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via pspfanboy

This should come as no surprise to PSP owners, but it's interesting to see the numbers nonetheless. When looking through the ESRB database, one sees that the PSP offers a greater variety of games than Nintendo's handheld. The PSP features 30 titles with an M rating. The DS, on the other hand, only has 2.

Teen-rated games also find their home on the PSP. The DS only has 31 Teen-rated games, while the PSP has three times the number of titles, with 96 T-rated games.

While it's undeniable that the DS is selling better than the PSP, one has to wonder how many of those consoles are for adults. I'd assume not too many. Grand Theft Auto sold over a million copies on Sony's handheld, while LocoRoco went by mostly unnoticed. I think it should be pretty clear that the two portables are targeting two very different markets: and older gamers, like myself, enjoy the slightly more adult-themed games of the PSP. ...

New release from Flatmush:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

via ign

Nintendo of America revealed on Tuesday that it would make Mario Kart 64 available to the Wii Shopping Channel next week. The acclaimed racer marks the second N64 title released for the Virtual Console.

Mario Kart 64 pits players in control of classic racers and challenges them to navigate a series of twisting, turning environments while using special power-ups. The title's single-player mode was fun, but the game will always be remembered for its addictive multiplayer offering -- IGN's own editors spent too many hours to count battling in some of its many arenas. ...

via ign

Today Warner Bros. announced that it will be publishing Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal in fall 2007 for the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.

Developed by Redtribe, Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal is an action-adventure game featuring a slew of playable Looney Tunes characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tazmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Gossamer and a special secret character.

"LOONEY TUNES: ACME ARSENAL is updating the classic characters in engaging ways that will appeal to new generations of fans as well as the loyal fans of these enormously popular cartoons," said Jason Hall of Warner Bros. "The game captures the great irreverence of the Looney Tunes' humor and allows players to take the characters where they have never gone before with next-generation gameplay and graphics."

The game features one or two player co-operative gameplay as gamers find themselves immersed in fast-paced combat, puzzle solving challenges, and vehicle-based action. Players will command an arsenal of various ACME melee and projectile weapons, and travel to outlandish locales inspired by classic Looney Tunes cartoons.

The Xbox 360 version will feature support for two-player cooperative gameplay over Xbox Live. On the Wii version, players will be able to take full advantage of gesture-based controls in different action sequences. ...

via ign

If you've been following IGN's extensive coverage of MotorStorm over the past few months, you'll already know how it's one of the must-have games for PlayStation 3, thanks to its cocktail of intricately-designed dirt tracks, turbo-charged cars and mud-spattered gameplay. You'll doubtless also know it topped the charts when it was released in Japan, even though it was missing any kind of multiplayer mode. And while Evolution Studios has been busy squeezing the online option into the PAL and US versions of the game in time for its March release, no one has managed to get down 'n' dirty with multiplayer MotorStorm - until now.

Before we get stuck into the nitty-gritty of MotorStorm's multiplayer mode, it's worth noting that the game's servers have yet to be fully populated - the game isn't out yet, after all - so, at this point, our impressions are based on racing against a handful of other players rather than a packed-out track. As such, racing around bigger circuits didn't have quite the same intensity as jostling for first place against a crowd of ultra-competitive AI cars, but that will all change when the players from Europe and the States are also competing online.

It's also worth pointing out there's no split-screen multiplayer mode in MotorStorm, only online play, with up to 12 vehicles competing in any one race. Available races are displayed in the lobby area; you can either join a game or host your own. All of the eight tracks - the Grizzly, Coyote Rage, Mudpool, Rock Hopper, Tenderizer, Dust Devil, Sidewinder Gulch and Raingod Mesa - are available right from the start, along with all the different types of vehicles. These can be restricted to allow for all-bike races, big-rig blow-outs or any other combination of car class. Not all of the individual cars are available at the beginning of the game though, and are only accessible in multiplayer if you've unlocked them in the single-player game first.


