Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo. Whether they were caught flat-footed or are just acting all misterioso to generate buzz is up for debate (you probably know where we fall on this one), but our old friends at Nintendo have been notoriously coy when it comes to divulging details about their new next-gen Revolution console. They didn’t show off a working demo at E3 last month (or even tease us with any clips of game play) and they’ve been tight-lipped about its specs, but lately it seems like there’s been a crazy amount of attention focused on the Revolution’s controller. We’ve already spotted way more fakes and ‘shopped concept designs than we care to think about, but they definitely have something cooking. Nintendo mac daddy Reggie Fils-Aime has been dishing some dirt, revealing in an interview with EGM that they’re already showing off the controller to developers. He says that it will definitely be configurable (he doesn’t get very specific about how) to make it work with all of the vintage Nintendo games they’re going to be offering for download and that it’s this configurability that has developers all excited about the possibilities for what you can do with new games. ...

News from Lik Sang

Metal Slug is a long running arcade style series that pits one man against the side scrolling masses of enemies, guns, tanks, lasers, subs, rocket launchers, missiles, trains, mines, and anything else they can throw at you. This fifth edition isn't quite as tough / suicidal as its predecessors, but anyone but the most experience sluggers will still find themselves chugging down the lives and racking up the unlimited continues. Thankfully there's no need to "insert coin" in a home edition though, so everyone can have a go at really mastering the game.

There's also all sorts of 'slugs' (vehicles) that can increase your odds of survival a little more than the usual million against one though, such as subs, cars, spiders and more. The gunner for example is a mech packing both a canon on its head, a gatling gun on one arm, and a hydraulic spike on the other. Finally a new move to the series gives you the ability to slide below enemy fire while taking shots at them yourself. Metal Slug 5 hits Xbox this week, and as with all our Asian Xboxen titles, is just US$ 44.90.

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i got a problem, not a big one but it annoys me that the GBA has only been around for about 3 years now. So why the heck does Nintendo wanna make a whole new handheld that is seperate to the GBA. I dont get it. This is confusing me cause i cant see how Nintendo can continually make GBA games while still making DS games. The developers woudn't like to be making games for over 4 seperate handhelds. Sure its there job, but wouldnt it be a bit silly to be developing games like that? Some games may result in being crap because of a rush job, you know, the release date for it gets closer, they may have to drop the release back a few weeks... and it annoys us. ...

LyingWake has released a new version of 1st_read.bin file checker. Here's what he had to say:

<i>I thought I'd rewrite 1st_read.bin file checker from scratch. I added a progress bar as well as added "-R .stack" to the sh-elf-objcopy.exe ELF conversion command -- this should fix the problems people were getting when they'd try to convert to a BIN and get a 0KB BIN file (or none at all).

I've also removed the dependency for COMDLG32.OCX. That was annoying if you needed to install a new version.

- Added: Progress bar
- Fixed: Completely rewritten
- Fixed: ELF conversion now uses -R .stack (fixed 0KB converted BINs)
- Fixed: No longer dependant on COMDLG32.OCX
- Fixed: File sizes are now read in bytes, KB, or MB
- Removed: Error if IP.BIN is loaded
- Removed: Error if non-BIN file is loaded

As always, you can get it at the <a href="http://consolevision.com/members/fackue/prj_1filecheck.shtml">project page</a> on my site.

Thanks GPF for the ELF conversion bit.</i> ...

Adult gamers in Japan have a strong preference for Nintendo's DS over Sony's PSP, according to a new magazine survey - published as the Nintendo DS breaks the million unit sales mark in year to date sales.

The survey, conducted by Otonafami magazine and partially translated by US website GameSpot, polled 1000 gamers aged over 20, revealing that 25 per cent of them owned a Nintendo DS, 14 per cent owned a PSP, and 19 per cent owned both consoles.

The higher ownership of the Nintendo DS seems set to continue, too. Of those who didn't own a next-gen handheld console, 35 per cent said that they planned to buy a DS, ahead of the 31 per cent who want a PSP and 19 per cent who plan to buy both.

The survey comes as the Nintendo DS broke through the million unit sales mark for 2005, with the console now around 45,000 units ahead of the PlayStation Portable in terms of sales since January 1st according to figures from market research firm Media Create.

Overall sales of the two consoles see the Nintendo DS with an 800,000 unit lead over its rival, with 2.4 million units sold as against 1.6 million units of the PSP according to Screen Digest figures.

The DS is ahead even more significantly in software terms, with 23 per cent of DS owners claiming to own more than six titles for their console, compared to just 11 per cent of PSP owners.

Those figures are borne out by the overall sales of DS and PSP software in Japan to date, with WarioWare Touched selling 740,000 units, Super Mario 64 DS selling 710,000 units and Nintendogs currently on around 400,000 units and rising - while the best-selling PSP game remains Hot Shots Golf with 350,000 unit sales. ...

Nintendo has announced that it will release a patch for the Play-yan, the multimedia playback accessory for Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo DS. The patch will give the device the additional capability to run MP4-formatted movie files, allowing videos to be enjoyed in stereo sound. Owners of Play-yan will be able to download the patch from Nintendo's Web site starting in mid-July.


In order to enjoy the MP4 movies, the 500KB patch file must be placed in the root directory of the SD memory card that contains the video. Play-yan will automatically read the patch whenever it boots up with the SD memory card inserted. Since the patch doesn't update Play-yan's system software, the SD memory card will have to be inserted whenever the user wants to play back an MP4 file.

