The Nintendo Switch is one of the most exciting consoles for me of all time and heres some exciting news from a PSP dev KGSWS:

I hesitate to call this a “homebrew launcher”, although it technically is, because this is not “the” homebrew launcher people have been expecting since the 34c3 conference (that one is stated to be released on February 1st, according to hacker Plutoo). Calling it a GUI though is a bit underplaying what this actually does.
Because loading from SD is still not technically supported yet on the Nintendo Switch existing homebrew platforms, kgsws’ Homebrew launcher loads individual homebrew (nro files) from an http host, then runs them through Pegaswitch’s ACE loader. The setup process is pretty heavy, at least until someone decides to host some of the homebrews on a public server and make a configuration file broadly available.



download https://github.com/kgsws/kgdoom/tree/master/temp

via http://wololo.net/2018/01/08/nintend...-launcher-gui/ ...

Nintendo has posted a press release that makes some bold claims:

• A strong library of games continues to fuel momentum for Nintendo Switch. In the U.S., more than 60 percent of Nintendo Switch owners have Super Mario Odyssey, and over 55 percent own The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Not only are these games system-sellers, but they’re also two of the highest-rated games in history. (Photo: Business Wire)
  
  “Fans across the country have experienced the joy of playing their favorite games at home or on the go,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s President and COO. “Now that many more people have received Nintendo Switch systems for the holidays, we look forward to bringing them fun new surprises in 2018 and beyond.”
  
  A strong library of games continues to fuel momentum for Nintendo Switch. In the U.S., more than 60 percent of Nintendo Switch owners have Super Mario Odyssey, and over 55 percent own The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Not only are these games system-sellers, but they’re also two of the highest-rated games in history. Nintendo Switch owners also possess the fun, competitive games Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2 at rates of more than 50 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
  
  More than 300 games created by third-party developers have already launched for Nintendo Switch. These include big-name brands like FIFA 18 from Electronic Arts, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Just Dance 2018 from Ubisoft, Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition from Mojang, L.A. Noire from Rockstar Games, NBA 2K18 from 2K Games, Sonic Mania from SEGA, Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers from Capcom, Rocket League from Psyonix and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and DOOM from Bethesda. Nintendo Switch has also received strong support from indie developers, with a steady stream of favorites like SteamWorld Dig 2 from Image & Form, Golf Story from Sidebar Games, Overcooked Special Edition from Team17 Digital Ltd and Stardew Valley from Chucklefish LTD.
  
  This year, Nintendo Switch owners can look forward to Nintendo-published games like Kirby Star Allies, Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2 and a new game starring Yoshi. Fans can also expect continued support from major publishers such as EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Capcom, SEGA, Take 2 and Bethesda, plus a growing catalog of quality content from indie developers.

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With innovations emerging almost every day, it’s certain that gaming will continue to change as we move into the new year. 2017 was a great year for the gaming industry but from the look of things, 2018 promises to be much better.
Let us look at some of the potential gaming developments that are going to take the gaming industry by storm in 2018.




VR finally makes its way down to the people at the bottom


VR has been there for a couple of years now but it has not yet reached the dizzy heights we all expected at the start of 2017. The Google Daydream and Oculus Rift provided a great gaming experience to those who were fortunate enough to lay their hands onto these headsets. The biggest challenge of VR technology in 2017 was that it was a bit above the price range of the ordinary folk, however industry experts predict more developments in 2018 that may finally result in affordable sets hence encouraging more players to move to VR and experience the magic of VR technology playing some of their favourite games like live roulette, blackjack, and baccarat.


Esports to take centre stage


Studies show that esports are likely to dominate 2018 as more and more people move to compete in organised video gaming tournaments worldwide. According to Stastista, esports are likely to rise in terms of market size by 32 percent. Statista also states that in 2018 there is going to be an equal split between those favouring esports and those favouring conventional sports; this just shows the remarkable rise in popularity of esports.


