Saturo Iwata's latest revelations are so juicy you could positively squeeze them into a glass and down them with your morning cornflakes.
Speaking to Japanese website Game Watch, the Nintendo President said that its DS handheld would be compatible with the Nintendo 'Revoloution' via its Wi-Fi technology. He also revealed that Nintendo would not be charging users for the Wi-Fi service, and that no extra hardware or software would be required.

The only minor stipulation for gamers is that third-parties will be entitled to charge for their products if they so wish, which could include such stuff as downloadable game content or competitive online shenanigans.

Iwata-san also said that his company has planned 1,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots across Japan, catering for those who currently don't have Internet connection at home. However, it was pointed out that home users would have to make simple adjustments to use the service, with a potential router device to keep any fuss at an absolute minimum.
So, there you go, all sounding very positive for Nintendo users desperate to join the online gang. No official launch date for the service in Japan has yet to be confirmed (rumours suggest towards the end of the year), although some form of E3 announcement is expected.

As the cliché goes, watch this space... ...

Giant animals stomping around on a handheld screen? Seems almost ironic doesn't it? But then again size never stopped Donkey Kong looking like a right terrifying bugger when he launched on those dual LCD screens all those years ago. And now it seems that the Nintendo DS is looking for big piles...sorry, small piles of animal poop.
In development for early next year, Majesco and developer Full Fat are currently busying themselves on a DS 'port' of Lionhead's legendary sim Black & White, to be subtitled 'Creatures'.

According to reports, the game will follow the premise of Peter Molyneux's original PC creation, with players assuming the role of a god, whose primary role is to command a big, giant beast.

However, you can also expect a number of major changes integrated into the mix. First up is the touch-screen stylus control, that reportedly allows you to not only train your pet but physically slap him whenever he's been a naughty boy. The microphone will also apparently play a role, providing further opportunities to scream abuse at your poor, maligned creature.
As for gaming features, Majesco is promising eight entirely new islands, plus 10 different animal breeds, some of which will be entirely new to the series. There will also be several extra game modes including Creature Quest, Creature Pen and the multiplayer Creature Battle, designed to make full use of the DS' wireless capabilities.

So if not-so-giant animals are your thing, Black & White Creatures could well be worth pencilling in your diaries. Expect more details and screens soon. ...

A well-known games forum on t'net posted what they claimed to be the specs for the Xbox 360 - including the LIVE 2 features. The post included a list of hardware features and very thorough details on two kinds of Xbox Live service - Gold and Silver.

One thing that can be said for the large number of forum leaks this past few weeks, is that they've almost all turned out to be the real deal. So maybe this is too, though no-one at Microsoft was on-hand for comment.

The 'details' are as follows, courtesy of the Gaming-Age forums.

Xbox Live Silver (no subscription required)
Xbox Live Gold (subscription benefits)
Features for Gold service
* Also for Silver
# Also for Offline

- Seamless transition to Xbox Live account from Xbox to Xbox 360
- Access to MMOs (additional fees may apply) *
- Free Xbox Live weekends *
- Multiplayer online gameplay
- Avatar for gamer profile * #
- Motto for gamer profile * #
- Personalized look for Xbox System Guide * #
- Offline achievements * #
- Online achievements *
- Access to other players' Gamer cards via Live *
- Cumulative gamer score * #
- Location/language profile * #
- Reputation *
- Enhanced matchmaking using above
- Skill level matchmaking
- Gameplay style profile (casual, competitive, etc.)
- Recent players list *
- Free and premium download game content *
- Free and premium downloadable movies, music, tv *
- Downloadable demos/trailers *
- Micro transactions *
- Custom playlist in every game * #
- Play music from portable devices * #
- View images from digital camera * #
- Stream media from Windows XP * #
- Interactive screen savers * #
- Track info for CDs * #
- Communication with voice, video or text *
360 HardWare:
1. Support for DVD-video, DVD-Rom, DVD-R/RW, CD-DA, CD-Rom, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 cd, JPEG photo CD
2. All games supported at 16:9, 720p and 1080i, anti-aliasing
3. Customizable face plates to change appearance
4. 3 USB 2.0 ports
5. Support for 4 wireless controllers
6. Detachable 20GB drive
7. Wi-Fi ready

Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU
- 3 symmetrical cores at 3.2 GHz each
- 2 hardware threads per core
- 1 VMX-128 vector unit per core
- 1 MB L2 cache

CPU Game Math Performance
- 9 billion dots per second

Custom ATI Graphics Processor
- 500 MNz
- 10 MB embedded DRAM
- 48-way parallel floating-point shader pipelines
- unified shader architecture

Memory
-512 MB GDDR3 RAM
- 700 MNz DDR

Memory Bandwidth
- 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
- 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM
- 21.6 GB/s frontside bus

Audio
- Mulitchannel surround sound output
- Supports 48khz 16-bit audio
- 320 independent decompression channels
- 32 bit processing
- 256+ audio channels ...

I've noticed alot of extra hardware type stuff for the Xbox and was wondering...

1) What kinds of Mods do people do to their Xboxes?
2) Do I need to chip to play we dont mention such things Or just imports?
3) Do I need any modifications to run any homebrew/emulations type stuff?

TIA!!! ...

Davr has updated his TI Calc Emu, heres whats new:

Now supports 82, 83, 85, and 86 Calculators. However, Input is broken on 82, 83 doesn't even boot right now. And 85 & 86 are basically the same, except 85 is a little faster.

Download Here. ...

According to the forum postings of a supposedly anonymous ex-Nintendo employee who's known to be working on Revolution games at a third-party developer, Nintendo's new Revolution console will feature pressure sensitive 'squeezy' joypads and offer gamers a free online gaming service.

While the rants of self-proclaimed, anonymous industry insiders are to generally be taken with a pinch of salt, his claims do seem to correspond with recent mutterings regarding the console.

"It will be like controlling a game with one of those stress balls," he claimed. "You squeeze it to go faster."

While analogue triggers, such as those featured on Dreamcast and Xbox pads, already boast a certain degree of 'squeezability', what this forum fellow is saying is that the entire body of the controller will be 'squishy' to some degree.

According to the source, the controller will also be wireless, which seems likely to be the future for each of the next-gen console's controllers, while voice control will also play a key part in Revolution's interface.

The source also went on to describe the free online service Nintendo will provide. "The only way I can describe it is as an internet service," he said. "Imagine turning it on and checking your mail on the system. You see previews and demos of DS and Revolution games that you can download.

"A magazine similar to Nintendo Power will be exclusive to the system and you will be able to access it on the Revolution's homepage."

Finally, Activision, Electronic Arts, Namco, Sega, Capcom and Zoonami are all reported to currently be working on titles for the machine.

And that's it for now. Unlike Microsoft, Nintendo is keeping its cards very close to its chest, not wanting anything to leak prior to its pre-E3 press event, which takes place on 17 May. ...

We beat gi.biz but heres their report:

Pictures of the Xbox 360 hardware have been posted to the Internet following a launch party in Los Angeles on Friday, confirming previous reports about the design of the console and revealing the existence of an Eye Toy style camera.

The pictures of the console, its controller and some of its accessories were reportedly taken by an attendee at the party using a camera phone and forwarded to technology blog site Engadget, and can be found in this gallery along with some previously leaked shots of the hardware.

They confirm that the unit does sport the concave design we reported on some weeks ago, and can either lie flat or stand up on its end, much like the PlayStation 2. The distinctly Apple-inspired hardware uses a platinum white colour scheme.

The joypads, meanwhile, look very like the existing Xbox pads but are wireless and come in white rather than black, and the console is pictured in one shot with a (white) Xbox Live headset and a (white) videocamera device, similar to Sony's Eye Toy.

