to open fire yet? Since moving pictures tell more than a nuked blackhole chock-full with screenshots, we serve you eight cool movies and TVCMs below, that let you worship the superb glory of Star Fox Assault in action, before your copy will arrive at your door:[br][br]• Star Fox Assault Intro 1[br]• Star Fox Assault Intro 2[br]• Star Fox Assault Air Footage[br]• Star Fox Assault Ground Footage[br]• Star Fox Assault US TVCM[br]• Star Fox Assault JAP TVCM[br]• Star Fox Assault E3 2004 Trailer[br]• Star Fox Assault E3 2003 Trailer[br][br]Storyline and features[br][br]Fox McCloud, along with his loyal sidekicks, defends the Cornerian fleet once more against the evil Andross' forces, now led by his nephew Oikonny. Read on to find out what's great about this highly anticipated Action-Adventure, plus view a myriad of movies to get a glimpse of an universe struggling with combat, crying out to be saved by a hero like you.[br][br]The near-disaster episode on Dinosaur Planet behind them, classic Star Fox team members Fox McCloud, Slippy Toad, Peppy Hare, Falco Lombardi and General Pepper join forces with some fresh faces to fight a newly emerged threat to the solar system. Lylat Central Command sents the just formed Star Fox Armada in to deal with this enemy, which turns out to be almost more of a menace than they are able to handle.[br][br]New character Rob, an analysis droid, updates you on your mission status during the game, while we see a return of Krystal (from Star Fox Adventures) who takes Peppy's place in the cockpit, the fighter pilot bunny himself acting as an advisor this time around. The game in essence blends traditional on-rail aerial shooter design with third-person perspective, on-foot missions. As expected, players will rely heavily on the trusty Arwing Strikefighter. Planetside though, you will thank the scorched earth for the existence of the Landmaster Tank, as well as a weapon arsenal that delivers good old-fashioned, relentless "if-it-moves-hit-the-trigger" gameplay.[br][br]Available modes include Mission, Survival and Versus. Mission mode will find you entering a story-based experience, where throwing laser and missile salves at targets is on top of your intergalactic To-Do list. Tear trough hostile skies (not to forget space stations and planets) and do your best as the team leader to complete objective-based tasks. Unlocking Survival mode requires you to finish Mission first. The name says it all: survive all of the stages in mission mode without saving your game, a real challenge cut out for those who like a tough ride and are capable of staying in the zone until the rewarding end. [br][br]At the start of each stage, you will see which vehicles will be available to you. If you begin on foot, the Landmaster and Arwing will sometimes be near you, allowing you to use them at will and change between them as needed. Fox's Arwing maneuvers still perfectly and barrel rolls are easily performed using the L button. Need to speed up? Hit the Y button and engage the turbo, while pressing X will cause you to slow down.[br][br]When pounding the pavement, controls are pretty straightforward as well, with the A button firing your gun and the B button responsible for jumping. Holding down the R button lets you aim in any direction, handy for shooting down any flying enemies. Certain foes which you defeat will drop their weapons along the way. Pick these up to use them yourself and switch from one to another with the C stick.[br][br]In the upper right corner of the screen sits a special gauge which tells ...

Gizmondo Europe Ltd, subsidiary of Jacksonville, Florida-based Tiger Telematics Inc. (OTC: TGTL , OTC: TGTL.PK), confirmed today in order to extend its exposure beyond the primary consumer electronics focus, it will be attending the American International[br][br]TOY FAIR, hosted at the Javits Convention Center in New York from the 20-23rd February 2005 by the Toy Industry Association(R), Inc. American International TOY FAIR(TM) is the largest toy trade show in the Western Hemisphere. More than 1,500 manufacturers, distributors, importers and sales agents from 30 countries showcase their toy and entertainment products, and are visited by more than 20,000 buyers from over 87 countries. Gizmondo will be exhibiting at booth number 5967, giving first-hand demonstrations of the new Gizmondo multi-entertainment handheld.[br][br]Releasing this spring across North America and mainland Europe, this powerful piece of gaming, multimedia, and communications hardware will ultimately be targeted at users of all ages making this event a good platform to give retailers and buyers a taste of what's in store.[br][br]Carl Freer, Managing Director, Gizmondo Europe, says: "The Toy Fair is an excellent opportunity for us to engage the retail community directly, and showcase the amazing functionality of the Gizmondo. Our target demographic will broaden significantly by the end of this year, and our retail presence will escalate accordingly." ...

