- bugfix: CDDA audio in CDRecord GUI needed the -swab switch
- bugfix: the Multisession checkbox wasn't shown for burning ISOs
- new: Data\Data CDDA support in the CDRecord GUI which is better if you create a dummy file bin2boot creates these type of CDDA images

This is basically a bugfix release -- I was adding Data\Data CDDA support in for the next big release and noticed the CDDA was staticy when they were burned in CDRecord. Then earler today I noticed the multisession checkbox wasn't displaying for ISO images. They're fixed now -- sorry about that!

http://dchelp.dcemulation.com/?BootDreams ...

via Xbox 360 Fanboy


Xboxygen got their hands on 4 more screenshots of Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4. Unfortunately, none of the shots are 360° flybys of a given scene, but it'll do. Still, the game seems to be coming along graphically and these screens have some great examples of the engine's explosion, lighting, rain and realistic smoke capabilities. Are you digging the art direction, as well as the move to modern day combat scenarios in this next installment of the Call of Duty series?

Screenshots in source link above or here. ...

via Xbox 360 Fanboy




The technophiles at Xbox-Scene have uncovered a tasty bit of Xbox 360 news that should serve as some relief to sufferers of the Red Ring of Death. It looks like Microsoft is employing new heat-combating measures when refurbishing broken units. Specifically, a new heatsink is being installed. The heatsink resides directly under the DVD drive, connected to one of the other heatsinks with copper tubing. Blessedly untouched by the Red Ring of Death thus far, we don't know how effective this new heatsink is, but we're hopeful that it will solve perpetually publicized 360 failures. Whether or not Microsoft is also installing the heatsink in new Xbox 360s is unknown.

...

via Eurogamer


Sony has used its new US blog to label rumour and speculation about a new PSP hardware revision and a possible PSP phone as, er, rumour and speculation.

"I just wanted to take the time to clear the air. We haven't announced anything about a new PSP, much less one that would have any phone capabilities," said John Koller, the PSP's senior marketing manager.

"As SCEA's resident PSP guru, I'm thrilled to hear that there's so much interest in the platform, but sorry folks, these reports floating around fall into the rumours/speculation category."

In case you missed it, PSP spotters had unearthed a Sony Ericsson patent that outlined a device that mixed mobile phone functions and videogame features.

Elsewhere, rumours continue to float around about a rejigged PSP that includes 8GB of onboard flash memory and a better screen, with an improved d-pad that's closer to the PS3's in terms of design.

None of which, obviously, has been confirmed. But then, despite the Sony blog's cooling comments, none of it's been denied either. Perhaps we'll learn more about Sony's handheld hardware ambition at E3 in mid-July. ...

via Eurogamer


Tony Blair has given his response to the complaints expressed by the Church over Resistance: Fall of Man, telling parliament that companies must take responsibility for the impact their products have.

During today's Prime Minister's Questions Tony Lloyd, MP for Manchester Central, began his question by observing, "When large organisations like Sony find their copyright has been breached, they're very quick to use the law."

He continued, "Would the Prime Minister agree with me then that when Sony used images of Manchester Cathedral as part a game which extols gun violence, this was not only in bad taste but also very, very insulting to not simply the Church of England, but people across the land who think it's inappropriate that big corporations behave in this way?"

Blair replied, "I agree with my honourable friend. I think it's important that any of the companies engaged in promoting these types of goods have some sense of responsibility and also some sensitivity to the feelings of others.

"I think this is an immensely difficult area, the relationship between what happens with these games and its impact on young people," the prime minister went on.

"I've no doubt this debate will go on for a significant period of time, but I do agree. I think it is important that people understand there is a wider social responsibility as well as an interior responsibility for profits."

News emerged at the weekend that the Church of England is demanding an apology from Sony for the depiction of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance.

Developer Insomniac has so far declined to comment, while SCEE has confirmed plans to contact Church authorities in a bid to resolve the issue. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Team Ninja's Yosuke Hayashi, producer and director for Ninja Gaiden Sigma, says that the developer chose to dedicate Sigma to PS3 to make it the best game it could be, and is confident that its achievements will silence PS3 critics.

"Multi-format videogames have boomed in recent years, but when you make a game for multiple formats you cannot focus on one machine's specific capabilities - you have to focus on a common ground for all formats," Hayashi said at a Sigma event today.

"It is Team Ninja's policy to push a console to its limit and set high standards. Team Ninja wanted to make Ninja Gaiden Sigma the best action game it could be, and push gaming standards to its upper limit. That is why we chose to make the game for PS3."

He later went on to say: "I have heard much criticism of the PS3, but I am confident that Ninja Gaiden Sigma will demonstrate how powerful the PS3 really is."

So why not make an original game from the ground up for PS3, instead of and Xbox remake? The clearly confident Hayabashi explains, "We still see Ninja Gaiden on Xbox as the number-one action game, and so we want as many people as possible to experience that game."

He went on to explain that Sigma uses self-shading techniques and other advanced graphical effects in full 1080p resolution and still manages to maintain a solid 60 frames per second which, he claims, no other game in the current generation has managed. "That includes games on Xbox 360," Hayashi adds.

