Description
Chess Clock aka Game Clock PSP 1.0 is an Analogue Chess/Game Clock Simulation for the Playstation Portable. It is written in C++ using the JGE++ Engine by Dr. Watson and Chipmunk Game Physics library by Slembcke.

Features
- Two connected clocks
- Each clock containing:
- a big clock pointer
- a small clock pointer
- a flag
- a star-shaped wheel for activity indication
- 2D physics simulation on the flags
- The pointers are rotating by an estimated angle velocity, so this app does NOT feature the most accurate clocks on the planet (it may vary by some seconds per hour)

Screenshot
note: I photographed my real chess clock for the background, yeah it's not the most accurate regarding the perspective but it's ok for me ;P


NOTE: Read the readme.txt for further details.

A Chess Clock, what now? - How to use this app.

Use the app for playing chess

Playing chess with a game clock has been established since 1861 where sand
clocks were used back then. In 1866 a match was played where the referee used stop watches. In 1883 a mechanical game clock was introduced which contained two separated clocks, each being activated/deactivated by a movable bar. In 1899 H. D. B. Mejer proposed the use of a small flag which falls when the player's time runs out. So this app here uses the ideas of chess enthusiasts more than 100 years ago In the 1980's digital clocks were developed, maybe Chess Clock aka Game Clock PSP will feature digital game clock's special abilities in the future!

Ok, back to playing chess. You can play different variants on chess with a game clock. The default setting is:
- Everyone's time runs out at exactly 6 o'clock
-> the app's default setting is 6 o'clock, so to setup a time for each player you just have to rewind the clock (from starting the app, both clocks can be rewound exactly at the same time by pressing D-Pad Left, stop the process by pressing D-Pad Down)
- Everyone's time is run out, when the flag falls
-> rewind both clocks far enough to the left first, so that the flags are "in front" if the big clock pointers (the pointers need to lift the flag up when entering the last minutes). You can then fast-forward both clocks to the setting you like, if needed (this applies if you want to give each player only a small amount of minutes)

The standard use is:
- On start of the match, the opposite player of the one doing the first move presses the Shoulder Button on the PSP facing his side to start the first player's clock.
- When a player finishes his move, he presses the Shoulder Button on the PSP facing his side, this stops his own clock and immediately starts the ppponent's one. In chess tournaments the hand which actually does the move is the same hand which triggers the Shoulder Button after that.

The Variants for Chess are:

Sudden Death

Sudden Death is a simple time system where each player gets a fixed amount of time for the whole match. Usual amounts are 45 or 30 minutes for a standard match. can play a Blitz Chess / Speed Chess is usually played with 5 minutes for each player.
Sorry to say, but it seems that's it for our Analogue Clock simulation regarding chess. Other variants are better implemented on a Digital Clock simulation (maybe I'm working on that one someday).

Use the app for playing Poker Tournaments

In Poker Tournaments the Blinds are raised after a certain amount of time. No
problem for our Game Clock simulation. Rewind one of the clocks or even both
to the time setting of your likes and let it go until the flag falls, then the
Blinds will be raised, the clock gets rewound and so on

Use the app as a Stop Watch

The clock pointers of the simulation aren't exactly accurate, so you should not measure events where seconds count. But you can use the app for cooking an egg without being worried

Download click here! (via pdroms.de) ...

New podcast released:

The PSP Show #71 - Air Traffic Control Hero (MP3 8.11 mb 11 minutes 46 seconds)
DOWNLOAD the podcast by right clicking on this link or press play and listen in your browser.

Back from a stupidly long trip around the US and Europe, but comfy in the stash of games and news to go through. No immediate news today, blame jetlag, but I did want to touch on the bittorrent numbers PSP Fanboy linked to last week. After that, it’s on to another ‘crazy’ japanese arcade simulation - this time I get to be an Air Traffic Controller!

http://psp.thepodcastnetwork.com/ ...

News/release from dridri85

...

DIR-to-XML Tool enables PSP users to make their MP3 collections into an RSS/XML feed so they can stream their whole collections from their PC to their console.

http://bravekn1ght.blinkedph.com/

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Game Informer: What’s going on with the PSP now that it’s hitting the three-year mark?

