via joystiq

When the topic of sluggish PlayStation 3 sales is brought up, Peter Moore recalls his previous corporate life and asks, "Remember the Dreamcast?" Speaking to Next-Generation's Colin Campbell, the Microsoft exec compares Sony's current difficulties with those he experienced with Sega on its final console. "We thought we were doing right," he says. "All of a sudden it didn't pan out."

Though we're not privy to the same lucid and possibly prophetic dreams Mr. Moore is, lumping Sony's latest effort into the same category as the Dreamcast brings with it many sticky implications, intended or not. Is Moore saying the PlayStation 3 is failing to "pan out" for Sony, less than a year into its supposed ten-year life? Sega came out of the gate strongly and promptly drove off a financial cliff like Thelma and Louise, whereas Sony is off to a slow start and has every chance of picking up the pace. Moore goes on to say that Sony's focus on the Cell processor and the Blu-ray drive was a mistake, that it "miscalculated the global consumer's appetite for the experience the offered at the price point they offered it at." But wasn't the PS2's "Emotion Engine" and DVD drive instrumental in its triumph over Moore's ex-box?

We remember when the Xbox 360 was given the Dreamcast treatment as a means to highlight impending failure, and it was as odd then as it is now. Despite the system's commercial demise under the watch of a struggling manufacturer, it enjoyed amazing first-party support and is still remembered for hosting some remarkable games and innovations. When did being compared to the Dreamcast become such a bad thing? ...

via kotaku

Just one more continent to jump and then we can all play our DS's in our closets when other people at home. The success of the naughty witch touching game that hasn't even come out yet has convinced SNK to release a translated version (unfortunately, it's probably not the translation you wanted).

Doki Doki Majo Shinpan has finished turning Japanese (didn't think I could slip another 80s tune into a post, did you?) and has now got a Chinese translation version on their website. Why are the Chinese so lucky? Well, it is the year of the Golden Pig, which means double prosperity for everyone. Of course, maybe there are just a lot of perverts in China. Who can say for sure? ...

via kotaku


Nintendo Wii, the eternal boy scout, is racking up the badges as it enters the physical therapy field in order to help its fellow man. The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital is the first hospital in North America to use the Wii to help patients with movement and balance issues and so far, they have seen some successes. Playing for rehabilitation has been proved to be more motivating than asking patients to do repetitive physical tasks over and over again.

Don Simoneau, an occupational therapist at the Glenrose, said he has used the technology on only about five patients in the past two and a half months, but already the 200 hospital therapists are clamouring to be involved with the Wii equipment.
It's unfortunate that more than just hospitals are "clamouring" for the Wii, or I'm sure they would have them by now. ...

New version of the Nintendo DS emulator for PC.

Changelog:

* Added LDRD and STRD opcodes.
* Added HuffUnComp BIOS function.
* Added Square Root BIOS function.
* Added command line options.
* Added zipped rom support (the emulator slows down).
* Added basic frameskip.
* Added support for M3, Supercard CF and Supercard One files.
* Added Run to Cursor(F6) and Step Over(F8) in debugger.
* Added support for Shadow Polygons.
* Added support for .ds.gba and .sc.nds files.
* Added Rotation feature.
* Added Save/Load game capability.
* Fixed unaligned memory access on LDRH opcode.
* Fixed a bug in textures management.
* Fixed a bug in 3D matrices management.
* Fixed a bug in LIGHT_VECTOR register.
* Fixed a bug in NORMAL register.
* Fixed a bug in GXSTAT register.
* Fixed a bug in Extended Draw Mode management.
* Fixed a bug in microphone support.

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

via kotaku



Square-Enix fans and hot beverage afficionados can finally agree on something, as the lovable Final Fantasy fauna mainstay finally makes its way to licensed mugs with the soon to be released Chocobo Magic Book Mug.

Fine importer National Console Support has begun taking pre-orders for these adorable Chocobo mug-bearing cups for the collector-only price of $18 a pop. Typically, I get my mugs for free, but my non-sexual crush on all things Chocobo might make me break.