You'll be able to tell us whether you agree or disagree with Hayashi-san when the demo launches in a couple of weeks time (exact date yet to be confirmed), before the full game's July launch. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Sony is readying an update for Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection on the PlayStation Network that will allow gamers to fight online, reports Famitsu.

The new online Versus Mode will also come with online rankings, so you can keep track of how bad-ass you are. And if you suck, you jump into the also new Practice mode to brush up on some skills.

Not stopping there, Survival mode will be added to the package, fleshing Tekken out into one meaty offering.

Although the release date is yet to be confirmed, Sony has settled on a 2800 Yen price tag (£11.60) - or 1000 Yen (£4.15) to those who have already downloaded the currently available version of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Lightgun arcade shooter, Time Crisis 4, is on the way to PS3, confirming earlier rumours stirred up by US retailers.

According to the latest issue of Japanese Famitsu magazine (via NeoGAF), the PS3 version will contain an AC mode that will be a 100 percent perfect port of the arcade game, which we assume means there'll be no changes to the gameplay or graphics.

It will also pack a Mission mode, although no further details on that have been revealed.

Famitsu also reports that a Guncon 3 (the third iteration of the lightgun used in Time Crisis) is in the works for PS3. We'll be interested to see how it resolves the issue of working with LCD televisions, with which traditional lightguns are completely incompatible. ...

via PC World

Remember your old elementary school science lessons about potential and kinetic energy? Pull a rubber band taut and you give it potential energy; release it, and that energy becomes kinetic. Not to sound trite, but you might compare that rubber band to the relationship between silicon and software development. If the rubber band is, say, the Xbox 360's triple-core Xenon PowerPC-based processor or the Playstation 3's seven-core Cell CPU, either system manufacturer's software "devkit" becomes the hand stretching that rubber band to different degrees of tautness.

Recall the Sega Saturn, which had eleven processors plus dual CPUs. Sony's Playstation had just three (ah the irony). I remember reading something in (now defunct) Next Generation Magazine around the time the Saturn launched about how powerful the latter system was compared to the Playstation, but also how prohibitively difficult it was for developers to tap into that extra oomph. Sega further confused matters by shipping a devkit with the intelligibility of an underwater toaster. Sure, Sega's "rubber band" was much stronger and more extensible than the Playstation's, but the fingers doing the pulling might as well have been handcuffed thanks to Sega's byzantine development tools. Thus the Saturn failed, despite Sega's prior prominence in the 16-bit market with the Genesis.

Is the Playstation 3 the next Sega Saturn? Both systems were/are radical departures from prior platforms with experimentally complex multi-processor architectures. Compare the jump from Intel's Pentium 4 to its Core Duo and Core 2 Duo processors with corresponding chipset upticks, none of which come remotely close to jolting developers to the same extent as jumping from the PS2 to the PS3. (Though it's worth noting that the jump from single to dual-core processing has been a substantial challenge for developers looking to utilize Intel's second core effectively--parallel processing is a paradigm shift that requires significant retooling on any hardware platform.)

Developers were keen to berate the Saturn back in the mid-1990s, but they're staying mum about the PS3 today. GamePro managed to uncover a few semi-illuminating tidbits, reporting on a story in Dr. Dobb's software journal in which the authors claim "Software that exploits the Cell [processor's] potential requires a development effort significantly greater than traditional platforms." In an email to GamePro, Sony's product development group added further:

Since PS3's Cell processor allows more features -- better physics, more complex graphical processing, lighting or sound -- there is inevitably going to be more cost in supporting those extra features... It's not that PS3 is harder to write for, it's just that you can do more with it.

Of course what Sony calls "more you can do with it," most intelligent developers would equivocate with the same sort of learning curve that killed the Sega Saturn. No one's disputing it's more powerful at this point, but wrapping a Honda Civic around a V12 won't win you any races.

Imagine playing a sport like basketball with a certain ruleset, and say you've been playing for years. As a competitive athlete, you have to focus on mastering dribbling, passing, and shooting techniques which explicitly complement those rules. No running out of bounds, carrying without dribbling, etc. Now let's say the league decides to alter the rules dramatically, and I'm not just talking scoring or timing minutia, but--to make the analogy proportional--something radical, say having to dribble two or three basketballs at once. You might be able to do it (hey, plenty of reverse jugglers can!) but think of the practice and utter rethinking involved to do it effectively. Passing around three basketballs might increase your team's chances of landing a shot, but every tactical aspect of the game has to do a one-eighty.

The most damning element in the stack against the PS3, though, may be multi-platform games (mostly contributed by mega-publishers like EA and Ubisoft) which require costly re-engineering when porting to the PS3 architecture. Witness products like Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Spider-Man 3, which run smoothly on the 360 but often jerk conspicuously on the PS3, and occasionally in a way that actually interferes with the gameplay. Add the higher development costs (read: time) to port to the PS3, and you have a situation not altogether unlike the one Sega found itself in slightly more than a decade ago. ...