In case you haven't read my newest blog entry, we need testers that are willing to test a GnM FAT driver we are developing, I've been reading up on FAT access and ASM in the last couple of weeks, so I was thinking of writing the first GnM DLDI driver (or libFATwert driver, as it easier in some ways). I'm guessing Datel probably copied off some Slot-1 card just like how they copied off the GBAMP, so that FAT access is probably very similar to one of the popular Slot-1 cards. I relize this will take a while, because most of us are very busy so just bare with me. So if you are willing to help us test a GnM FAT driver email us at [email protected] ...

In case you haven't read my newest blog entry, we need testers that are willing to test a GnM FAT driver we are developing, I've been reading up on FAT access and ASM in the last couple of weeks, so I was thinking of writing the first GnM DLDI driver (or libFATwert driver, as it easier in some ways). I'm guessing Datel probably copied off some Slot-1 card just like how they copied off the GBAMP, so that FAT access is probably very similar to one of the popular Slot-1 cards. I relize this will take a while, because most of us are very busy so just bare with me. So if you are willing to help us test a GnM FAT driver email us at [email protected] ...

In case you haven't read my newest blog entry, we need testers that are willing to test a GnM FAT driver we are developing, I've been reading up on FAT access and ASM in the last couple of weeks, so I was thinking of writing the first GnM DLDI driver (or libFATwert driver, as it easier in some ways). I'm guessing Datel probably copied off some Slot-1 card just like how they copied off the GBAMP, so that FAT access is probably very similar to one of the popular Slot-1 cards. I relize this will take a while, because most of us are very busy so just bare with me. So if you are willing to help us test a GnM FAT driver email us at [email protected] ...

Just a quick note to say Happy 35th Birthday to one of our best and friendliest coders in the Homebrew Scene, GPF is a coder who has released many great games and emulators (and bags of unreleased projects) for the Dreamcast, Mobile Phones and Nintendo DS and soon the PSP hopefully .

Anyway have a good one from all your buddies here at DCEmu ...

Codemasters' upcoming installment in the long-running and exceedingly popular Colin McRae series isn't just the best-looking rally game we've seen; it's one of the best-looking next generation titles, period. This week we've been lucky enough to go hands-on with Colin McRae: DIRT and were immediately blown away by the impressive visuals, superb handling and high-speed rally racing. Clearly Codemasters has had its best development team locked up in a garage for several years with only programming tools for company, if the impressive results we've seen so far are anything to go by.

For those that haven't been following the progress of DIRT - more fool you - it's the latest rally game featuring Scotland's favourite off-road racer. After successful appearances on previous generation consoles, Codemasters has invested plenty of time and effort into this latest iteration, even building its own game engine (called Neon) especially for DIRT. It's also the first Colin McRae to feature Hill Climb events and Rally Raid competitions. So far, so good... but we were interested to see if DIRT could live up to our high expectations

Full Article

...

via ign

Months ago, From Software and Ubisoft delivered the Xbox 360's first traditional turn-based RPG. With random battles, plot driven exploration and loads of cinema driven special battles, the arrival of Enchanted Arms was a good addition for the genre on Microsoft's system, which only had Final Fantasy and the epic Oblivion for fans to experience. Now, months later, Enchanted Arms is making its way to the PS3, marking the first turn-based RPG on Sony's Cell-driven system. However, much more than a basic port of the game, the PS3 version has received a number of subtle gameplay enhancements to take advantage of the Sixaxis controller.

The story of Enchanted Arms is set after the events of the Golem War, a devastating conflict that shattered civilization and pitted humanity against their doll-like creations known as golems. Initially, the golems were designed to help humans accomplish their goals and tasks, but after the arrival of super-powerful automatons known as Devil Golems, the creatures turned against their masters and almost devastated the world. Humans were only able to defeat the dolls with the help of powerful magic, imprisoning the Devil Golems and slowly restoring control over the remaining beasts. Unfortunately, most of the magical powers humans possessed became lost to time, leaving the survivors to rebuild their lives and their towns. The lone art remaining to humans is the ability to become enchanters, using specialized abilities which they go to established academies to learn.

Meet Atsuma, the dimwitted hero of Enchanted Arms.Players take on the role of Atsuma, a less than stellar pupil at the Yokohama City Enchanters academy. Actually, he's more of a campus wide joke, known more for sleeping in class than using his brain for anything. But the reason why he hasn't been kicked out of the academy is because of his right arm, which somehow has the power to nullify the effects of any enchantment. One day, when he and his friends are skipping class to attend a festival in the city, a massive earthquake levels sections of the city. However, even worse, the golems scattered around the city snapped and started attacking any human in sight. After fighting their way through various golems to the ruins of the academy, they discover the resurrected form of a Devil Golem, which promptly kicks off all kinds of problems.

