The ATI-designed graphics part for the Xbox 360 will be built by Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), with the firm set to use its cutting edge 90 nanometre process to deliver millions of the chips by the end of the year.

TSMC had already announced that it is working with Microsoft on the Xbox 360, but confirmation that it will be making the GPUs - codenamed Xenos - only emerged late this week, after some reports mistakenly said that IBM would be building the parts at its Fishkill plant in New York State.

That plant will be providing the PowerPC processors that the Xbox 360 uses, but Microsoft has turned to TSMC - which is already a key manufacturing partner for ATI and NVIDIA - for the graphics part.

In a related story, UK website The Inquirer has reported that ATI has succeeded in delivering Xenos chips running at the full 500MHz speed, with some key developers already working with full-speed GPUs in their development kits.

However, development sources have indicated to us that even the most advanced development kits currently being shipped don't have the full CPU power that will be present in the final Xbox 360, although that may be built into new kits within a matter of weeks.

According to The Inquirer, the Xenos part could theoretically run at speeds higher than 500MHz - but Microsoft appears to have pegged the speed of the part at that level in order to ensure that it gets a large enough numbers of chips to supply demand at launch later this year. ...

Unconfirmed reports this week indicate that Nintendo is planning to launch a branded WiFi adapter which users without existing wireless network gear can plug into their PCs to let them go online with the Nintendo DS - and Revolution.

The reports, originating from sources in Australia, suggest that the Nintendo-branded device would simply plug into a USB port on the user's PC and would allow the DS and Revolution consoles to access their respective online services.

"Basically, instead of an accessory that will let you go non-wireless, this accessory will make your current Internet connection compatible with WiFi," according to a comment attributed to an unnamed Nintendo representative.

While Nintendo UK today declined to comment on the reports - with a spokesperson telling GamesIndustry.biz that he could not comment on "rumour and speculation" - the plans would certainly fit in with the company's stated goal of having 90 per cent of DS owners using the online service. ...

News from Lik Sang

For a fairly plump plumber, this guy sure can boogie down. Yes, Dance Dance Revolution with Mario has arrived, and pre-orders are being shipped as we speak. The beats begin right away when Toad takes a trip to Mario's place, and just as they are about to set off, oh no, the bridge is gone! So into the row boat they hop, and while poor Toad rows, Mario dances his way across the river. Soon the Cheep Cheep fish join in, jumping over the boat in time to the classic Mario theme, and as nostalgia swells up, it becomes clear this is a real party for Nintendo gamers.

It's the first time the incredibly popular Dance Dance Revolution franchise makes its appearance on GameCube, and what makes this Ninty edition unique is the inclusion of a storyline, where someone has stolen the Music Keys and released the music they held. Without these keys, the unstable power of sound is wreaking havoc on the land. Mario himself must recover them before the chaos destroys the entire Mushroom Universe! The path to the keys is simple: Left, Right, Up, Down, Right, Down... Choose from famous Nintendo icons like Mario, Luigi, Toad, Waluigi, Wario and Bowser and clear levels by performing the correct steps. Once all the levels in a particular world are behind you, a Music Key awaits as your glorious reward. You guessed it: the path to victory is collecting all of the keys in the game.

The colorful graphics are bursting with unmistakable Mushroom Kingdom charisma, and with no noticeable loading (just a million "warning" screens, haha), Dance Dance Revolution with Mario certainly has that polished Nintendo Disney-like quality. As you clear songs, you will unlock more tunes, minigames and much harder difficulty levels with trick steps and all. Split-screen mode allows the dance frenzy to be enjoyed by two players, where while depending on skill, the invitation to sabotage your opponent will certainly prove irresistible.

Please check out the Nintendo dance with the official E3 trailer from this year, offered in either Windows Media Player or Quicktime form:

Go ahead and shake it to more than 25 dance-flavored songs, from classic Nintendo themes to familiar favorites. Take a look at the partial song list here:

• Starring Wario! - Wario World
• Blooper Bop - Super Mario Brothers
• Boo Boogie - Super Mario 2
• Cabin Fever - Mario Party 5
• Up, Down, Left, Right - Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Destruction Dance - Wrecking Crew
• Always Smiling - Tritsch-Tratsch Polka
• Fishing Frenzy - Csikos Posl
• Frozen Pipes - Old Folks at Home
• Garden Boogie - Carmen
• Hammer Dance - Super Mario 3
• Here We Go! - Super Mario Brothers
• In the Whirlpool - Pomp and Circumstance
• Jump! Jump! Jump! - Super Mario 3
• Rendezvous on Ice - Les Patineurs
• Roller coasting - Mario Kart; Double Dash
• Deep Freeze - Dr. Mario
• Underground Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