A final shot shows off the system's media remote control, which will allow users to play DVDs and access Windows Media Centre - and possibly WebTV - content from their system, although it's rumoured that this functionality will be heavily restricted for users of the console who don't buy the removable hard drive component.

The pictures also reveal the logo of the system at last - not the "swirl" design which was rumoured a couple of weeks ago, but a green X emblazoned onto a silver sphere.

In a separate development, an official website promoting the public unveiling of the Xbox 360 on MTV later this week has pegged the launch date of the system as November, only days after Microsoft chairman Bill Gates confirmed that it would definitely launch in 2005.

The MTV special, which promises to include actual footage of next-generation games, will air on May 12th in the United States, with broadcasts planned on May 13th around the rest of the world. ...

Handheld console manufacturer Tapwave looks set to cease manufacturing its Zodiac range of devices, with the company revealing that it intends to move its business model away from retail products and towards partnerships with other manufacturers.

Tapwave's devices are based on the Palm OS platform and boast impressive multimedia and PDA capabilities as well as an ATI graphics chip to drive an admittedly fairly meagre line-up of game software.

Now, in the face of competition from Nintendo's DS and Sony's PlayStation Portable, Tapwave intends to "transition from offering Tapwave branded retail products to developing new co-branded products for OEM partners," according to senior VP of marketing Byron Connell.

"These partners will be introducing future multimedia products based on both the Zodiac technology platform and Tapwave's next generation technologies," he explained to dedicated Tapwave website Tapland.

Tapwave launched its devices in mid-2004 in North America, supported by a small catalogue of games from publishers such as Electronic Arts, Atari and Sega, including versions of Duke Nukem 3D, Doom II, Spy Hunter and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

This was followed with a launch in Europe last October, but so far the device has failed to make significant headway in the market in either territory. ...

The Nintendo Revolution's controllers will feature pressure sensitive pads and offer gamers a free online service, according to the latest rumours spilling off the internet.
These speculative nuggets come courtesy of an anonymous ex-Nintendo employee now working on Revolution games for a third-party developer. If that doesn't make you want to grab for a pinch of salt straight away, the rumours surfaced not on an official news source but on the forums of E-mpire.com (also home to the insightful 'Are high heels attractive?' thread).

Nonetheless, the self-proclaimed expert assertively rubbishes rumours that the Revolution will use 3D projection technology before dropping the pressure sensitive bomb. "It will be like controlling a game with one of those stress balls," he says. "You squeeze it to go faster."

Right - you're thinking 'but surely the analogue controls on current-gen controllers do that?'
And you'd be right. But we assume the source means that the whole controller - or at least the body of the controller - will be pressure sensitive. So the harder you grip it, the faster your car goes or the harder you punch.

The source also spoke of the controller being wireless, which seems to be a given for all three next-gen consoles. Voice control will also apparently be a big part of Revolution, with wireless headsets apparently offering game interaction "more advanced than anything seen so far."

Next? How about an online service that will allow Revolution owners to play games and access information for free? "The only way I can describe it is as an internet service," said the source. "Imagine turning it on and checking your mail on the system. You see previews and demos of DS and Revolution games that you can download. A magazine similar to Nintendo Power will be exclusive to the system, and you will be able to access it on the Revolution's homepage."

A Nintendo Online service is expected to be unveiled at E3 next week, so this rumour could hold much more truth than the others.

The source then went on to say that Nintendo has seven Revolution games in development and that Activision, EA, Namco, Sega, Capcom and Zoonami are also working on titles.

But when talk turns to the Revolution's fabled revolution, the source suddenly clams up. "I'm not going to tell you the revolutionary aspect of the system. Nintendo has some cool pre E3 plans for that."

Unsurprisingly, Nintendo didn't have much to say. "Nintendo does not comment on rumour and speculation," we were told by a spokesperson. However, it was clearly suggested that no pre-E3 announcements would be made as they would only lessen the impact of Nintendo's conference next Tuesday.

We'll be in the conferences and on the showfloor at E3 bringing you all the latest on Revolution. ...