Rise in popularity of Indie games


In 2017, Indie games showed that they have the potential of unsettling the blockbuster games developed by big names. There is a general feeling that in 2018, Indie games will rise in popularity and value as well. Even before 2018 starts, we already know that there is going to be three Indie games to watch out for early next year namely Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, The Last Night, and Indivisible. These Indie games have already generated much hype in the gaming industry and we all wait to see how they will fare.


Rise in AR


Augmented Reality (AR) looks set to rise considerably in 2018 after the AR game, Pokemon GO was positively received by many gamers. Unlike VR, AR creates an immersive environment within the gamer’s existing environment. ...

I dont own a Nintendo Switch yet even though the concept i think is the greatest idea yet, Team Xecuter have just posted this exciting news:

In the light of a recent presentation at the Chaos Communication Congress in Germany we've decided to come out of the woodwork and tease you all a bit with our latest upcoming product.This solution will work on ANY Nintendo Switch console regardless of the currently installed firmware, and will be completely future proof. This is *the* solution for opening up CFW (Custom FirmWare) on the Nintendo Switch. We want to move the community forward and provide a persistent, stable and fast method of running your own code and custom firmware patches on Nintendo's latest flagship product. And we think we've succeeded!
Below you can find a quick video showcasing a Nintendo Switch booting up, but there s something funny going on, can you spot it?


For all the non-believers and technically capable people! Try the following key to decrypt STAGE2 of the bootloader (1.0.0 up till 2.3.0):




F4ECA1685C1E4DF77F19DB7B44A985CAKeep an eye on this space, more news and updates are coming! ...

The 3DO was an awesome console, wish i had never got rid of mine, heres some great news:

Phoenix v2.8.23 Debug is released. Phoenix is the all-new emulator 3DO that the developer developed over 6 years, the emulator has nothing to freedo.

Phoenix v2.8JAG Changelog:


!! Fixes in the object processor (earned by Rebooteroids)
!! Fixed a blitter in the inner loop part (a number of hangs was removed)
+ RISC processors reproduced a hardware error with writing to the flag register (compatibility is improved)
!! Fixed prefetching of commands in DSP
+ Added support for increased horizontal screen resolution
+ The scan is corrected (unnecessary parts of the screen are removed)
!! Alignment adjusted so that Protector SE works
+ Added options for emulating RISC processors in separate threads
+ Overall optimization performed

system Requirements:
P3, 128mb, windows xp/vista/7

download http://www.arts-union.ru/node/23

via http://www.emucr.com/2018/01/phoenix-v2823-debug.html ...

Heres a new release of the premier Nintendo Wii U emulator for WIndows:

Cemu is a Nintendo Wii U emulator that runs commercial games. Highly experimental software to emulate Wii U applications on PC.

Changelog:




For Windows

http://cemu.info/index.html

news via http://www.emulation64.com/view/2817...1113-released/ ...

Awesome news from Eurasia of a great release for PS4:

Valentinbreiz has released a simple payload which loads Linux on PS4 consoles with firmware 4.05, it has been with IDC's fork of the kernel exploit. Thanks goes to GaryOPA for the heads up. Happy New Year!"

via http://www.eurasia.nu/modules.php?na...ticle&sid=3655 ...

GlideN64 the Graphics plugin for Nintendo 64 Emulators has seen a massive new update, heres the release news:

GLideN64 Public Release v3.0 is compiled. GLideN64 is a new generation, open-source graphics plugin for N64 emulators

GLideN64 Public Release v3.0 Changelog:
Today is time to set new Release tag to master branch. Previous Public Release made year ago. Time to set the new milestone. Some statistics: since previous public release
* over 600 commits to master
* closed over 250 various issues

During the year I tried to describe main project's achievements. Lets make a brief retrospective:

