For the second time in as many weeks, Nintendo revealed its trademark characters will appear in a non-Nintendo game. Nintendo and Konami today announced that the two gaming companies are co-developing a new Dance Dance Revolution for the Nintendo GameCube. Titled Dance Dance Revolution with Mario, it will be released in Japan this summer. No American release plans have been disclosed. [br][br][br]As the title suggests, Dance Dance Revolution with Mario is a new installment in Konami's DDR dancing game series, featuring characters from the Mushroom Kingdom. Details on the game haven't been disclosed yet, but from the released images, DDR with Mario seems to play similarly to DDR, with familiar backdrops featured in the 3D installments of the Super Mario series. [br][br]As in other DDR titles released by Konami, gamers will play the game using a step-sensitive controller mat, timing steps with the beat as dictated on the screen. Aside from the standard dancing game mode, DDR with Mario will also feature various original mini-games as well. [br][br]It seems as though Nintendo is loosening its iron-fist-like grip on its exclusive characters. It's rare to see Nintendo characters in games not published by Nintendo, but this news and Wednesday's announcement of Mario and friends being featured in the GameCube version of Electronic Arts' NBA Street V3 may prove that Nintendo is trying to give its favorite plumber a little more exposure. [br][br]Dance Dance Revolution with Mario will be on display at the Next Generation World Hobby Fair 2005, which will take place in four locations in Japan starting January 16. ...

Tiger Telematics has announced a deal with Digital Media Cartridge (DMC) to bring several classic 16-bit Sega games to its Gizmondo handheld. According to a joint statement, the two companies, DMC (which apparently has the licenses from Sega) will make a "16-Bit Sega pack," which will definitely include Sonic the Hedgehog and will likely include Outrun, Golden Axe, Altered Beast, and Shinobi. Tiger Telematics' subsidiary Gizmondo Europe will show off Sonic the Hedgehog at its booth at the Consumer Electronics Show. Currently only available in Europe, the Gizmondo will be released later this year in North America. [br][br] ...

i cant install freelauncher when i try to install it it says an unknown error ocurred.

can someone please help ...

is there anyway to connect ngage qd to pc w/out using bluetooth? i don't have a bluetooth adapter ...

F ...

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has spoken in an interview about the company's ambitions for Xbox 2, stating that the next-generation console's goals are to broaden the market and offer more multimedia functionality.[br][br]Speaking with US publication News.com at CES, Gates said that the plan is for Media Centre PC and Xbox to "become totally complementary", with the Xbox offering TV, photos and music as well as videogames.[br][br]"We didn't do Xbox just to do a video game; we did it to be part of our vision of the digital lifestyle, and with the next generation, we really get to go there," according to the Microsoft chairman. "In the first generation, we had one simple goal, which was to establish credibility as a great video game platform. We've done that."[br][br]He went on to discuss the new media and communications functionality which the system will offer, commenting that Xbox 2 will have "great videogaming but videogaming for a broader set of people, more communications, more media, more connectivity" and referring specifically to the ability to connect to home PCs and connect Xbox Live with MSN Messenger.[br][br]Gates made no mention of Xbox 2 in his pre-CES keynote address earlier this week, and he admitted to News.com that the firm is "being very coy" about the details and launch timetable for the system.[br][br]"I'd say our sophistication is much higher in this second generation," he said. "I'm certainly excited when it comes time to show at how much smarter we are getting to do it a second time with the team that's been built there." ...

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates reaffirmed the company's pledge not to enter the handheld games console market at CES yesterday - but the company may be about to give a major boost to one of the PlayStation Portable's direct competitors.[br][br]Industry rumours circulating since before Christmas and enjoying a resurgence at CES suggest that Bungie's massively successful Halo may be on its way to Tiger Telematics' Gizmondo console, joining a number of other Microsoft Game Studios titles already announced for the system.[br][br]The console, which offers high quality 3D gaming features as well as GPRS communications, GSM positioning and media playback functions, launched quietly in the UK before Christmas and is expected to arrive in North America around March.[br][br]According to gaming blog Kotaku, the Halo deal isn't the only major franchise heading to Gizmondo - with announcements from Electronic Arts and Sega about support for the console expected at CES.[br][br]Rumours regarding Halo on Gizmondo first surfaced before Christmas, when audience members at corporate presentations of the device said that salespeople had mentioned that the science fiction blockbuster was on its way to the handheld - a rumour which Gizmondo PR representatives declined to comment on at the time, saying only that the firm was in ongoing negotiations with a number of publishers to bring titles to the device, but that the company "would love" to have Halo on the platform. ...