Gizmondo Europe Ltd, subsidiary of Jacksonville, Floridabased Tiger Telematics Inc. (other OTC, TGTL), began showcasing the new handheld multientertainment device at the 3GSM business-to-business show, which runs from the 14th-17th February 2005 in Cannes, south of France.[br][br]The 3GSM World Congress is recognised as the global meeting place for the wireless industry, attracting key decision-makers and industry analysts from across the world, to debate their visions of the future of the industry and unveil new hardware concepts. Over 28,000 telecoms players from over 173 countries descend on the event, making it an unrivalled platform to present the GSM and GPRS connectivity of the Gizmondo handheld device and generate new busines ahead of the European and North American Spring launches.[br][br]Click on the Read More for the full press release.[br][br][br][br][br]NVIDIA®, who notably supply the Gizmondo’s immensely powerful GoForce 3D 4500 graphics accelerator, will also feature the device on their stand. Also exhibiting the device are Zi Corp®, who provide the predictive texting system, and Plextech, Intrinsyc, and SiRF, whodeveloped the device hardware, software, and GPS (respectively).[br][br]Gizmondo demonstrators will be on hand to guide visitors through the GPS, SMS/MMS and email communication features, gaming and entertainment functions, at stand J45 in hall 3.[br][br]Carl Freer, managing director of Gizmondo, says: “3GSM is a hotbed of innovation for the mobile communications and wireless industries, and the Gizmondo will certainly turn a lot of heads this year.” He continued, “The Gizmondo is unique in terms of the functionality it can deliver and, via the GSM and GPRS connectivity, in the entertainment it can deliver.”[br][br]Steve Carroll, CTO, Gizmondo Europe, offered: “The Gizmondo’s GSM hardware opens the door to mobile gaming. Part of our model, is to deliver high-value entertainment content via the device, direct-download music and video, and also a new direct marketing system called SmartAdds™. The Gizmondo is immensely powerful in terms of specification and in the GPS hardware as well.” ...

Hyper DS, which for those of you who dont know is a Nintendo DS emulator for Windows in development by Firefly, the emulator is still in private development but you can check out screenshots of the emulator at the official site Here [br][br]Those interested in Nintendo DS Homebrew, Hacking and Emulation news should also check out This Site. ...

News From Lik Sang [br][br] If you've been browsing our extensive catalog of games humming "Ain't no mountain high enough...", looking for a fun and far-out challenge that works perfectly on the go, your search ends here: bursting with more than 180 all-new, factory-fresh microgames is NDS WarioWare: Touched, which we received today. All preorders are getting shipped and new orders are of course welcome for only US$ 49.90, this title being eligible for our Free Shipping Worldwide promotion.[br][br]Wario and his outlandish mini-game frenzy appeared on other platforms before, but the Nintendo DS version of the series proves that there's indeed something unique and innovative to touch and dual-screen gaming. A truly evolved GameBoy device, the NDS lets you experience the craziness of WarioWare with a twist, using the touch screen brilliantly and even utilises the system's built-in microphone! Wield the stylus with skill to slice fruit as they fly across the screen, trap a duck as it walks under a cage, pluck a large facial hair by its root, spin a toilet paper roll until there's no more, hit one in a row of cats as it leaps out, and much more. [br][br]It's as bizarre as it gets: complete hilarious tasks that take no more than five seconds to accomplish and the more you master successfully, the faster the game gets. Players are required to draw, tap, drag and spin on the touch screen or blow the micro to score as high a number of challenges as possible, before losing all their four "lives". Just imagine the joy of maneuvering a peeing statue to extinguish fire (beware, it even gets weirder as you progress)! [br][br]While the US version is essentially the same as the Japanese copy and most its games still remain in the North American release, one level in Japanese WarioWare throws a task based on the classic Famicom Detective series at players while Nintendo of America replaced that stage with one about Metroid. Not to mention the relief of full English text this time. [br][br]Graphically you are in for as much sprite-madness as one can handle, plus lots of 3D-effects for good measure. Given the myriad of unlockables, the "just-one-more-go" addictive appeal of the fast-paced, outrageously weird action and the well executed gameplay across two screens adding stylus/microphone joy, this is definitely one of the top titles in the Nintendo DS library. We'd go as far as saying that it's one must-have game if you own Ninty's latest mobile gadget. Now go ahead, touch it already![br] ...