Races lasts up to five laps and the host player has the option of choosing the time of day at which the race takes place: either in the morning, midday, the afternoon, evening, dusk and at night. Opt for a day race and the bright midday sun makes it easy for rookie racers to negotiate the multiple routes through each of the tracks. Choose dusk and the low sun means it's difficult to pick out corners and obstacles, while racing at night, with no headlights to light the track ahead, is best left to the pros - at least to begin with.

Last but not least, the other important pre-race option worth mentioning is catch-up. Without it switched on, every race really is a battle of skill, with more experienced drivers pulling away from novices with ease. While that's all well and good if you're a decent player who fancies a bit of an ego massage, it doesn't make for a particularly exciting race. Enable catch-up and players who are trailing are given a helping hand as their boost bar fills slowly and drains quicker, enabling them to use it more often and, ultimately, to drive faster. Of course, push the turbo too hard and your engine will explode, meaning the race leader edges out in front even further.

Out on the track, MotorStorm's multiplayer game looks and feels almost identical to the single-player game. It's by no means the fastest racing game around - that's always been the case so it's no surprise it's no different here - but, as ever, in the bonnet-cam view, with the turbo pressed down, it's still a total blast. More importantly, in all the multiplayer races we competed in, we never once experienced lag or slow-down. Although there's no guaranteeing this will be the case when the track is packed with bikes and buggies, all kicking up gobs of mud and dirt, it's a promising indication that the multiplayer experience will be every bit as exciting as the solo game.

One of the few visual differences between the single- and multiplayer game is the addition of rivals' gamer names, which appear over their vehicles. This allows you target specific players if you're feeling particularly nasty, or get out of their way if they have a habit of ramming you off the road. In that respect the game is the same in both on- and offline modes: a big-rig will always make mincemeat of lighter buggies and bikes in a collision, but faster vehicles have the advantage of being nimble enough to get out of the way. Coming out of a collision unscathed is no easy task though - even if you're behind the wheel of a heavyweight vehicle - because driving over the crumpled remains of an off-road bike can easily unbalance your mud-slapper, causing you to slip off course and into a rock.

Crashing is much more costly in multiplayer compared to single-player too - the extra time it seems to take your car to right itself enabling rival cars to race much further into the distance. Catching up can be a bit of an uphill struggle then, unless the front runners make a mistake and crash themselves, or if the catch-up mode is switched ...

via ign

A little over a year ago, Deadline Games introduced the world to the first chapter in the world of Total Overdose with A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico. The title was apt as it was an over-the-top, no-holds-barred, wake-you-from-a-hypnagogic-state action shooter that encouraged you not to plan strategic attacks but perform all sorts of crazy stunts as you nailed headshot after headshot. Deadline is back with a sequel of sorts entitled Chili Con Carnage. Though it doesn't share the same name, all of the important characters and gangs are back and like the previous game, it doesn't take long for things to get started and totally chaotic.

The game's main El Gringo Loco story mode opens with Ram walking into his dad's office at the Federales building. It's the old man's birthday, and Ram has a few gifts for him. While his dad talks about his work, a hay stacker quickly runs through the windows behind him and chops him into bits, depositing his limbs into various hay stacks. A quick cut to his open grave shows Ram standing over a series of individually crated small caskets for each of his parts. It's time for revenge.

Ram's entrance into Rancho Virgillo is anything but subtle. Launching his car into the gates, he flies out of the door with guns drawn. At this point you take over and are immediately dropped into the mix.

Much like one of the levels from Total Overdose, you need to take out a large refinery machine by first destroying three, smaller tankers. Once these are down you'll have access to the main building where Mama Virgillo resides, the woman that carried out the hit on your father.

The battle with her is essentially broken up into two parts. In the first, she repeatedly unleashes exploding chickens from four different coops towards you. Shooting them just as they're unleashed will damage the coops, and once they're down she breaks loose and attacks you herself. Running around the stage, she occasionally tosses dynamite at you while mostly relying on her cleaver, which blocks incoming bullets. Waiting for the opportune moments when the cleaver is mid-air gives you an opening and is the key to victory.