Nintendo plans to release MP4 encoding software for Play-yan users later on. The encoding software bundled with Play-yan, MediaStage v.4.2 for Nintendo, does not have the capability to produce MP4 files. ...

Nintendo has today announced that over one million DS handhelds have been sold in Europe since the machine's launch back in March.

Nintendo have gleefully proclaimed the success of the console, pointing out that 500,000 consoles were shifted within just three weeks of launch, with the one million total being broken in less than three months.

"The European launch of Nintendo DS has been a massive success, with sales shattering all previous records in the opening weekend and remaining consistently strong," boasted Jim Merrick, Nintendo of Europe's senior director of European marketing.

"This product reflects Nintendo's dedication to innovation and the advancement of gaming, providing novel and exciting new ways to play games," he continued.

This news comes on the back of a recent survey in Japan by Otonafami magazine, which has found that DS is more popular with Japanese adults than Sony's handheld, PSP.

The survey of 1000 gamers aged over 20 revealed that 25% owned a Nintendo DS, 14% owned a Sony PSP, and 19% owned both handhelds.

Ninty's device was ahead in terms of software too, with 23% of DS owners having more than six titles, compared to just 11% of PSP owners.

Things are currently looking a little shaky for PSP as the console's software drought continues.

DS has an 800,000 lead on PSP in Japan and the handheld will face stiff competition from Xbox 360 within two months of its European release, making it even harder for the console to catch DS's figure of one million in the region. ...

News from DC Scene:

The British EDGE magazine interviewed the three developers of the latest Dreamcast games in Japan, G.Revolution (Border Down), Milestone (Chaos Field) and Triange Serivce (Trizeal). The full interview can be found in their July 2005 issue (E151). We give you an overview about the most interesting comments here.


Hiroyuki Maruyama, president of G.Revolution


"It took three years to deliver our first shooter, Border Down, in 2003"


"We saved money by getting jobs from Sega and Treasure (G.rev developed the 3D engine for Ikaruga) and when we had enough, we did Border Down."


"The Naomi? is still the best option, although Sega isn’t pushing it. But, since there’s a large base installed in the country, there’s still a lot of room for third parties like us."


"Many present the DS as the platform of ideas, of concepts, but the use of specific features like the touch panel actually limits your freedom to create. Of course, if a game makes natural and fun use of these features, I see a lot of potential; but if you don’t use the pen and the double screens, your game is meaningless on the DS. Forcing you to use these features confines you in a very narrow environment, so I’m a little afraid about the machine’s future."


"The PSP is just a PlayStation with a beautiful screen. I don’t see any merit in that. (...) currently the PSP is less of a console and more of a business move from Sony – for itself, and against Nintendo. As a game console, I don’t see its merit."


"I don’t see the arcade itself changing very much, except in physical size as cabinets get smaller."



Hiroshi Kimura, president of Milestone



"In Milestone, we have a policy of self-motivation: staff come to me and explain what they want to do and why."


"Because of our size we can make games that go against current trends; they’re not just about the amount of polygons and effects."


"We will stick with the PlayStation2, GameCube and mobile phones for a little longer, even when the next-generation consoles arrive. But if one of my staff were to say tomorrow that he or she is really determined to develop on PlayStation3, we would call for outside help."



Toshiaki Fujino, founder of Triange Service (and only member left!)



"The biggest problem for me is, without any doubt, the money. (...) So I had to borrow money from my friends, people I used to work with in previous companies."


"It is already hard enough to work on PlayStation2 because companies like Sony don’t always trust small firms like mine, especially when it comes to supplying development kits."


"This new Xbox is very much an American approach – that is, it is based on the American idea of entertainment with enormous budgets and huge teams only rivalled by Hollywood."


"Maybe I will have to go for Nintendo. I don’t know yet. But the company has changed its policy recently, allowing small companies to release games on the GameCube, such as Milestone with Chaos Field."


"I have no interest in the PSP. It is exactly the same as the PlayStation2 was in its time: a machine that’s not focused on videogames but more on other forms of entertainment, such as music and video."


"I prefer to develop for the Naomi system rather than these new boards, because it offers the best environment. Also, there are so many Naomi cabinets on the market that it’s easy to sell new games: you just sell a GD-ROM disc. It’s very easy and affordable for operators."


"For the moment, I’m focused on the consumer port of my second arcade shooter, Trizeal – I’m publishing it on Dreamcast myself because no publisher was interested. My two staffers were in contract for a specific task, so I made the Dreamcast version alone, handling all the aspects of making a console game, from the port itself to the package, manual, and so on. But in the future, my objective is still to make the top shooting game for the arcade."

Max

More info here --> http://www.dreamcast-scene.com/index...#edgeinterview ...

Kuwanger has released 2 unofficial versions of PocketNes, heres news of both:

PocketNES CheatFinder with saves and PocketNES CheatFinder with saves and descriptions are incompatible. Choose one or the other. Trying to use the wrong one with a save may result in PocketNES crashing/destroying your save game.

For PocketNES CheatFinder with saves and descriptions, you can use L-Button and R-Button in the Description entry to more quickly enter text. Also, the space character is shown as an underscore while it is highlighted.

This version of PocketNes will work on Nintendo DS, GBA and Gamecube Gameboy player

Download Here --> http://gbaemu.dcemu.co.uk/pocketnesu.shtml ...