Thinking about using some Dragon Quest slime silverware to stir my morning coffee in a Chocobo mug just sealed the deal. Consider these birds ordered! ...

press release:

Capcom® , a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today announced its first original title exclusively for the Wii™ video game system, Zack & Wiki™: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, an innovative, full-length puzzle adventure game that utilizes the unique control mechanics of the Wii Remote™ and challenges gamers to "play different." Capcom plans to release Project Treasure Island Z (Working Title) this fall.

"Innovation has been the cornerstone of Capcom's successful history ," said Jack Symon, director, brand marketing, Capcom Entertainment. "By introducing a whole new level of interactivity, this title reinforces our commitment to pushing the limits on how people view and play games."

Legend has it that a revered pirate named Barbaros once stole the world's treasure and hid it on a mysterious island. Though no one knows of its exact location, stories about the untold riches that lay in wait have been passed down through the ages, driving pirates from all walks of life to pursue the alluring prizes. One of these treasure seekers, a young apprentice pirate named Zack happens upon a mysterious talking skull, the skull of Barbaros himself. Barbaros promises to reveal the key to the island, if Zack will help to lift the curse he is under.

Players will explore a variety of wondrous environments and stages, solving puzzles and interacting with the world in search of vast riches and the ultimate pursuit of becoming the greatest pirate the world has ever seen. Inventive gameplay mechanics and controller movements allow players to move and open objects, transform items, unlock new pathways and navigate through perilous stages based on a variety of themes including a jungle, ice temple, volcanic caves and more, each with multiple sub-areas. Players will use the Wii Remote controller in various ways - rotate handles, turn keys to open doors, play a piccolo and much more in order to solve the progressively difficult puzzle stages and collect key items that will lead to the legendary pirate ship. ...

via insert credit

Good ole james found this curious new product, the Vflash. There's a bit more info here, and a product demo here. Unlike other edutainment efforts, this one actually has a 3D processor. I wonder what kind?

It has a (8 meg) memory card slot, and uses discs for media. You can apparently 'make animation' with it, and save those to the card, as well as three game saves. Two controller ports...the controller looks a bit low rent, but the whole thing costs $99, so what can you ask for really? I do like how self-explanatory the buttons are - 'enter,' 'exit,' 'menu,' etc. Four face buttons, two shoulder buttons. If you check here, you can find the full product suite, including games. Spider-Man, Scooby Doo, Cars, etc. And the graphics don't look too shabby, considering. You get the best sense of that by watching the videos on the main page. This is building off their Vsmile handheld product too (which uses custom carts)... I just can't get enough of weird game technology. Thank goodness people keep making it!

Vtech itself is based in hong kong, and sells this stuff in the chinese market as well. I don't know - somehow I wonder if they didn't get ahold of a bunch of old Dreamcast chips... (actually it's apparently an ARM9 processor...like the GP2X, though there are different speeds of course) ...

Valve's legion of fans can start drawing whacking great circles around October, according to marketing director Doug Lombardi.

Lombardi said as much to Eurogamer during a recent visit to the studio to make cooing noises about its Q4 line-up, although he admitted that it wasn't a dead cert. When is it ever?

Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2 will be released as a bundle on Steam, Valve's PC-based content delivery network, while Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners will be able to pick the games up in two packages - one in which the three stand together and another that also includes Half-Life 2 and Episode One.

All three games were clearly in an advanced state this week, with the developer claiming that the main areas that remain are things like polish and additional graphical tweaks.

via eurogamer ...

New at Divineo China



The DS-X (DS-Xtreme) is a revolutionary storage, homebrew and media player flash cart compatible with all DS Lite and original DS consoles.

Offering a SINGLE unified solution which allows you to do the unthinkable and push the limits of Nintendo’s ™ top selling handheld console. The DS-X does NOT require the use of a passme, external memory or any unsightly GBA cart, just one intelligently designed piece of kit, the same size as an ordinary DS cart, giving an unrivalled experience to any DS enthusiast.

Its plug and play in its finest hour, an in-built USB port on the DS-X paves the way for you to communicate easily between the DS-X OS and your computer. Drag ‘n drop all your favourite media and homebrew as you please directly onto the included 16GBit (2-Gbyte) memory with minimal effort as the DS-X will be instantly recognized by your machine. ...