Chili Con Carnage carries over most every mechanic from Total Overdose. Every kill or move you perform will add to a combo meter, and the crazier the stunts you pull off the more points you'll earn. Flipping off a wall and then nailing a headshot will earn you a great deal more points than simply hitting someone a few times in the gut, for instance.

Targetting is handled automatically for you, with the closest and most-centered enemy automatically pinpointed for you. Pressing the R button will attempt to dial in a headshot, though you need to time it correctly as it essentially "resets" rather quickly. While you can always just shoot at whatever's directly in front of you, being that you don't have direct control over your targeting means that it sometimes won't lock onto someone you think it should. As well, there's an occasional problem right now with moving and shooting at the same time, like attempting to jump sideways while shooting someone in front of you. It's workable and as of yet hasn't ruined our experience, but we hope it's cleared up before the game ships as it's really fun in every other regard.

After each level you're rewarded for the combo kills you received. Score enough points and you'll receive a bronze, silver or gold badge along with an upgrade of some sort to go with it, like increased health or longer combo times. Each level you complete will also unlock a challenge level. These cover a variety of challenge types, like Style Challenges where you need to perform a series of specific kill moves to endurance challenges where you must kill everyone in the level in one combo. These are optional challenges, but finishing these will unlock even more content, like bonus levels for El Macho.

El Macho is the game's second main singleplayer game type and is essentially a timed style mission. You can pick from a number of different characters, most of which are locked to start, and simply attempt to rack up as many points and take out everyone in the level as quickly as possible. The game keeps track of high scores, so it's pretty evident that it's mean to be a challenge mode shared amongst multiple players.

Aside from the targeting issue, Chili Con Carnage has thus far been as fun as its name is corny. We liked Total Overdose a whole lot when it came out, so we're looking forward to this one when it ships in the middle of next month. ...

2K and Firaxis announced today that Sid Meier's Pirates! for the PlayStation Portable is now available in stores throughout North America.

In Sid Meier's Pirates!, players will take to the high seas as a 17th century pirate captain, scouring the ocean in an attempt to amass fame and fortune and become the most feared pirate in history. The PSP system enabled the developers to include wireless ad hoc multiplayer support for up to four players, widescreen graphics, new treasure hunts, and more.

"Given the immense popularity of Sid Meier's Pirates!, offering a PSP version of the game updated and optimized for the handheld market is a great way to expand its appeal," said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K. "With the accessibility of the game combined with the portability of the PSP system and the wireless multiplayer features, we're confident Sid Meier's Pirates! will be a hit with on-the-go gamers."

Sid Meier's Pirates! is available for a suggested price of $29.99 at retailers across North America.

via ign ...

News of the work on the Spectrum emulator for the DS by CraigT

It’s been a busy week.

In my last post I explained how I had changed the display routines to speed up SpeccyDS and allow me to do some more interesting stuff with the screen. Over the last week I’ve used this to hook up proper border emulation:



The first screenshot is the result of a BASIC Save command and demonstrates the border quite well. The second shot demonstrates the scaling problems that are associated with displaying the borders on such a small screen.

Luckily, the DS hardware makes screen scaling very simple. Therefore, I will probably add three border settings - None (default), Thin and Full. The thin border should keep the distortion down to a minimum.

A few other things have changed, including:

- The Z80 loader has been fixed. All 48k-based .Z80 files should now be accepted without causing the Spectrum to reset

- Simulated the resistor connection between the EAR and MIC ports on the spectrum. Sound is now produced when using the BASIC save command etc

- Fixed the flags on the DAA instruction to fix Head Over Heals. However, the sound still cuts out in some rooms

- Fixed the crash in Starquake (yay!). It was caused by a silly bug in the HALT instruction

Next up is DLDI support…

I’ve also added a Donate tab at the top of the blog. Developing SpeccyDS takes up a large amount of my free time. If you are feeling generous, please show your appreciation by donating a few pounds towards the project. Any amount is gratefully received! Thank you ...