Article from Gamespot

We've been eager to see just how Capcom's Power Stone Collection, the upcoming compilation of its two Dreamcast brawlers, would turn out on the PlayStation Portable since the game was announced earlier this year. The two games made a respectable splash back in the day thanks to their crisp visuals, fast-paced gameplay, and multiplayer modes. We finally got the chance to check out a very early work-in-progress version of the compilation, which gave us a taste of what to expect from it.

Though the final game is set to include the original Power Stone and its sequel, Power Stone 2, as well as a host of PSP-exclusive extras, our demo version was pretty limited. The demo we played let us try out only the arcade version of Power Stone 2, which expanded the simple one-on-one formula of the original game to include four-player brawls and multipart stages that scaled on the fly. We tried a few of the main stages with a sampling of characters and were pleased to see that the game handled just like the Dreamcast originals. The simple attack system let us create a modest array of chained combos, use objects in the environment as weapons, or use the environment itself to inflict some pain on our foes. The multipart levels and scaling view were also in full effect. The scaling view proved to be somewhat problematic because the farthest view that the game scales to makes it a chore to see what's going on, since the fighters are reduced to the size of ants. Thankfully, Capcom is addressing the issue with the addition of a new camera system, which will let you toggle different views while you fight. Though the game is also set to include new weapons for use during battle, we didn't see any, because we were fighting for our life against some aggressive CPU-controlled characters.

The character models look great when you have an opportunity to see them up close.
The presentation is coming together well from what we've seen. The game's sharp look is right at home on the PSP. However, at the moment, there are some texture and resolution issues that keep the game from looking like a perfect conversion. Still, minor elements aside, the game's performance is pretty smooth even now, which bodes well for the future. At the same time, the game's audio appears to be nailing the voice and sound effects from the Dreamcast version, which isn't too surprising.

Based on our brief time with the game, Power Stone Collection is looking like it will, at the very least, stay faithful to its Dreamcast predecessors. Besides the new content we already mentioned, the game is slated to include a new minigame, dubbed Bomber Battle. We're curious to see how the first game will handle, but given how Power Stone 2 is shaping up, the outlook is good. Power Stone Collection is slated to ship this fall for the PSP. Look for more on the game in the coming months. ...

Yossi Starz has released a new version of his Lua Shell, heres whats new:

The Release is here at last with allot of new Features:
- Themes.
- Game Pong (Jest for example)
- Registry.
- KeyBoard Plug-in Support.
- Allot of bug fix.
- New Form and Buttons.
- Mouse Cursors with animations.
- New Start menu bar.
- Fester movement.
- New menus.
- Menus for every window (up,left + start bar).
- DoEvents function add to give better speed and
Better program writing with multiprocessing.
And so much more...

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

Article from Gamespot:

Capcom Puzzle World is the upcoming compilation from Capcom that was announced earlier this year. The game, as hinted at by its title, is a compilation of classic Capcom games, drawing from the many puzzlers the company has released over the years. Though the game was announced earlier this year at Capcom's Las Vegas press event, we haven't had the opportunity to see it in motion until now. We recently had the chance to try out an early work-in-progress version of the game to get a feel for what to expect from it.

A gaggle of Capcom puzzle games will invade the PSP with Capcom Puzzle World.
For the record, Capcom Puzzle World will compile installments in three of its puzzlers--Super Puzzle Fighter II, Super Buster Bros., and Block Block. Super Puzzle Fighter II will be a conversion of the Dreamcast incarnation of the fan-favorite title, which was only available in Japan via Sega's D-Direct service. For those who missed it back in the day, the game marries a Tetris style clear-the-falling-blocks imperative with one-on-one street fighting from Capcom's classic fighters, and it's all tied together with superdeformed, and thus supercute, incarnations of characters from the Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Red Earth, and Cyber-Bots games. The title features three new gameplay options (dubbed X, Y, and Z), which offer gameplay variations such as blocks that ascend upward on the playfield instead of fall downward. Super Buster Bros. is represented in the form of the Super Buster Bros. Collection, a conversion of the PlayStation compilation that collected Buster Bros., Super Buster Bros., and Buster Buddies into one game. The series put you in control of the titular siblings and charges you with popping falling balloons. Finally, Block Block is a conversion of the arcade game of the same name, which offered a Break-Out-style challenge that required players to maneuver a paddle around the bottom of the screen and use a rebounding ball to remove layers of blocks.

The early version of the game that we tried only let us mess around with Super Puzzler Fighter II and the Super Buster Bros. games. Though the game graphics and overall performance obviously need some smoothing out, both titles looked and played faithfully to their predecessors. On top of the expected faithful translation, the titles will all support PlayStation Portable optimizations and exclusive features to give the compilation some meat. The games are being optimized for the PSP's 16x9 screen, will offer ad hoc Wi-Fi play, feature a screenshot mode, and even let players import pictures on their memory stick to use as level backgrounds. Capcom Puzzle World is slated to ship later this year for the PSP. ...

Gamespot did an interview with the peeps behind the Tekken game for PSP, heres an excerpt from that interview:

GameSpot: Why did you choose to bring Tekken Dark Resurrection to the PSP instead of a new Tekken?

Kazushige Watanabe: Bringing the latest version of the arcade to home consoles has always been the way we handle the series.

Haruki Suzaki: The nature of the PSP hardware allowed us to transfer Tekken the way it was meant to be in a way not possible on any other handheld consoles. For this reason, the decision to bring Tekken Dark Resurrection to the PSP instead of creating a new Tekken posed a challenge in testing the possibilities of the PSP hardware.

GS: What can you tell us about the dev team for the project? Which Tekken games have they worked on previously? How long has the game been in development?