With five difficulty levels, dancers of all abilities will be able to get into the groove. Players can also have fun getting in shape with the special 'Workout' feature, which tracks the calories burned while playing. Mario might even be in danger of losing his spaghetti-fed trademark appearance For main modes of play, there are Free Mode and Mush mode. Free Mode lets you dance to whatever song you want without performance pressure. Stomp arrows in Mush Mode, while at the same time avoiding (or sometimes aiming at) classic Mario obstacles like Goombas, Koopas or hammers. These appear on the step charts in place of some of the arrows, which provides gamers with a challenging side experience. Lastly every few songs in Storyline mode unlocks a new mini-game, and with at least 9 of them locked away, these provide even more variety in between tunes. Not that running as fast as possible to jump up the flag pole, or playing Whack-A-Mega Mole will give you a chance to catch your breath

With the US and PAL releases still many months off, new orders for Dance Dance Revolution with Mario with the Dance Mat are being accepted now, and are shipping within 24 hours. Preorders are already all on their way. The game has been tested compatible with the Freeloader (including game saves) on both US and PAL systems. ...

News from Lik Sang

Earlier this year Bandai's Naruto: Saikyo Ninja Daikesshu 3 made the 'shonen' jump from GBA to NDS, and now Tomy's Naruto RPG series is doing the same. Centered around one of the most explosive events in the anime and manga, the story focuses on the duel between Naruto and Sasuke, unleashing their ultimate attacks Rasengan and Chidori. Using the DS's touch screen, you can execute ninjitsu attacks, and unleash summon animals (including Naruto's fearsome frog, of course). This can be done during regular adventuring or right in the heat of battle.

Naruto RPG 2 also features an online mode via Wi-fi, allowing exchanges and confrontations between friends. Expected this week, this title certainly goes beyond a "mere" beat 'em up, with enough story depth to fully devote yourself to the Naruto universe, mobile style! ...

Hey, I'm usually on the PSP forum but im borrowing my friends XBOX and i have knights of the old republic II and I am so pist you dont start off with a lightsaber. I just currently got out of "House Arrest" and just witnessed the old lady jedi getting her arm hacked by that weird looking Sith Lord. How much longer should it take for me to get a lightsaber? THANKS! ...

Rockin-B released a demo for SEGA Saturn introducing his new real-time texture mapping support library allowing a way to change the texture coordinates:

The SEGA Saturn cannot change texture coordinates in game by hardware. This means that textures are pre-mapped and cannot change [...] which is required for some of todays lightning effects. So I started to implement the generation of a texture from a big source texture using texture coordinates and expanded it to a full featured real-time texture mapping support library. Three demos were released and the 3rd new demo is really.....ahm.....really worth to look at, I think.

He provided an AVI recorded via Satourne that gives you at least an impression how the demo will look like if played on real hardware. Download the AVI here

[The AVI] does NOT look like on real Saturn, due to compression and bugs of the Satourne emulator, like black lines between polygons and triangle distortion of quads.

More info, screenshots & download(s) at http://www.rockin-b.de/ ...

This is an application that can generate and verify the rsa signature of .nds files. It is not possible to officialy sign .nds files because the private key is only known by Nintendo. It is possible to test the sign/verify process with the "homebrew" key, which was generated by the author for testing purposes



http://users.belgacom.net/bn931507/nds_rsa_1_1.zip ...

News from Divineo China:

Team Xtender have brought out the best ever GameCube case yet - the IcedCube. There are 12 cool colours to choose from, transparent red, transparent blue, transparent purple, transparent orange, transparent black, transparent green, black, crystal, orange, purple, golden and silver.
The IcedCube is of outstanding quality.
You can put your orders in now at Divineo, to make sure you get yours first!


Only 1000 of these IcedCube boxes have been made worldwide - here at Divineo we are taking PreOrders!
Check all the IcedCube cases out in the GC Accessories Section. ...

Hideki Konno, producer of the forthcoming DS Mario Kart, has recently shed more light on what we can expect to see from the fifth game in the series.
As previously reported, Mario Kart DS will be one of the first games to utilize Nintendo's new online wi-fi service. Konno has confirmed that Battle Mode will be available to internet-dwelling gamers, alongside four player head-to-head racing.

Sporting over thirty tracks in total - fifteen new ones, with classic tracks from previous games making up the rest - gamers will, for the first time, all be able to race as the same character. To avoid confusion, each player will be dressed in unique colour schemes, with their names hovering seductively above their heads on-screen (as opposed to "in their living room", obviously).

You'll also be able to design your own decals using the DS's touch-screen then slap them all over your happy-wagon.
The Mario Kart team is also pondering the use of the handheld's other special features - one idea that's been touted includes huffing into the built-in microphone to inflate balloons. Quite why you'd want to do this, we don't know yet - it likely relates to the game's traditionally balloon-tastic Battle Mode though.

All will become clear when the title zips over the finish line some time around Christmas. ...