Like most RPGs, battle plays a significant role within the game. Enchanted Arms uses a turn-based system that sets the player's party and their opponents up on 4x3 grids that defines their movement and attacking range. During every turn, a character can move and choose to either standby and regain their strength or select an item or skill. Many of these abilities have specialized attributes, which can imbue various elemental effects on the target, which helps build up a combo and EX meter. The combo meter lets multiple party members increase their damage on a single target, while the EX meter allows a character to attack every single enemy on screen. Unleashing your strongest attacks takes a large amount of power from your characters, but helps defeat your opponents faster. There are two separate incentives to using these abilities. The first is because your party members regenerate their energy in each battle, so you can go all out and not worry about being unprepared for the next fight. The other reason is because the faster you defeat enemies the more you maintain your Vitality points, which helps govern the health of everyone in the field at the start of a battle.

Welcome to the grid...You'll be fighting quite a bit on this field.While a majority of the game features appears to be rather similar to that of the 360, it's unclear if the online features, such as allowing you to post your high scores in casino games or participating in golem battles against other players on the PlayStation Network, will be included in the game. However, a number of gameplay features have been augmented to take advantage of the motion sensitivity of the Sixaxis controller. For instance, whenever players trigger the EX meter during battle, players have the ability to add additional power by shaking the controller before time runs out, adding a faster, frenetic pacing to the battle sequence. Similarly, you can recover expended EX meter energy by performing the Enchant Dance, shaking the controller back and forth as Atsuma dances in a spatial vacuum. Other uses that we've noticed were shaking the controller to extend Atsuma's Enchant Wire, allowing him to cover vast distances, as well as certain mini-games, like a pizza eating contest. ...

via IGN


Capcom is holding a Gamers Day event on April 12 to showcase at least part of its 2007 lineup and several Wii projects are expected to be on-hand, including the tentatively named Treasure Island Z. In addition, some reports indicate that the studio may choose this venue to unveil the anticipated Wii survival-horror sequel, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.

Capcom's senior director of strategic planning and research, Christian Svensson, hasn't confirmed whether Umbrella Chronicles will be on-hand at the event. But he did reveal that the title will support both 480 progressive-scan and 16:9 widescreen modes whenever it finally ships for Nintendo's new console. Svensson was unsure if the game would run in Dolby Pro Logic II, though.

Very little has been confirmed officially about Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, but some details have been pieced together based on reports from Famitsu and comments from Capcom officials. The title is being led by Masachika Kawata, who handled the port of Resident Evil 4 to PlayStation 2. According to Famitsu, the title will consist of two parts, including a more traditional survival horror experience that transpires between Code Veronica X and RE4, and another mode where gamers can play as various characters from the universe and traverse areas from the previous projects.

Capcom's American branch has remained reluctant to speak about the game, since details generally come from Japan first or, alternatively, are announced worldwide at official events, such as the company's forthcoming Gamers Day. We've got our fingers crossed for more.


Leave feedback via comments. ...

via mcv

Healthy opening weekend software sales boost record breaking launch.
Just as it revealed that Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm had swept into the top two spots in the all formats listings this week, ChartTrack also confirmed that overall, PS3 games were sold at a software-to-hardware ratio of 1.65.

Considering the price of the console, this represents a significant success for platform holder Sony, although its predecessor PS2 boasted an opening weekend attach rate ratio of 1.67.

The high volume of software sales meant that the new Sony format put in an impressive showing in its debut week at European retail. Six new PS3 games entered the top ten, with 13 in total across the all formats top 40. Five of the 13 were also PS3 exclusives. ...

News/release from Josath

Basically all it does is copy from EEPROM to FAT, and copy from FAT to EEPROM.
Super basic text UI.
Reads the game ID from the header to auto-name the backup save files.
There are a couple other basic features I will add (like support for SRAM, and a hex viewer)

It MAY work for some slot-1 card users, because I have a bunch of pauses in there (so you can insert the right card at the right time). But I've heard that it wont work for some cards because inserting the slot-1 flashcart causes a reset. (the reset never happens with a commercial game cart it seems, I can pop my metroid cart in & out all day long with no reset, so this is quite odd)

Let me know if it works, or if it wipes out your precious save games

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...