via Eurogamer


Nintendo has registered a patent for what looks like a series of casings in which the Wii remote can be slotted to create a new peripheral.

As spotted by 22hundred.net, the patent document refers to "A video game controller for a video game and a receptor assembly" and "A receptor having a shape substantially similar to a component appearing in the video game."

That sounds the Wii Zapper, you might think, the bit of plastic that turns the remote into a light gun. And indeed, the document states, "The receptor may be a gun-shaped sub-unit."

But have a look at the drawings included in the patent. They show all manner of casings which could be used to hold the remote.

Some of these make instant sense, like the tennis racket, baseball bat and fishing rod. But what about the bicycle, motorbike helmet and chair? Not to mention the teddy bear, which looks familiar. And is that some kind of virtual reality headset? Please, not that again.

Course it could be Nintendo's just trying to prevent other companies creating such peripherals, rather than working on plans to do so itself. But you know. ...

via Games Industry


ELSPA has told GamesIndustry.biz that a recent story about DS piracy in North America contains false quotes attributed to a company spokesperson.

The Sunday Post quoted John Hillier, manager of ELSPA's Intellectual Property Crime Unit as saying "In America, it's thought 90 per cent of Nintendo DS users are playing pirated games because of R4s," while discussing the notorious chip that allows easy piracy on Nintendo's handheld.

However, a spokesperson for ELSPA told GamesIndustry.biz that, "[John] didn't quote The Sunday Post on any figures whatsoever."

"ELSPA would certainly never presume to comment about America or anywhere else outside of the UK," added the spokesperson.

The report, said ELSPA, is a hatchet job consisting of facts from an article from Singapore, false quotes and a genuine conversation with Hillier on the availability of the R4 cartridge in the UK.

"The quotes from The Sunday Post were ascribed to his name from another article which originates from a website in Singapore. This, it appears, is where The Sunday Post first found out about the supposed R4 situation and for some reason unknown to John have quoted him on what this article said."

The spokesperson also stated that Nintendo views the reported facts in The Sunday Post article as completely false.

"As far as Nintendo are concerned, the facts are completely spurious." ...

via Games Industry


ELSPA has told GamesIndustry.biz that a recent story about DS piracy in North America contains false quotes attributed to a company spokesperson.

The Sunday Post quoted John Hillier, manager of ELSPA's Intellectual Property Crime Unit as saying "In America, it's thought 90 per cent of Nintendo DS users are playing pirated games because of R4s," while discussing the notorious chip that allows easy piracy on Nintendo's handheld.

However, a spokesperson for ELSPA told GamesIndustry.biz that, "[John] didn't quote The Sunday Post on any figures whatsoever."

"ELSPA would certainly never presume to comment about America or anywhere else outside of the UK," added the spokesperson.

The report, said ELSPA, is a hatchet job consisting of facts from an article from Singapore, false quotes and a genuine conversation with Hillier on the availability of the R4 cartridge in the UK.

"The quotes from The Sunday Post were ascribed to his name from another article which originates from a website in Singapore. This, it appears, is where The Sunday Post first found out about the supposed R4 situation and for some reason unknown to John have quoted him on what this article said."

The spokesperson also stated that Nintendo views the reported facts in The Sunday Post article as completely false.

"As far as Nintendo are concerned, the facts are completely spurious." ...

via Games Industry


Nintendo has officially confirmed the rumour that they are releasing a new cobalt/black-coloured DS Lite.

The latest version marks the seventh colour in the DS Lite palatte, joining white, pink, onyx, crimson/black, gold and metallic rose - the latter of which are limited editions.

When asked earlier this week if such a colour was in the works, a Nintendo spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny, saying simply: "Nintendo has not made any announcements about a new color for DS."

Nintendo sold more than 8.5 million DS handhelds in the US last year alone, bringing the total to more than 17.6 million since the DS was launched in November 2004.

The new version will be available in the US on February 10. ...

The state of play for console hardware sale figures in Japan are shown below:


Nintendo DS Lite: 79,370
Playstation Portable: 77,933
Nintendo Wii: 74,544
Playstation 3: 34,363
Playstation 2: 11,364
Xbox 360: 4,296


The DS lite tops the list as usual with the PSP quite close in second and Wii at third. The last 3 consoles sell at normal rates. ...

Dark_Alex has made a 1.50 kernel add-on for custom firmware 3.90 M33, usable for series 1000 PSPs (the big, original ones) making 1.50 homebrew usable again. Readme and instructions below:


150 kernel addon for 3.90 M33 (psp phat only)

• Copy 150k_addon to /PSP/GAME
• Get sony 1.50 update and copy it to the root with name “150.PBP”
• Run the program and done.

Download and leave feedback via comments ...

All right people, Dark_Alex has done it again and released 3.90 M33 for the PSP. As it seems, it did not take him long to crank out this update. You can download it here or use network update on a 3.80 M33 enabled PSP. The full changelog and readme is as follows below:


3.90 M33

--------

Requirements:

• Installation requires a PSP with 3.52 M33-3 or higher.

Instructions

• Copy the UPDATE folder into /PSP/GAME/
• Get the 3.90 sony update from somewhere, and put it in same folder, with name "390.PBP". Alternatively, you can let the installer to download for you via wifi.
• Run it, the update will be done by Sony updater. At the end when you are asked to reboot the
• PSP pressing X or O, do it.

Changes:

• 3.80 -> 3.90
• March33 NO UMD: fixed (yet another) bug related with exiting with home. (infinite semaphore wait)

Changes in updater:

• The degeneration check and correction of IDS keys happens too in 3.71 now.
• Added code to download 3.90 PBP from net via wifi. Note that his code is not yet 100% stable, it may crash when selecting AP. In that case, reinit the installer.
• L+triangle has been restored as method to bypass battery. If you already have 390.PBP keep those buttons pressed until you see "Veryfing 390.PBP". If the 390.PBP is being downloaded bia wifi, press those buttons at the end of download until you see the previous sentence.

Download and leave feedback via comments. Keep up the great work Dark_Alex! ...

via Kotaku


GamePro tested all the latest wireless controllers to discover which had the best battery life, the Xbox 360 pad, the Wiimote or the SIXAXIS. After playing a variety of titles, they found that the Xbox 360 controller's battery life of 56 hours and 56 minutes bested the 36 hours and 43 minutes of the Wiimote and the 18 hours and 41 minutes of the SIXAXIS.

If the numbers appear tough to swallow, that's only because they are. Not to insult GamePro's testing methods, but our readers should know that one attempt at a control skewed these results in a major way.

In order to offer each console a fighting chance, testers installed nickel cadmium Duracell batteries...minus the SIXAXIS, which has Lithium Ion built right in.

The problem here is that NiCd batteries will get far superior runtime over their Li-on counterparts because NiCd has a higher energy to weight ratio. From Wikipedia:


So Sony's controller never had a chance. But the numbers are still pretty interesting if you siphon away the contest aspect. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Mario man Shigeru Miyamoto has delved into Nintendo's past to discuss where the company might be going in the future.

Frank and honest in his answers, Miyamoto criticised the GameCube controller and how his ambivalence towards it made him consider the problems in the gaming industry in general.


Miyamoto went on to explain the two main ideas behind the DS. "The first was something Mom won't hate," he said.


Miyamoto also tackled questions about the Wii Fit peripheral, saying, "If it continues to gain popularity overseas, that's something I look forward to, since it means more Wii Balance Board titles might come out."

Finally, he hinted at where he sees the DS going in the future. "Once people can use it in a wide range of public places, we could probably set up servers and create a good environment that links together play at home and play on the go-then work game technology into that.

...