via Computer and Video Games


How does the new Mario Kart Wii handle? What's happened to the powersliding? What new weapons are in there? And what about those bikes? Hands-on impressions have hit the web and answered these questions!

Nintendo of America has been treating US journos to hands-on time with the game.

First up, the all-important controls. Mario Kart Wii will not only use the new steering wheel controller packed with the game - it will also allow for more tradition button controls with either the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, the Classic Controller or even a GameCube pad. Pleased, we are.

Nintendo told IGN that its testers "seem to favour the steering wheel peripheral over the other options," but we'll believe that when we try it ourselves.

IGN says the steering wheel control takes getting used to because of the difficulty in finding the dead zone - the point at which no steering is applied.

In the typical Grand Prix mode, 50CC is comprised of kart-only races, 100CC is bikes-only, and 150CC lets both lose together.

Also in IGN's report, it reveals that powersliding has also been given an overhaul. Slides are started with the B button, and instead of rapidly steering in opposite directions to build up a boost, the boost now charges over time as you perform your slide. Sounds like a n00b-friendly make-over to us, but we're okay with that.

Meanwhile, a similar report on 1Up reveals that the bikes are "more manoeuvrable" than the karts, but are more prone to being bumped around. As an extra advantage, you can shake the Remote to perform a wheelie, which awards you a small boost after a short time, but wheelies leave you vulnerable to spinning out.

1Up confirms that those stunts seen in the trailers are performed by shaking the Wii Remote - or by pressing a D-Pad button when the Remote isn't in use - at the top of a jump.

Three new items have turned up: the Mega Mushroom from New Super Mario Bros. turns karts into giants, the POW block from Mario Bros. stuns other racers with shockwaves, and a Lightening Cloud item gives you temporary super speed.

As for online play, the full 12-player races will be playable and, more excitingly, you'll be able to have up to two players per console. Split-screen online play FTW!

Exciting stuff indeed. And we've got two fresh new screens below, too - right here. ...

via pdroms

iSMS is a native SMS application for iPhone, with following enhancements:
- Search your message
- Forwarding received message
- Delete message one by one
- Send message to multi-recipients
- Send contact information via SMS
- Support smilies in Message
- User could create pre-defined texts and append them into message
- i18n support

Release thread at http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=30163

[UPDATED] - iSMS 1.0-rc1(PXL) is now available for download!
http://weisms.googlecode.com/files/isms-1.0-rc1.zip

iSMS 1.0-rc1(PXL) is available for download! The installer source is still waiting for STE's update and I know he's busy recently, so please be patient.

READ FIRST
- To 1.1.3 Users
1.1.3 is is not supported yet. So please don't install if you're. It will not work. Why ? well I have only one iPhone(phone and toy as well) I don't want to take the risk of upgrading it to 1.1.3. That's it.

- To 1.1.2 Users
Some advanced/cool features is not working on your phone, such as SMS black list, badge update... Why? same reason as above.

- To 1.0.2 & 1.1.1 users
Congrats, I'm sticky on 1.0.2, so sure it will work without any problems. Also I have the chance to debug my app on my friend's 1.1.1 phone and all features should work also on 1.1.1

- What's new since 1.0 RC1 ?
* A new helper module(dylib) is introduced and by injecting it into the SpringBoard process, iSMS now can take over the default apple SMS application! (Currently only support 1.0.2/1.1.1)
* Simple but True SMS BlackList?, yes it's true! No pop up, no daemon! Message will be deleted silently though.
* New recipient UI. after several days's hard reversing, I finally managed to use the system UI components to display the recipients. More apple-ish Now!
* Save to draft
* Template customization
* Could remove the 1000 message capacity limit.

iSMS 1.0RC1 is not perfect, but it has been tested by 10K chinese iPhoners during the lunar chinese new year. So it should work for most of you. If you have any problems, please submit issue ticket at http://code.google.com/p/weisms/

Last but not least, Thanks for your interesting and please consider donate if you think it's good. With your help, I believe I can make a killer SMS app for you.

- Shawn

http://code.google.com/p/weisms/ ...

via pdroms

iMapIdle is an iPhone application that simulates "Push Email" with your IMAP server. It's in its early stages but the current features are:

- listens in the background waiting for new IMAP mail even if you are in sleep/standby mode
- notifies you via a popup and/or sound. You choose how to be notified. Sound notification should use the same method your mail client uses (ie: if you have vibrate on, it'll vibrate as well)
- popup notification allows you to choose whether the mail client should check for email right there by forcing the mail client to check the server (it doesn't launch the mail client but just forces it to check the server). NOTE: Don't choose this if you are in the mail client as it will exit (you've been warned). The popup will disappear after 20 seconds and if you miss it the iMapIdle icon will show you how many popup notifications you have missed
- supports SSL connections and special support for GMail IMAP http://iphone.rustyredwagon.com/ ...

via pdroms

twenty08 are about the release MobileChat v2.1 this week...

