PCs are about to have their peripherals packed up in suitcases, hastily handed crumpled fivers, a packet of cola cubes and unceremoniously booted out of the front door as they're usurped by Sony's PlayStation 3 in the home.

Well, that's the image Sony's Phil Harrison has conjured up anyway, opining that, due to the gubbins in the next-gen console, the home PC is history.

Harrison dropped this bombshell in an interview with German publication Der Spiegel, claiming that it's the non-videogaming functions and the available processing power afforded by the operating system - Linux-based - resident on the PS3's hard drive that'll make PCs redundant.

We believe that the PS3 will be the place where our users play games, watch films, browse the Web, and use other [home] computer functions," Harrison explained. "The PlayStation 3 is a computer. We do not need the PC."

Obviously this is no bearing at all on Microsoft's plans for Windows Vista...

Via CVG ...

Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis, who you may know as sneaky raw fish connoisseur Gollum and giant hairy ape King Kong, has been speaking to the Beeb about his new role in Heavenly Sword.

Ninja Theory's hack n' slasher was the undoubted star of Sony's PS3 line-up at last month's E3 and, after seeing the game in action, Serkis duly signed up via a rather unusual process (more on that in a moment) to star in the game as ultimate villain King Botan - as well as taking on board a dramatic director role on the title.

"We are aiming to bring the highest level of layered, truthful and emotionally engaging performance into Heavenly Sword," said Serkis, who went through a lengthy motion capture routine (which he should be used to now) to bring the evil Botan to life.

Serkis was apparently recruited via a rather unusual route through his mortgage adviser, who happens to be the brother of Ninja Theory's boss, Tameem Antoniades. Antoniades told the Beeb, "Because the production quality [on Heavenly Sword] is so high, we have been working with more film people. Andy is taking care of all the performance capture, the casting and is heavily involved in writing."

"We've done facial tests with him to find out how to create believable performances in real time on the PlayStation 3. Not many people believed what we showed [last year] was real," said the Ninja Theory boss. "This year we have proved ourselves to the doubters."

Via CVG ...

Via CVG

Sony has just unleashed a brand new firmware update for the PSP version 2.71 which enables - amongst its many other wonders - LocationFree TV.

The new version adds a new icon to the PSP interface, Portable TV or P-TV, which adds portable TV watching functionality to your favourite sleek Sony handheld. Japanese users of the service will be able to download video content from So-net, with some free and some pay-to-download and view, content.

More significantly over here in the UK, version 2.71 will enable Sony's brand new LocationFree TV service which launches today in Sony stores across fair old Great Britainland. UK and European users can get the full deal by visiting Sony's freshly launched LocationFree TV site.

Demoed to CVG on Wednesday, LocationFree TV looks like it could be one of the PSP's killer features as the handheld expands over the next six months, allowing you to watch your home TV on a PSP or laptop from anywhere in the world.

Just in time for the World Cup too, and we'll be bringing you a full hands-on report soonest, but our advice is get downloading the firmware now - you need never miss a World Cup goal, an episode of Lost or the latest goings on in EastEnders ever again!

I prefer House which is on tonight myself ...

As you might expect, there was much commotion in the CVG war-room when we first saw Solid Snake sneaking in the new Smash Bros. But taking a look at these tasty new screenshots, it's hard to remember a time when we couldn't kick Mario's arse with the Metal Gear Solid super-soldier.

Along with these new screenshots, a fresh blog entry by series director Masahiro Sakurai was released today, on his own official Smash Bros. website. "It looks like people are split pretty evenly over which of the four new characters is their favourite," Sakurai writes. "I bet you were all surprised by the appearance of Snake!"

Advertisement:He continues. "Finally we've gotten over the wall that separates different game makers, but of course this was due to the cooperation of many different people. Now, Smash Snake is fighting furiously and sneaking before my very eyes."

Smash Bros. Brawl is due for release in 2007.

Screens and News over at CVG ...

News Via CVG

Widely regarded as the golden boy of the E3 awards world, the Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 body has announced its big winners from this year's massive videogame jamboree. 37 publications knocked heads to vote for the best of the best in 16 categories with Nintendo's Wii proving a major hit. Categories it won included Best of Show - as did Will Wright's Spore and Epic's Gears of War.

Cast your eyes below for the full run-down on categories, nominations in the categories and winners - highlighted in bold. You can also find further analysis on each by checking out the Game Critics Awards website.

Best of Show:

Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)
Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)
Wii (Nintendo)

Best Original Game:

Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC/Xbox 360)
Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)
Wii Sports (Nintendo for Wii)

Best PC Game:

Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts for PC)
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/id/Activision for PC)
Hellgate: London (Flagship Studios/Namco Bandai Games for PC)
Supreme Commander (Gas Powered Games/THQ for PC)
Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)

Best Console Game:

Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)
Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios for Xbox 360)
Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Handheld Game:

Elite Beat Agents (Inis/Nintendo for Nintendo DS)
Killzone: Liberation (Guerrilla/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Kojima Productions/Konami for PSP)
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo for Nintendo DS)

Best Hardware:

DS Lite (Nintendo)
Logitech G25 Racing Wheel (Logitech for PC)
PlayStation 3 (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Wii (Nintendo)
Xbox 360 Wireless Headset (Microsoft for Xbox 360)

Best Action Game:

Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts for PC)
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/id/Activision for PC)
Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios for Xbox 360)
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom for Xbox 360)
Resistance: Fall of Man (Insomniac/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

Best Action/Adventure Game:

Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)
God of War 2 (Sony Santa Monica/SCEA for PlayStation 2)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo for GameCube/Wii)

Best Fighting Game:

Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory/Sony for PS3)
-Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (Midway Games for PlayStation 2/Xbox)
Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco Bandai Games for PSP)
Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega for Arcade/PlayStation 3)
WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007 (Yuke's/THQ for 360/PS3/PS2/PSP)

Best Role Playing Game:

Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix for PlayStation 2)
Hellgate: London (Flagship Studios/Namco Bandai Games for PC)
Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
Neverwinter Nights 2 (Obsidian/Atari for PC)
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard for PC)

Best Racing Game:

Excite Truck (Nintendo for Wii)-Formula One 06 (Studio Liverpool/SCEE for PlayStation 3)
Gran Turismo HD (Polyphony Digital/Sony Computer Entertainment for PS3)
MotoGP 06 (Climax/THQ for Xbox 360)
Test Drive Unlimited (Eden Studios/Atari for Xbox 360, PC, PS2, PSP)

Best Simulation Game:

Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft Games Studio for PC)
Sid Meier's Railroads! (Firaxis Games/2K Games for PC)
Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)
The Movies: Stunts and Effects (Lionhead Studios/Activision for PC)
Wii Music Orchestra (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Sports Game:

Madden NFL 07 (Tiburon/EA for PS3 / Xbox 360)
Madden NFL 07 (Tiburon/EA for Nintendo Wii)
NBA 2K7 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports for Xbox 360)
NCAA Football 07 (EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts for X360/PS2/Xbox/PSP)
Wii Sports (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Strategy Game:

Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ for PC)
Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II (EA for X360)
Medieval 2: Total War (Creative Assembly/Sega for PC)
Supreme Commander (Gas Powered Games/THQ for PC)
World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment/Sierra for PC)

Best Puzzle/Trivia/Parlor Game:

Elite Beat Agents (Inis/Nintendo for Nintendo DS)
Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix/Red Octane for PlayStation 2)
LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
Lumines II (Q Entertainment/Buena Vista Games for PSP)
WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Online Multiplayer Game:

Battlefield 2142 ...

Hi folks,

i have my next version of boxyII uploaded

here are some screenshots:






release notes:

**********************************
version 0.2 second release
**********************************

These are the items I added and the bugfixes.

thanks for all the feedback guys it was alot of help

version 0.1 works on FW2.0 w/eLoader.97, and eMenu--01. (tnx yamabigdog and frmariam (EMU forum))

------------
added
------------

- New game mode (Random game, runs the game with random backgrounds)
- Special blocks (Blocks that eliminate all connecting blocks.)
- special effects for killing blocks
- themes expansion (images for the special blocks, images for fx killing blocks)
- screenshot maker (use the triangle button ingame to take it, it is saved as ss.png so only one screen shot at the time can be taken. Note this only works when ss.png already exist in the root of your psp otherwise the psp will probebly crash)
- different speeds per level.
- 1 new skin (pink world, for the ladies )


------------
Fixes
------------

- typo Choas -> Chaos (tnx leon3142)
- reordering of blocks that are marked but shouldn't be. (tnx Psyberjock for noticing)
- special block overflow
- The second bugfix also fixed the problem of marked for deletion block and just marked block above eachothercrashing the game (tnx frmariam for the feedback and the nice photo's)


------------
Still to come
------------

- Chaos game mode (still busy with it, a few specials are in place)
- Trigame game mode (not sure if it will be implemented)
- Mp3 playback (I will not include any copyright protected music so you'll have to add the yourselved probebly :S )
- Game over screen makeover
- Highscores for each game mode
- Animated backgrounds (don't know sure yet)
- strange bugs posted on the EMU forum haven't fixed them yet, still working on them. (when you press left at the same high as the blocks left or rigth.)


--------------
What i need
--------------

- Who wants to make some skins? please contact me at [email protected]
- Offcourse testing and reporting bugs, thanks those who did
- please mail me or give feedback through the ps2dev forums and please do so in english or dutch
- one of my png's is damaged in my psp, i can't seem to delete the file for somereason it removes it but it appears again without doing anything. any ideas?


Note that i already have had much feedback so expect a version 0.3 soon with alot of bugfixes :S sorry for that, already seen alot of spelling errors :S (maybe it is time for me to go back to school...)

greets Ghoti ...

WinFontGenerator 0.1 is a new utility software for generate custom font's sprite .
That is used for program homebrews on nintendo, gba...
It's the first version ( 0.1) and it was write in c# with visual studio 2005.
You must have the framework 2.0 for launch it.
The sources are included and the modifications are allowed.


Screenshoots :





Download :

WinFontGenerator_english.rar

WinFontGenerator_sources.rar ...

After so much hard work my MINI-Site is finally ready

This is a site compatible for the psp and it basically revolves around fanjitas noobz.eu just it fits in the palm of your hand !!!

Heres the site:

http://www.mypsphomepage.com/gb/noobz

Hope you enjoy it

Heres a pik



And Please Leave Comments ...

Now here's something very interesting. Firmware 2.71 has been officially released on Sonys websites!

You can check out the video here. (via PSP3D forums)

You can download it here from Sony.

Unfortunately my own server is down at the moment so you'll have to download it from the original location.

FEATURES:

--Game demos can now be downloaded from the internet and saved to the Memory Stick duo

--Video output can now be displayed correctly when external tuner is selected in Location Freeplayer.

Enjoy!
Edit: This update is available via network update. ...