Previous Sonic instalments, Sonic Heroes and Sonic Adventure 2, were criticised for focusing too heavily on multiple characters, the loudest fan cries asking for more Sonic and less shooting/hammering/frog chasing.

Unfortunately though, out of these 12 screenshots we count two with the blue spiky one in them.

Sonic the Hedgehog is out on 360 this Christmas, with a PS3 version arriving alongside the console next year.

Screens Here ...

The Wii launch is almost on us, and to further add to the hype of Nintendo's new machine we've got the official Wii Sports box art for PAL territories direct from Nintendo.

This simple but fun game, which includes boxing, bowling, golf, tennis and baseball modes, will be tucked away inside the box with the Wii console, offering everyone who grabs the machine a taste of the Wii Remote's many functions.

The Wii, in case you've been asleep for the past two months, will launch on December 8 for £179.99. If you've not pre-ordered one, do it now.

Screenshot Via Comments ...

Adding to the already lengthy list of Wii launch games, THQ will add four games to the December 8 rush.

Offerings include two movie licensed games, Disney Pixar's Cars and Barnyard, and two quirky titles based on Nickelodion cartoons, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Spongebob Squarepants: The Creature from the Krusty Krab. Thq is clearly aiming for the kids with these.

Hardcore gamers will, of course, be concentrating their excitement on games like Zelda: Twilight Princess, Red Steel and Call of Duty 3 to name a few. ...

Hey all,
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About a week ago zodttd give the dcemu staff test builds of his PSX4ALL DC port (based on chuis original port), so far we have had 2 builds, and just to tease we have uploaded 2 videos of the emu running on the dc, Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 4 ( a huge thanks to Skye for taking the videos) and also more pics of Silent Hill (taken by Kaiser)




what Kaiser had to say about the emu


2 videos (5 mins) and more pics, via the Comments

digg it ...

Middleware solution available for next-gen Xbox development

Valve's Source Engine is now available as a middleware solution for Xbox 360, where it will compete for market share with the likes of Unreal Engine 3.

Optimised to make the most of Xbox 360's graphical hardware, and to support Xbox Live, the newly refined Source Engine for Xbox 360 is suitable “whether [developers are] pursuing a traditional FPS, RTS, RPG or delving into new genres,” according to Valve boss Gabe Newell.

Valve is already using the Source Engine on Xbox 360 to develop Half-Life 2: Episode Two and accompanying titles Team Fortress 2 and Portal. Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One will also form part of the bundle.

That package is also due out on PlayStation 3, and being co-developed by Electronic Arts' UK studio, but a representative admitted last night that it was not currently working with Sony on middleware for PS3.

Source:gamesindustry.biz ...

PS3 development chief makes the case for next-gen discs

Launch titles for the PlayStation 3 are already "getting up close" to the 25GB limit on current Blu-Ray discs, according to Sony's worldwide studios boss Phil Harrison, who was responding to criticism of the PS3's adoption of Blu-Ray.

"Already, at our launch titles, we're getting up close to the 25GB limit that we have on our Blu-Ray discs this year," he claimed. "Next year we'll raise that to 50GB, and I'd expect that we’ll be getting close to that in the fairly near future as well."

Speaking in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz journalist Rob Fahey, Harrison decried suggestions that the Blu-Ray drive had been included in the machine purely to push Sony's agenda with regard to Blu-Ray movies.

"It's got nothing to do with movies," he responded. "DVD is not sufficient capacity to power the kind of data consumption, or to feed the data consumption needs of Cell and RSX - just purely as a gameplay device, we need Blu-Ray to supply the kind of data that PS3 games use."

Harrison also responded to questioning about the claim that the capacity of Blu-Ray will be used simply to provide more high definition movie sequences, effectively filling the discs - and games - with non-interactive content.

"It's not just about graphics," he said. "It's about 7.1 audio, it's about speech, it’s about having up to 1080p movies built into the game; it's high res textures, it's animation, it's everything that goes into making a very rich and varied next-gen experience. Partly it's visual, partly it's sound, and partially it'll be down to gameplay benefits as well - more levels, more detail, richer experiences."

However, he also defended the right of developers to include rendered video in their - a key feature of many titles, even on next-generation systems.

"I see nothing wrong with having non-interactive, full HD sequences as part of the game," he said. "That's all part of the production value and the experience that you get when you buy the game. I don't see that as a weakness at all."

The Blu-Ray drive in the PS3 has been blamed both for contributing heavily to the cost of the system, and for causing the production delays which ultimately led to the decision to move the European launch back to 2007. Microsoft has accused Sony of taking choice away from consumers by including Blu-Ray - the Xbox 360 will have an optional external HD-DVD drive, although this can only be used for movie playback and will not be accessible to game developers.

Meanwhile, some consumers have questioned the value of Blu-Ray to videogames, given the ability of developers to fit games on the scale of Xbox 360 and PC title Oblivion onto a single DVD - although it should be noted that Oblivion, despite its scale, is a relatively early next-gen title. Many early titles in the previous generation shipped on CDs, but DVDs were widespread within a year to eighteen months, as developers learned to exploit more of the systems' functionality and streamlined the content creation process.

Harrison acknowledged that some early titles will not make full use of Blu-Ray's capacity, but was adamant that the standard will be vital to the PS3 in the coming years. "Not every game is going to fill 25 or 50GB," he said. "I completely accept that - but there will be games that require that this year, and will push that further in years to come."

Phil Harrison was speaking in an exclusive interview on the PlayStation 3, which is currently being serialised on the recently launched ThreeSpeech website, with additional excerpts set to appear on GamesIndustry.biz in the coming days.


source:GamesIndustry.biz ...

Chris McCormick posted this news/release:

PD (aka Pure Data) is a real-time graphical programming environment used mostly for audio synthesis.

Gp2xPd allows you to put your Pure Data patches on your gp2x and jam with them using the joystick. So basically it lets you make your own little music machines and play them on the gp2x.

http://mccormick.cx/projects/gp2xPd/ ...

Notaz posted this:


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