The year started from a massive code refactoring. The source code changed drastically. Direct calls to graphics API totally removed from main code. Main code works with graphics via proxy class, which passes graphics call to a graphics back-end. Currently there is one back-end, which uses OpenGL. The refactoring allowed me and other developers to make OpenGL back-end dynamically adoptable for abilities of user's GPU. Thus, the same code works without recompilation for GL ES 2.0, GL ES 3.X, OpenGL 3.X, OpenGL 4.X. The more your GPU can do, the better and faster result you will get. With VAO/VBO support it became possible to use OpenGL core profile and finally port GLideN64 to MacOsX.
After the code refactoring I made major modification of frame buffer and video interface emulation. It was very large and complex work, but the results were rewarding. Fixed lots of old issues, the frame buffer emulation code became simpler.
Long awaited support for Resident Evil 2. The way this game programmed makes it hard to emulate on PC hardware. Many special code required to emulate it properly.
HLE fixes. Most users prefer to use GLideN64 in High Level Emulation mode (HLE), which not only runs much faster than Low Level Emulation (LLE) but also allows them to use widescreen mode and per-pixel lighting. HLE mode has its own issues caused by incomplete or missing implementation of game's microcode. Most of Nintendo microcodes are documented and their implementations work without issues. However, there are many custom microcodes, created by other developers. Documentation for these microcodes is not available for emu devs. To support custom microcode, its assembler code must be reverse-engineered. This work requires skills and patience. The first results in microcode decoding obtained in 2016, when Gilles Siberlin decoded microcode for Kuiki Uhabi Suigo. This year olivieryuyu, the main beta tester of GLideN64, decided to take microcode decoding task and step by step he achieved outstanding results:
T3DUX microcode decoded. Last Legion UX, Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling Toukon Road - Brave Spirits and Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling Toukon Road 2 - The Next Generation now playable with HLE.
Custom lighting method used by Acclaim games decoded. Armorines - Project S.W.A.R.M., South Park, Turok 2 - Seeds of Evil, Turok 3 - Shadow of Oblivion now look much better with HLE.
F3DAM microcode decoded. This is custom microcode, which only one game uses: Hey You, Pikachu! Now this game is fully playable with HLE without major graphics issues.
F3DFLX microcode decoded. This custom microcode is used to draw vehicles in F-Zero. With implementation of this microcode, the vehicles got reflection effect in HLE mode.
Zelda Majora's Mask point-lighting. This game uses custom lighting method, which graphics plugins developers could not properly implement for many years. Finally, olivieryuyu decided to decode it and he succeeded.
Star Wars - Rogue Squadron. This game was co-developed by Factor 5 and LucasArts. Factor 5 created very complex and very large microcode to port this game on N64. HLE implementation of the game was near impossible because of amount of work necessary to decode and implement that microcode. This summer me and olivieryuyu decided to take it. We achieved first very modest results and started crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to support our hard work. Luckily, the campaign was supported and this support encouraged us in our efforts. The game became fully playable in HLE to the end of summer.
Also, Gilles Siberlin has very promising results with HLE implementation of BOSS ZSort microcode for World Driver Championship and Stunt Racer. It should be ready to next release.
Of course, the number of changes is much larger than I could highlight in this blog. Among the most noticeable changes are:
Fixes in software depth buffer render made Body Harvest fully playable. The game suffered from problems with collisions detection.
Emulation of YUV-to-RGB color space conversion allowed to work with YUV textures without hacks and finally fix problems with Projectile Effects in Killer Instinct Gold.
Both Vigilante 8 games became playable after fixes with frame buffer emulation. There are still many glitches in menus, but at least menus are rendered. Game play looks ok.
Gauntlet legends now can boot in HLE mode and works without flickering. This result requires changes ...

Over at Team Xecuter they have posted news of the release of Kodi for the Xbox One:

We all here at MaxConsole, remember the glory days of original Xbox console modding, the main thing to install after you got it flashed or modded was a new dashboard like EvoX or AvaLaunch, and then of course right away installing XBMP with all its plugins, and now the joy of those days can be re-lived on the Xbox One console, as Microsoft surprising enough has helped the Kodi Team to port it over to UWP format and its now rolling out across the world on the Xbox One Store, with Europeans getting the first dibs!
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