DSEmu is now the first albeit very very early Nintendo DS emulator to be released, heres the news from the author:[br][br] I now have seperate DS mmu and gpu source files. The DS mmu copies the ROM over to 02004000 as the hardware seems to, and the gpu does nothing different (not even the resolutions) yet. Even so, I now have gba.dll AND ds.dll, and that is good news.[br][br]Good enough to warrant a versioning up, I think. I've hit beta E, so y'all can celebrate this fact by downloading it and trying it out. If you want to load a DS rom, the only way to change DLLs right now is to modify LoadDS in the INI file. You can probably work out what values the variable can take.[br][br]And before I get all sorts of complaints, I know it'll crash. I've just put the compilation framework down, that's all. [br][br]Download it from Here ...

2 big Nintendo DS News items from Joat [br][br] ndslib is now up on SourceForge. It is only available as a CVS repository for the time being, a zip will be provided after the library stabilizes somewhat. To install, check out the project, make in the main directory, and follow the README in the startup directory. You'll need a recent version of DevkitARM and MSys (or any other packages that provides an arm-elf targetted GCC and common unix tools such as sh, gnu make, etc...) to build it. [br]Note: ndslib is very much in flux, use it at your own risk. Register names and general layout can and will change! [br][br]and this[br][br] Here is a DS project template. It demonstrates how to set up the ARM7 as a relay of information to the ARM9, and sets the background colors of the screens based on touch screen presses. To build: [br][br]Get DevkitARM and MSys [br]Check ndslib out of CVS [br]Unzip the template to a project directory [br]Open CommonMakefile.in and set the path of ndslib and DevkitARM (if not in your system path) [br]Make in the project directory [br]A MSVC.net project file has been provided, but is completly optional. The Makefile system automatically grabs source files in the directories, and bin2o's resources in the resource subdirectories. ...

Microsoft's next-generation home console has been designed to use wireless controllers by default, according to online reports which have been confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz this morning by developers working on titles for the system.[br][br]British technology news site The Inquirer reported yesterday that the new console will sport controllers very similar to the current Controller S design, but using wireless rather than wired connections to the console.[br][br]Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz this morning, developers working with prototype Xbox 2 hardware confirmed that while they have not seen final designs for the controller, Microsoft representatives have indicated that the pads will indeed be wireless.[br][br]A number of questions are raised by the decision to use wireless peripherals - most obvious being whether the pads will continue to support battery-draining rumble functions, and if they will be rechargeable or simply rely on replaceable AA batteries.[br][br]Microsoft will be the first console manufacturer to ship wireless pads as standard with its hardware, but not the first to ship an official wireless controller; Nintendo has already enjoyed significant success with the WaveBird, its wireless pad for the GameCube. ...

In a demonstration of its commitment to consumer safety, Microsoft today announced that it will voluntarily replace the power cords on some 14.1 million Xbox consoles worldwide after sporadic reports of electrical component failures that might constitute a fire hazard.[br][br]"This is a preventative step we’re choosing to take despite the rarity of these incidents," Microsoft's Robbie Bach commented. "We regret the inconvenience, but believe offering consumers a free replacement cord is the responsible thing to do."[br][br]Microsoft released the following statement clarifying the nature of the problem:[br][br]"Fewer than one in 10,000 consoles have experienced these component failures, and in almost all instances, any damage caused by these failures was contained within the console itself or limited to the tip of the power cord at the back of the console.[br][br]"However, in 30 consoles worldwide, these failures are reported to have caused minor injury or minor property damage. In seven instances, customers reported sustaining a minor burn to their hand. In 23 instances, customers reported smoke damage, or minor damage to a carpet or entertainment centre.[br][br]"In all regions except Continental Europe, Xbox consoles manufactured before 23rd October, 2003 require a replacement power cord. In Continental Europe, consoles manufactured before 13th January, 2004 require a replacement power cord."[br][br]Customers should go to www.xbox.com, Microsoft said, and click the "Power Cord Replacement for Xbox" link to fill out an order form. Replacement cords will take two to four weeks to arrive, and prior to their arrival customers are advised to switch their consoles off at the mains when not in use. The company has also set up freephone telephone numbers for people who cannot use the web - 0800 028 9276 in the UK, and 1800 923947 in the Republic of Ireland.[br][br]"Not all replacement cords that Microsoft supplies to program participants will look the same. Which type of cord is shipped will depend on the date the console was manufactured and the country where it is used," the statement added. ...