Today sees the launch of a major new site that covers emulation and homebrew on the Nokia N-Gage, Tapwave Zodiac, Gizmondo, Symbian 60 os Phones and also UIQ phones.[br][br]The new site has every emulator for each console and all the latest downloads too.[br][br]Check out Alternative Handheld Emulation [br][br]Now i can back to the Dreamcast side of things ...

Lots of news of interest from Dan of the Goat Store:[br][br] Hey all, [br][br]Unlike my last messages, you can pass on whatever information you would like to anywhere you would like to put it (news releases, whatever.) If you would like to wait, there will be an official GOAT Store news release on all of this within the next few days. I can't guarantee just when, but this will give you some additional details. [br][br]DC Games [br][br]Inhabitants and Maqiupai are almost here. I am told that they are shipping from the factory to us in less than a week's time now. As soon as we get them, all preorders will be shipped immediately, and then they will get an official release on our site a couple days. The delay will be to ensure that we don't release them before Lik-Sang and Good Deal Games get the games. Tentatively, the "official" release date will be 11/22, but that hasn't been finalized yet. Whenever we make the official release, you can believe that [br][br]The releases will not be shrinkwrapped, which is a necessary evil from the fact that the disks are being replaced. [br][br]Again, it will be huge to get all the help that we can from people in the way of promoting the game, so please do post reviews, previews and links where ever you can. And while you're at it, join the... [br][br]Affiliate Program [br][br]Speaking of promotion, the Affiliate Program is officially starting. All that is left right now is for us is to make a news release, add links to the footer and so on. If you want to get a head start, here is a link to the application: [br][br]http://www.goatstore.com/affiliate_application.php [br][br]The actual agreement is here: [br][br]http://www.goatstore.com/affiliate_agreement.php [br][br]Again, we really, really need the help here. Even if you know someone that runs a web site that might be interested, it would be a huge help. [br][br]We currently don't have any banner ads or anything made up for people to put on sites. Therefore, I have an interesting idea for a mini-contest... [br][br]GOAT Store Banner Contest [br][br]Make a banner for the GOAT Store, LLC Web site. The banner can either be for one Dreamcast game, all Dreamcast games, the site in general or any system that we carry (such as NES or DC specific... or even Sega specific). The size for the ads can be just about anything -- of special importance is standard banner ads and smaller buttons. [br][br]Submitting any banner means that you agree that we can use it and / or tweak it for our use, of course. Other basic things to think about if entering: [br][br]GOAT is always capitialized. It is never Goat. [br]Copper (the GOAT Logo that we use on the site and my avatar) is our GOAT. Please do not use any other pictures of goats. [br][br]At the end, Gary and I will be judging the entries based on our favorites. There won't be anything more to it than that [br][br]Now for the cool part -- winners will get the chance to playtest the GOAT Games Comp. before it comes out. We will be having three people join us for playtesting. How this will work is that we will send you the game in a beta format and ask you to try out the games and the interaction with our web site for high scores. The beta game that you will receive will be the game that we believe will be the final version. Based on your comments, we will tweak the game / menu system before release and add your name to the credits of the game. [br][br]Here is how the prizes will be given out: [br][br]Our favorite overall GOAT Store banner [br]Our favorite overall Dreamcast publishing banner [br]Every entry that we use will be put into a random drawing, and a third and fourth winner will be picked that way. If you submit to us 20 banners that are usable, we will enter you 20 times. [br][br]Just to note: Banners we will use are just about anything, as long as they look clean and attractive. We get to determine this at will, of course. [br][br]At no time do we want anyone to use any pornographic or lewd stuff on these. There should be no "Inhabitants kicks ASS!" with a picture of a GOAT kicking a Donkey or something (as funny as that might be). [br][br]If you do an animated GIF, please keep the size under 20kb at the absolute largest. Shoot for under 10kb if possible. [br][br]--- [br][br]So anyway, promote the heck out of the contest! [br][br]Upcoming Fun! [br][br]GOAT Games, obviously. [br][br]Mystery game is still being worked on, and should have some info coming soon... [br][br]The pressing troubles are over. [br][br]The Maqiupai and Inhabitants Web sites will be opening soon. In a few days when the Maq one is finished, I'll post a link to go check it out early. [br][br]More info Here [br][br]Thanks to LyonHrt for letting me know on IRC. ...