Read on:

We’ll be release MobileChat 2.1 later this week/this weekend. It works fully on 1.1.3.This isn’t a major release, it’s more of a compatibility release with a few fixes and a feature add:
- Works on 1.1.3
- DNS Issue that plagued 1.x and 2.0 has been resolved.
- BSD Subsystem dependency should be gone.
- Added support for XMPP
- Tweaked GTalk settings
- Sign On progress notifications (as seen in screenshots)
- Disconnect Notification: if you get kicked off, or you can’t sign on, you’ll be alerted now

AIM is working fine, the hold up is with XMPP/GTalk. While we resolved the DNS issues that really held both services back during the initial release of 2.0, we’re running into issues with authentication on both services now. We’re exploring the option of upgrading to libpurple 2.3, and have it 95% compiled on the iPhone at this point. Should only be another few days to finish up the port of libpurple to the iPhone and then upgrading the method calls in the application.

I’m sure the AIM users are going to be saying “I don’t care about XMPP, I want it now” however, believe me, a newly compiled libpurple on the iPhone will definitely improve performance.

Stay tuned guys!

Oh, and for those of you who really can’t wait for us to release this later this week, SVN Revision 72 works fine for AIM.

http://blog.twenty08.com/2008/02/18/mobilechat-on-113/ ...

via IGN


Having already shifted some 1.2 million units over in the US, Midway has announced that it's bringing Unreal Tournament III to the PlayStation 3 in Europe on Friday, February 22.

With its hooves firmly entrenched in the multiplayer arena, Unreal Tournament III is a highly competent first-person shooter, earning itself a '9.0' when reviewed by our US team last December.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the title is the ability to download mods and user generated maps over the PlayStation Network – a near-unprecedented feature on the console landscape and a marked evolution from Halo 3's Forge-enabled content. However, US players were forced to wait a couple of weeks to fully benefit from the feature – we contacted Midway to see if there would be a similar wait over here but were unable to pin anyone down for an answer.

Regardless, it's easily in the upper echelon of shooters currently available on the PS3 and serves to further bolster the console's rapidly expanding catalogue. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Ninja Theory, the UK-based developer behind PS3 hit Heavenly Sword (and Kung Fu Chaos), has updated its website to tease us about what its next project will be. Heavenly Sword sequel or something completely different?


All clear on that, then? Good.

"There are some teaser elements on this new look website," adds the post. Hit this link and have a look for yourself.

Don't go expecting too much now. All we can make out is that, what ever the game is, it doesn't like it's based in the same time period as Heavenly Sword.

Spotted by NeoGaf. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Sony says its softly-softly approach to PlayStation Network will help it identify the "next Will Wright and David Jaffe".

Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, John Hight, director of product development at SCEA's Santa Monica Studios, explained why PlayStation Network hasn't been particularly overwhelmed with games.


Hight went on to say that PSN would see plenty more original titles, as well as a bigger budget, and larger sized games this year, while titles that include cooperative multiplayer games would be made a priority. "It's not a must-have, but we feel the competitive universe is mostly covered."

He also acknowledged that Sony was having a problem implementing a strict game pricing policy. "We have to decide, 'Gee am I going to charge more because everybody wants to have it? Or I'm going to set a price zone and everything has to reach that?' We have messed around with experimenting with prices." ...

via Eurogamer


Capcom has told us that the European Lost Planet PS3 demo will be out this Thursday.

That means you can get a taste for bungling around in the snow in giant robot suits while you blow chunks in enormous insects and naughty baddies with guns.

You can also enjoy a spot of it in online multiplayer battles for up to eight of you, although the full version will feature 16-player matches.

This was the same demo the US was given a couple of weeks ago - the one that was pulled down due to a few technical hiccups. Thankfully none of those should be apparent here.

Lost Planet PS3 will be out at the end of next week, and brings with it a new playable character in lovely Luka, as well as all the various patches that have been applied to the Xbox 360 version.

Capcom offered no comment on if it will need a lengthy installation like Devil May Cry 4, though, but given the outcry that caused we would be surprised if it did. ...

via Eurogamer


Q-Games has said it has two more PixelJunk games in development for the PlayStation Store.

The first of these will be PixelJunk Eden, an abstract puzzle game that bears a passing resemblance to LocoRoco. You are a little blob and have to eat pollen and birth flowers and become a part of the environment around you.

It's bright and colourful and was described as "kind of like an organic Mario" by studio boss Dylan Cuthbert at the Independent Games Summit in Japan earlier this week (reported by Gamasutra).

With a proposed development time of around six to seven months, Eden should be out very soon indeed - work began last June. Pop over to YouTube to see it in action.

The other title to come is PixelJunk Dungeons, a top-down dungeon crawler, although little else is known about it.

PixelJunk Racers and PixelJunk Monsters are the two already available on PSN. The former is a racing game where you have to dodge traffic while gaining speed around a little track, while the latter is a real-time strategy affair and rather good at that.

Despite all being very different, Cuthbert is keen for us to get to know the PixelJunk name and its emphasis on "simplicity, familiarity, and originality", which is why they all carry the title.

Pleased to meet you, PixelJunk. ...