Massive news article from Lik Sang:

We've featured news items on hundreds of different games over the years, but one a month ago on a new Dreamcast shooter, Trizeal, was something quite different. The passion which poured out across the website of the developer, Triangle Service, seemed to cut through the foundations of the corporate gaming industry today and go back to a pure love of developing games, and playing games. Their "SOS" message was quite honestly the most unprofessional thing we've ever seen on an official website, but also the most touching one. Since then the title climbed our pre-order charts, surpassed modern day console releases, reached the number two spot, and now, is in stock and shipping.

Getting back to their "SOS message", which was surprising and somewhat insane (save us from the Spanish bulls??), the developers explained the trouble they were in, and it can be read in both Japanese and English. Releasing their first shooter, XII Stag, they ran out of money and were faced with a tough choice. The founder and several other like-minded "samurais" decided to go into debt to ensure their game was finished and "came into the world". This group however, make no attempts to hide the fact both XII Stag and their latest title, Trizeal have developed poor revenue streams in arcades, and one can only assume pre-orders for the DC release weren't exactly rolling in at that time either. In fact at one point their website was suspended, with a message from the hosting company asking them to contact the billing department.

Now long gone are the days of arcades filled with shoot 'em ups, as are the days when a few guys could get together to create a game they wanted to, have it published, and see it on the store shelves. This was the videogaming industry style of the 80's and early 90's, not the multi billion dollar mass market ways of today. Triangle Service however seem to be the opposite, as the creator is on his hands and knees literally begging for people to buy his game.

Trizeal has now arrived to stock, and while preorders are getting cleared, new purchases from Dreamcast resistants are welcome. Trizeal is a vertical scrolling 2D shmup, following the stepstones of Ikaruga, Chaos Field and other recent shooting efforts for the supposedyly dead Dreamcast.

Heres a couple of screenshots:



Check out the movies and more at Lik Sang: ...

After a pretty disappointing showing on current gen consoles, EA's new Bond-turned-bad franchise GoldenEye: Rogue Agent is peering at a new platform in the Nintendo DS, the Redwood giant has announced.
Once again you'll reprise the role of a rogue operative who goes over to the dark side after being booted out of MI6. Recruited by Auric Goldfinger in a war against Dr. No, you'll receive both the titular glittering orb and a taste for all things nefarious in an ongoing battle to rule the criminal underworld.

Slated for release this June, Rogue Agent is set to take advantage of the DS's unique features including seven player wireless multiplayer and a single player campaign featuring six missions. The DS's second screen will apparently be employed as a heads-up display allowing you to check ammo levels, hack electronic devices and weapons, decode security locks, plus a few other bits and bobs that EA is keeping up its sleeve.

"We are thrilled to bring GoldenEye: Rogue Agent to the Nintendo DS and create distinctive new features to benefit from the platform's unique technology," said Jon Dean, Executive Producer at EA Tiburon, who are making the DS version of the game. "Playing this action-packed game on the go and right in the palm of your hands is incredible. Bond fans will not be disappointed."
Let's hope he's right and the DS version can rescue GoldenEye's rather tattered reputation on its new platform. ...

Intriguing news this morning from the east with the apparent leak of a Taiwanese list which purports to show a complete list of publishers and developers who have committed to Microsoft's next generation console the Xbox 2.
No real surprises here, as most of the developers are long standing Microsoft supporters though it is intriguing to see that Capcom - a previous Sony and Nintendo stalwart, are attracted by the lure of Microsoft's next-generation lucre.

About the only really big name missing is SquareEnix, though it's possible there'll be further additions to the roster and possibly a few surprise revelations at this year's E3.


