British sources have confirmed that the next generation Xbox is indeed called Xbox 360, that the logo is a simple, round nexus, and that the console itself has a concave design - and a platinum white finish.

Many rumours - some of them conflicting - have been circulating in the past months regarding Microsoft's next generation system, but speaking under conditions of strict anonymity, a British source who is privy to Microsoft's marketing documents for the console has now cleared up much of the speculation.

The name of Xbox's successor is Xbox 360, we can confirm, and the design of the machine is indeed a concave shape.

The machine can stand upright and hollows in at the middle, like it's "sucking in its cheeks," our source told us today. Previous rumours had put the console as light silver, although fresh information says the final design may be white. It's impossible to tell from the documents, our source explained - although the glimpse of the machine's controllers given on viral marketing website OurColony does suggest a platinum-white colour scheme for the hardware.

According to the source, the rumoured slot for the hard drive module - which was apparently at the top of the machine - is not obvious on the document, and the person was unable to clarify where the slot for discs is actually located.

One other aspect we've been unable to confirm is the rumoured customisation features on the box. It's been speculated that the emphasis on customisation which J Allard touted at the Game Developers Conference last month could extend to allowing users to change the "skin" of the console, but this feature was not mentioned by our source.

As for the logo of the console, it is described as a simple, round nexus with "Xbox 360" written inside it. Previous rumours had simply the numbers "360" in the disc. This branding tends to suggest that we can expect to see "360" appearing after many game names, as happened with the Nintendo 64.

Microsoft will show the console for the first time in a half-hour special on MTV on May 12, a week ahead of E3. The company's press conference, on Monday, May 16, will be the first viewing of the console to the trade en bloc.

Xbox 360 is expected to receive a global release in late 2005.

When contacted today, Microsoft simply said that it does not comment on rumours and speculation relating to next generation product. ...

The next-generation Xbox console will be priced at $249 to $299 when it launches in October / November, according to leading analyst firm Goldman Sachs, which expects Microsoft to ship three million units of the console by the end of the year.

The firm gave its projections for the Xbox 2 launch in the wake of Microsoft's decision to show off the console to the public in an MTV special to be broadcast on May 12th in North America, and May 13th worldwide.

The October or November launch date has been widely reported by sources around the industry, but Goldman Sachs' suggested price point, while in line with near-launch prices for similar hardware in recent years, is somewhat higher than the circa $400 prices being proposed by some other analysts.

However, it's worth noting that most hardware launches in the past few years have come in at lower prices than those expected by many market analysts - with the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable being the most recent examples of this trend.

Forbes reports that the Goldman Sachs analysts went on to say that Microsoft would ship three million units of the Xbox 2, which is powered by multiple IBM processors and a next-generation ATI graphics chip, by the end of the year. The console is expected to launch worldwide during the third quarter, which would generally imply a million units at launch for every major territory, but Microsoft is likely to be cautious in terms of shipments to Japan - where the Xbox failed to sell in any numbers - and favour North America and Europe with larger shipments instead.

The report also confirmed that Microsoft does not plan to discontinue production of the Xbox console when Xbox 2 launches. The company has already given assurances that Xbox software production will continue through to 2007 - although few studios appear to be working on original or exclusive titles for Xbox in that timescale, with most key Xbox developers having refocused on Xbox 2.

The decision to continue Xbox hardware production will mean that Microsoft still has hardware at retail at a price point which challenges Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube this Christmas, as well as having the only next-generation console on the market. ...

There are none of the usual array of blurry cameraphone pics to back this up, but Eurogamer is claiming that Microsoft’s next-gen console has been spotted in the UK, and that, get this: it’s white. Or at least it’s probably going to be white. They’re saying that it could turn out to be silver-colored instead, though if it were white that would match those leaked controller pics that surfaced over the weekend (oh, and save your comments about them ripping off Apple, no one owns the color white, ok?). They’re also confirming that the name for the new console will indeed be called the Xbox 360 (just like we said it would be), and that it will have a concave design, stand upright (or at least that you’ll have the option of positioning it that way), and sport a logo that is a “simple, round nexus” (whatever that means). ...