John Koller: We’re entering the third year of the platform, and we talked about it really being the biggest year, and it turned out to be so. Ever since we launched in 2005, we’ve been talking about the multifunctional aspects of the PSP, but really centering on gaming. I think what a lot of the consumers found last year to their liking was really an expansion in gaming, unique genres, unique games, but the price drop certainly helped us target a whole new demographic, going after that teen consumer group with a little bit less discretionary income than maybe the 20-something consumer. They were able to get into the market and really adopted the PSP as their own. The PSP hardware SKU we launched in September, the PSP-2000 made the PSP more portable, and a lot of consumers started adopting the PSP for music and for video and for some of their portable travel use of Internet browsing. I think what we saw was the price drop really assisting, but that the new hardware SKU pushed sales over the top. Our sales for the holiday season were spectacular—we actually couldn’t keep it in stock. We were in a really in a very good position; from a demand perspective it was very, very strong, and as we go into this year it’s remaining very strong. We’ve seen a real uptick year over year, a significant uptick—we’re up 85 percent in sales since the price drop last April. It’s a platform that’s got a ton of momentum, a lot of wind on our back. I think as we embark on our usual trip to talk to publishers and other people about the platform, I think it’s a lot easier conversation when you’ve got the strength of a very solid install base at this point. This year, I think is going to be another very good year, and we’re looking at a number of key launches—both software and peripheral—to really aid the momentum that we’re seeing now.



GI: The PSP really does seem to have a dual personality. It’s part device and part game machine—it’s in a pretty unique position in the marketplace. How had that been, positioning it in the marketplace, the fact that it can be used for so many different things?

Koller: You’re bringing up exactly what we wrestled with when we first launched the PSP. What it’s centered in, and how we positioned it in the market, is that it’s a multifunctional device with a gaming heart. It’ll always be a gaming system. We have such a solid lineup of games and will continue to do so, highlighted most recently by God of War. It’s primarily centered as a gaming machine. That said, the multifunctional aspects really round our what the PSP is and differentiates it from any competitive platform—and that’s including the DS and the iPod, the Zune and the Zen and all the other handheld products that are available in the market, inclusive of mobile phones.

The way that we market the product is to continue to promote the gaming portion, but add ancillary messaging about the multifunctional area—the addition of Skype and Internet radio. You can play your music and your movies on the PSP. It makes for an all-in-one device. I think as consumers start to find that there’s this integration of functionality between their various mobile devices, they want one or two screens to bring with them. We’re finding in a lot of our research that the consumer’s using the PSP because of its gaming but then also because it has these other elements as some of the other devices they own, but they don’t want to bring four or five devices with them in their pocket. The PSP solves all of those multifunctional demands in one product.

GI: The PSP seems to be getting better and better with each firmware update. How much of the recently added functionality—like Skype and Internet radio—was actually on the radar while the PSP was being designed? Were those always planned to be a part of the system eventually, or were they added because they seemed suitable for the platform?

Koller: That’s a really good question, and it’s actually pretty insightful. The way that we planned the product, to have these firmware updates and to be able to unleash new aspects on the consumer set—we didn’t always plan some of these since March ’05. Some of these are the result of consumer demand, quite honestly. Skype’s one of those. We had a real groundswell of reaction in a lot of our quantitative research and a lot of consumers asking for VOIP or a way for them to communicate with the PSP. As they brought it around and found that more and more wireless hotspots were available and becoming a little more ubiquitous, I think a lot of consumers were saying, “Let’s be able to communicate with this so I can talk with someone while I play SOCOM or while I play Madden or whatnot, and I can meet them online.” When we saw that interest, we took it back to Tokyo and met with the product-planning group, and Skype ...

Hi, everyone. When you turn on your PS3 today, you’ll be greeted with the newest system software update, v2.20. We gave you the heads up last week on what the new firmware would deliver, and, as promised, we have Eric Lempel back on camera to walk through a demo of some the new features. Also, to set the record straight, Blu-ray Portable Copy was never a part of this firmware update, and the feature isn’t related to BD-LIVE. We know a lot of you are excited about the ability to take a copy of a BD movie with you on the go on your PSP, so we’ll keep you posted on any developments with this cool feature in the future.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/...firmware-v220/ ...

News/release from Dark_Momo


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News/release from animefreak345:


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via animefreak345: ...

The Moon Books Project and Game Face Graphics are proud to announce 4 weeks of free Nintendo DS skins! The next four Fridays we will be giving away a free skin for the Nintendo DS.

This week we will be giving away the Solar Flare skin.
http://moonbooks.net/moonbooks/news.php?item.273.4 ...