Anyway what follows is the complete list for your perusal and delectation and though relatively credible, we'd certainly treat with a large dose of sodium. Don't hesitate to let us know what you'd like to see on Xbox 2 from each of these names in the forums below...
2KGames
Activision Inc.
Atari Inc.
Bandai Co. Ltd.
Bethesda Softworks LLC
Capcom Co. Ltd.
Codemasters Software Company Ltd.
Eidos Inc.
Electronic Arts Inc.
FromSoftware Inc.
KOEI Co. Ltd.
Konami
LucasArts
Majesco Entertainment
Midway Games Inc.
Namco Hometek Inc.
Phantagram Co. Ltd.
Rockstar Games
Sega Inc.
Tecmo Inc.
THQ Inc.
Ubisoft Entertainment
Vivendi Universal Games Inc.
Webzen Inc.
BioWare Corp.
Bizarre Creations Ltd.
Bungie Studios
Epic Games Inc.
FASA Studio
Game Republic Inc.
Lionhead Studios Ltd.
Mistwalker
Q Entertainment Inc.
Rare Ltd.
Real Time Worlds ...

Those of you who like me have always wanted to have a go at Dreamcast Development but never had the balls to do it or just dont plain understand all the malarkey will be jumping for joy with this news.

The great one otherwise known as Metafox has opened up a Coding Learning School which takes those with no Dev knowledge and will hopefully turn a lot more people into coders. The forum contains 2 tutorials for now:

Tutorial #1: Setting up cygwin and KOS 1.2.0
Tutorial #2: Compiling your first SDL game

Check it all out at this Address.

Excellent news ...

A new freeware game for the Nokia N-Gage and Symbian 60 0s phones called Cheez has been released. As you can guess its a mouse hunting some cheese kinda game, check out the cool screenshots and download from Here. ...

Add support to the F2A 2G cartridge.

English version release :
Download: Here ...

Gizmondo Europe Ltd, subsidiary of Jacksonville, Florida-based Tiger Telematics Inc. (other OTC, TGTL), announces signing game titles for the new multi-entertainment handheld from Ubisoft, a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products.

The first title confirmed under the deal is Rayman®, one of Ubisoft's most popular franchises. Rayman is one of the world's most recognizable game characters and brands, having sold over 15 million units globally on handhelds, home consoles and PC.

Based on the most recent titles developed by Ubisoft, the future Rayman game will be converted externally for the uniquely featured Gizmondo handheld and will take full advantage of the device's NVIDIA 3D graphics accelerator. Additional titles from Ubisoft to be converted for the Gizmondo handheld will be announced at a future date.

John Parkes, EMEA marketing director at Ubisoft, says: "Gizmondo has a feature-rich product with ambitious plans that will invigorate the handheld gaming sector. We're delighted that our Rayman franchise will be making its debut on this new format, and look forward to exploring further partnerships in the near future."

Carl Freer, Co-founder and Chairman, Tiger Telematics, says: "All of the titles we've signed have enormous appeal to our core demographic and will look great on the Gizmondo. We're delighted to be announcing Rayman today, and look forward to releasing details of the other titles we have under wraps."

The Gizmondo is powered by Microsoft Windows CE advanced real-time operating system, boasting a 2.8-inch TFT colour screen with a Samsung ARM9 400Mhz processor and incorporates the GoForce 3D 4500 NVIDIA graphics accelerator. It provides cutting-edge gaming, multimedia messaging, an MP3 music player, Mpeg4 movie playing capability, a digital camera and a GPRS network link to allow wide-area network gaming. Additionally, it contains a GPS chip for location-based services, is equipped with Bluetooth for use in multi-player gaming and accepts SD and MMC card accessories.

The Gizmondo device and its games are in retail stores now in the UK, and in North American and Continental Europe markets from Spring 2005. ...

2 items of news from Divineo China

Goods news for GBA Fans:

The prices for the best dev. and backup units on GBA/SP have been dropped significantely!

Also a new 2G cartridge has been released. It is now the biggest cart available on GBA SP!

also this

For all F2A users, you can now play your GBA & GBA SP games on your Nintendo DS using this converter 'USB writer'

The F2A flash cart can be used on Nintendo DS, GameBoy Advance & SP and also Gamecube Gameboy Player. ...

USBeXtreme allows you to convert your PS2 games to USB HDD and run directly from the USB HDD connected to your console. It is compatible with ALL version of PS2 (included PSX). Do you want to get your own piece? Go to Linkers 4U.com which is the first online store to sell USBextreme, to buy it now! ...