The Xbox 2 could sell for under $300 (around £160) and three million of the next-gen consoles could be available around the world before the end of the year, according to analysts.
The cleverclogs over at Goldman Sachs have drawn up some research notes that indicate Microsoft could be about to unleash the Xbox 2 sooner and cheaper than anyone was expecting.

The analysts predict that the system will be available in US stores in October of November this year, sporting a rather slimline salestag of anything between $249-$299 (around £130 to £160).

This would place Xbox 2 at the lower end of the consumer market and make it more accessible to gamers, according to the analysts.

The Xbox 2, which is set to make its public debut during a special MTV show on May 12/13, was already widely expected to be available before the end of the year. Rumours of a simultaneous worldwide release have so far remained unconfirmed but Goldman Sachs estimates that three million will be available across the globe before Christmas.
Representatives from Microsoft were unavailable for comment at the time of press.

The Goldman Sachs analysts also addressed Sony's PS3, stating that they expected a late 2005/early 2006 Japanese launch for the console with a US and European launch to follow in mid 2006.

All interesting stuff, but totally unconfirmed at the moment. More news soon as the next-gen express thunders onwards. ...

Despite the reality of EA's GoldenEye: Rogue Agent on console proving disappointing following a ton of hype, the publisher is nevertheless powering full-steam ahead with a Nintendo DS version of the 'villainous' Bond universe first-person shooter. First screens from the DS outing have been released.
Rogue Agent's plot on DS remains the same, with players assuming the role of a bad boy 00 agent kicked out of MI6 who winds up working for Goldfinger and becomes embroiled in a battle for control of the Bond criminal underworld. Hopping around the world in a globe-spanning campaign of action, you'll bump into various famous Bond villains including Oddjob, Dr. No, Scaramanga and Xenia Onatopp.

EA says that Rogue Agent DS contains "All-new features and innovative gameplay" that "are only made possible by the Nintendo DS platform." This in part means wireless multiplayer for eight on only one cart and the publisher using the platform's dual screens to display the game (on the top screen) and the heads-up display (HUD) on the touch-screen.
Apparently, the HUD "provides vital intelligence to players and allows for them to check ammunition levels, hack electronic devices and weapons, decode security locks, and more", with presumably the touch-screen coming into play with the hacking and decoding gameplay.

Rogue Agent DS additionally boasts a new Virtual Training mode where players will be able to earn upgrades for their GoldenEye weapons by beating Bond villains into the dirt. ...

YewNes Plus by YewSoft is a NES emulator for S60. In other words, it lets you play over 1,000 8-bit Nintedo games on a Series 60 mobile phone. New features include:
* Supports custom key maps
* Supports zipped NES ROM files
* Auto-search all ROM (.nes and .zip) files on all drives
* Improved sound
* Much smaller application size and memory usage.

http://www.yewsoft.com/ ...

DMouses Nes Emulator for the GP32 has again been updated heres whats new in this release:

Including the function QuickSave and QuickLoad. During the game press R key to keep the game without having to leave the game. The recording only takes tenth of second. In order to recover the game you must press L key.

Download Here ...

Hmm it seems the site has been replaced by a counter that was on 11 days when i last looked.

Hopefully its a new Quake Mod for DC, heres the link anyhow --> http://ajaysquakesite.co.uk/ ...

News from Dreamcast Scene

It should have become one of the first games for the Dreamcast in 1999, but due quality doubts it was canceled in the same year: Geist Force? by Sega.

Now a video footage which shows various gameplay scene was found in the abyss of the internet. Even it was taken several years ago and floated around on some FTPs, we've finally found a sever where you can download it. Enjoy!

Head on over to the link above to download ...