via ign

Today, Atari announced the development of two entirely new Dragon Ball Z titles. Dragon Ball Z Shin Budokai: Another Road for the PSP and Dragon Ball Z Harukanaru Densetsu for Nintendo DS will both be fighting their way to stores this spring.

Dragon Ball Z Shin Budokai: Another Road is the sequel to the PSP game, Dragon Ball Z Shin Budokai. The game follows the same pattern as last year's game and adds more than 50 new fighting skills and ultimate attacks, as well as the power to play heroes and villains from throughout the Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT worlds. Additionally, Shin Budokai will offer Dragon Ball fans an entirely new storyline, following Future Trunks in his battles against arch-rival, Majin Buu. Developed by Namco Bandai, Dragon Ball Z Shinbudokai: Another Road is slated for release on the PSP this March.

Dragon Ball Z Harukanaru Densetsu combines strategic card-based gameplay and role-playing for a new Dragon Ball experience. Cards are the focal point of the game, as they are used to evolve characters and customize moves. Dragon Ball Z Harukanaru Densetsu will be available on the DS this spring.

Newcomers and faithful fans of DBZ will be thrilled with these two new handheld games," said Emily Anadu of Atari. "Shin Budokai: Another Road lets players take the DBZ universe over a Wi-Fi network with an exciting new story that is sure to grab long-time fans while Harukanaru Densetsu tackles a new form of RPG with card-playing -- an interesting innovation for the DBZ series that we believe will attract gamers who enjoy strategy-based gameplay." ...

via ign

The Australian Open has once again descended on Melbourne, and tennis fever has gripped the city. Determined not to miss out on the action, Nintendo held its own Wii Tennis tournie last week, and Friday, January 19 was the day of the final. An enthused crowd gathered at Myer to watch four finalists from the week's heats, as well as two of Australia's tennis greats, Pat Cash and Mark Woodforde, strut their virtual stuff in Wii Tennis. May we present to you, our photo narrative, followed by a chat with Mark and Pat.

Full article at IGN ...

via ign

If you've completed Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz and desperately need some more spherical action for your Wii, Nintendo might have the answer. It's announced that Hudson's marble-based tilting puzzler Kororinpa is coming to Europe on February 23.

Available from launch in Japan, Kororinpa sees you guiding a series of balls through increasingly complex 3D mazes. You've got complete control over the environments and can even flip them upside down in your mission to reach the goal.

There are 50 stages in total and a host of different balls - each with their own unique attributes. Some are faster, others are more responsive and a couple even look like animals. Kororinpa also supports multiplayer, with one person attached the Wiimote while the other uses the Nunchuck in a race to collect the most gems.

Kororinpa will hit European shelves at the relatively low price of €49 (approximately £34). ...

via gtaportable

After months of no news related to Grand Theft Auto, the silence recently broke with rumors of Vice City Stories heading to the PlayStation 2. This past Thursday a news tip was sent to this site from Louis Mathieu, about an article over at JeuxVideo. By reading a rough translation using Google's Translation tool, it seems as though they're citing a magazine article about Vice City Stories being published for the PlayStation 3 this Spring. Now, this of course seems unlikely that a PSP game would be published on a next-gen console, but it still means it can head to the PS2, thus being playable on the PS3.

A few days later a post on the official PlayStation boards emerged, also claiming a Spring 2007 release, but sourcing a reliable site, the ESRB. The Entertainment Software Rating Board seems to have already reviewed a PS2 port, bringing more proof that this leading PSP title will be making its way to PS2 consoles.

As far as the alleged Spring 2007 release goes, it currently looks as though this might have been written in one of the many PlayStation Magazines. Expect official word from Rockstar Games / Take-Two pretty soon, and be sure to check back for any news related to this breaking news.

On another note, if you're still looking to download the tunes of Vice City Stories via iTunes, I recently received word from R* that it's still slated for release, although they can't provide an exact date at this time. They are currently available via exclusive download at MTV's Urge, and were originally scheduled to go up on iTunes last November. Also, the coming soon message over at the downloads section of the official VCS site isn't lying at all, Rockstar's also assured me that more are in fact coming at a later date.