KW: Most of the staff on our team has been with the Tekken Dark Resurrection PSP project from the start. There are veterans to the Tekken series as well as those working on Tekken for the very first time. Although, I must admit the number of staff with little prior experience to the series outnumbers the veterans. I can assure you that these are all developers who have worked on various titles before coming together on the current project. In a sense, we have a team full of experienced developers.

Read the rest here --> http://www.gamespot.com/psp/action/t...&mode=previews ...

A new study from the Consumer Electronics Association indicates that there are many more women gamers in the 25-34 demographic than males, largely because of the popularity of the casual games market, with card games like solitaire (pictured) and puzzle games like Tetris.


One of the common statistics often cited by video game industry trade groups is that the average age of a gamer nowadays is around 30 years old. What you might not know, however, is that among game players between the ages of 25 and 34, women far outnumber men, according to a new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (as reported in The New York Times).

The CEA study found that 65 percent of women in the 25-34 age bracket play video games, while only 35 percent of men in that group said that they play video games. Apparently, the key factor involved with these findings is the increasing popularity of casual games, especially among women.

Women were found to be slightly less likely than men in the 25-34 bracket to play traditional console games on systems like the PlayStation 2 or Xbox, while they gravitated more heavily towards simple types of games like Tetris or other puzzle games and card games like solitaire. These casual titles are typically found on web portals like Yahoo!, AOL Games, PopCap Games, EA's Pogo.com and elsewhere.

Steve Koenig, a senior analyst at the Consumer Electronics Association, said that the CEA study did not specifically ask women why they preferred casual games, but he explained that unlike traditional console video games, casual titles are generally "nonviolent, and are not necessarily supercompetitive against other players."

Although most casual games are played online on the PC, the console hardware makers realize that there's much opportunity in catering to the casual market. Xbox Live Arcade already offers a number of simpler titles that may appeal to the casual crowd and Arcade's library is expected to grow throughout the year. When Sony launches its PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Network Platform service, there's a good chance that they will offer casual titles for download as well.

And not only will Nintendo offer classic titles for download through the Revolution's virtual console, but they will also have original games and it wouldn't be surprising to see a number of casual offerings, especially from Nintendo. Of the three hardware makers Nintendo is the only company that has gone out of its way to create unique titles for "non-gamers" and gamers outside of the typical core market—e.g. Nintendogs and Brain Age. With games like these and the simple, intuitive Revolution control scheme, it's clear that Nintendo is looking to leverage the casual market.

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=12424 ...

News from Sony

The E-Distribution Initiative (EDI) will provide an alternative publishing opportunity for the direct download of games and other content to the user.

The EDI will be managed by Sony Computer Entertainment's development and studio organizations in North America, Europe, Japan and Asia (collectively known as SCE Worldwide Studios).

Partnerships resulting from EDI will allow the developers' downloadable games to be published for individual purchase or subscription over SCE's direct distribution methods.

The EDI will review potential partnership opportunities on a case-by-case basis with our studios in North America, Europe, Japan and Asia, and will be designed to promote innovation in downloadable games and to benefit both the developer and SCE.

Is this Sonys way of getting new amateur developers onto their systems ? ...

Ewan Spence and The Podcast Network are letting PlayStation Portable owners hear the latest PSP news, game reviews and features about their device, on their device. “The PSP Show” is the latest podcast from The Podcast Network – the world’s first commercial network for Podcasting – and thanks to the PSP’s built in applications, anyone with a PSP can download it from the internet and listen to the latest weekly show.

“Providing people with information when they want it, no matter where they are in the world, is one of the key strengths of Podcasting,” says Ewan Spence, producer of The PSP Show. “Anyone can pick up the show on their home computer, or even download it to their iPod, but now PSP fans the world over don’t even need to put down their favourite console to find out all the latest news – they’re only a few buttons away from listening to the show.”

No stranger to the world of podcasting, Spence’s other shows include the long-running TPN Rock, and BAFTA nominated coverage of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Podcast Network itself has been at the forefront of commercial Podcasting since February 2005 and has almost 60 shows, all freely available, covering a wide range of topics and genres, including technology news, sports, death and Napoleon Bonaparte.

Each edition of The PSP Show can be found at http://psp.thepodcastnetwork.com/. You can listen to it from the web page, by saving the MP3 file to your computer, subscribing to the show via iTunes, or adding it to any Podcast downloading application.

The site linked has 2 podcasts on for you to try. ...

IGN's Nintendo editor is claiming that Metroid Prime 3 for Revolution will be "fully playable" at this year's E3.

Speaking on his blog comments page as part of a piece about how much he's looking forward to Too Human, Matt Casamassina said he expects it to be "one of, if not the must-have game of E3 2006".

Nintendo's yet to announce its E3 line-up - and frankly isn't expected to make it clear beforehand which Revolution games will be playable.

Revolution certainly will be there though, and Metroid Prime's known to be a favourite way of showing off how the freestyle controller works, with several journalists at last September's Tokyo Game Show given the chance to play a modified version of Metroid Prime 2 using the controller - although Nintendo chose not to offer that demo to other TGS attendees.

And of all the games mentioned in connection with the system, Metroid Prime was the only one to feature in tech demo form at last year's E3, back before we knew anything about the controller.

As we close in on this year's show, however, for now Nintendo's keeping schtum about Metroid Prime 3. "It's pure rumour and speculation - we haven't officially confirmed what Revolution titles will be playable at this year's E3," said a spokesperson this morning.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=63930 ...

Akihabara News have released another of their Magazines for the PSP detailing all the latest Gadget News from Asia

Download Here --> http://www.akihabaranews.com/news-11...Volume+24.html ...