Rockstar North developers are also making their way back to their cubicles this coming week, where they'll continue their hard work at one of this year's most anticipated games, Grand Theft Auto: IV. Expect coverage on that title throughout and beyond its pre-game in the very near future... ...

jecklgamis has ported a small java runtime for the PSP, heres the readme details:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

Heres the latest dates for new PS3 games from Sega:

Sonic - 1/30/07
Virtua Fighter 5 - 2/20/07
Virtua Tennis 3 - 3/20/07
Armored Core 4 - 3/??/07

Not long now ...

Are you ready for some business-related math? While it may be attributed to the translation of the page (my browser screws up... if yours pauses for a minute and asks you to stop the script or continue... just stop it), the release date for the upcoming title Alone in the Dark is difficult to understand. The fourth trimester of this year, meaning the fourth quarter, right? But the slated date is the first quarter of 2008, which is the fourth fiscal quarter of 2007. Seriously, let's just expect it around the holidays.

The game is coming along nicely, it seems. Set for simultaneous release across the major next-gen consoles (except Wii, because this game is just too damn pretty for a motion-sensing GameCube) and PC, the game is set up similar to a Noir film, or a mystery novel. Heck, we could even say it's an interactive miniseries. There are about 12 episodes, each "running" approximately 40 minutes (but your explorative nature could run the "show" over an hour for each episode) and concluding with a cliffhanger. Looks sweet. We'll keep an eye out.

via ps3fanboy ...

via voip service

Since the Nintendo DS has a built-in microphone and a wireless Internet connection, what's to stop it from being used as a WiFi phone, or the DSphone, if you will?

I've scoured the 'net and found some projects currently underway that claim to do just that, albeit with limitations.

VoiceChatClient is a homebrew application that lets you freely call anyone who also has VoiceChatClient installed on their DS. This hack even adds extra value by transmitting what you write on the touch screen to the other person! VCC requires hacked firmware or some type of passthrough device.

DSpeak has been developed by Nintendo themselves, but aside from a demo at E3 in 2005, nothing more has been heard about this program. DSpeak will reportedly allow in-game and out-of-game chat. And when you speak, an on-screen Mario or Wario avatar lip syncs along!

HelloDS was released some time ago as a proof-of-concept hack, along with a promise of a future version of this homebrew software. Unfortunately, the update has not been forthcoming. The initial version is still available and requires the firmware hack or passthrough.

Metroid Prime: Hunters is currently the most easily accessible option for chatting with your DS buddies. All it requires is the Metroid Prime: Hunters game and a WiFi connection. You might want the NDS VoIP headset too. For this VoIP solution, you just meet the person you want to speak with in the same pre-game lobby and talk. It also works post-game, but not during.

Conclusion: Though this handheld gaming device is certainly capable of competing with other mobile WiFi phones, the current state of Nintendo DS VoIP affairs isn't very exciting. None of the above solutions include support for SIP or for dialing out. However, the demand seems to be out there, so the DS might get to see a true VoIP app yet. ...

News/release from Alex:

This is the final Airplyr update (at least for a long while), and it brings a large number of fixes and improvements:

fixed colour banding, which affected most backgrounds
tournament overtimes are sudden death (as suggested by prairiefire)
paddle moves fast by default (as suggested by subcon959)
paddle moves with either the joypad or the action buttons (some other controls changed, please glance over the readme or the game's Info screen to read the new ones)
enhanced certain visuals, mainly layout-wise
fixed a couple of remaining glitches, and optimized things a bit, I think it runs a tad faster
uses less files, and is overall slightly smaller

NOTE: If upgrading from a previous version of Airplyr, please delete all of the game's files from your SD card (except for airplyr-dat0.dat, if you want to keep your previous records) before sending the new ones in.

Download Here ...