DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
DCEmu Featured News Articles
by Published on March 16th, 2011 00:03- Categories:
- DCEmu
The only way to stop piracy is to cut prices. That's the verdict of a major new academic study that reckons copyright theft won't be halted by 'three strikes' broadband disconnections, increasing censorship or draconian new laws brought in under the anti-counterfeiting treaty ACTA. The Media Piracy Project, published last week by the Social Science Research Council, reports that illegal copying of movies, music, video games and software is 'better described as a global pricing problem' — and the only way to tackle it is for copyright holders to charge consumers less money for their wares."http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/...To-Stop-Piracy ...by Published on March 16th, 2011 00:02- Categories:
- PC News
The new Linux 2.6.38 kernel is now out, and it's got a long list of performance improvements that should make Linux a whole lot faster. The kernel includes support for Transparent Huge Pages, Transmit Packet Steering (XPS), automatic process grouping, and a new RCU (Read/Copy/Update)-based path name lookup. '"This patch series was both controversial and experimental when it went in, but we're very hopeful of seeing speedups," James Bottomley, distinguished engineer at Novell said. "Just to set expectations correctly, the dcache/path lookup improvements really only impact workloads with large metadata modifications, so the big iron workloads (like databases) will likely see no change. However, stuff that critically involves metadata, like running a mail server (the postmark benchmark) should improve quite a bit."'http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/0...-2638-Released ...by Published on March 16th, 2011 00:01- Categories:
- Apple iPad
Apple has sold almost 1 million units of the iPad 2 in its opening weekend, according to analysts.
A report by Reuters points out that the original iPad reached 1 million sold after 28 days on store shelves.
"Our field checks over the weekend indicate that the iPad 2 sold out at every Apple and non-Apple store we contacted," said Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities.
iPad 2 launches in the UK and Europe on March 25
"In fact, all the stores had worked through iPad 2 inventory by Saturday afternoon, and there were no new iPad 2 deliveries on Sunday."
The iPad 2 went on sale in the US on Friday and is due for launch in the UK and Europe on March 25 - the same day as Nintendo's new 3DS hardware.
"We would not be surprised to see Apple sell closer to 1 million iPad 2's in the opening weekend," Wedbush Morgan's Scott Sutherland told Reuters.
According to the report, US retail giant Best Buy reported it had sold out of the latest iOS device within 10 minutes of putting the iPad 2 on sale.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-first-weekend
...by Published on March 16th, 2011 00:00- Categories:
- Nintendo 3DS News
Nintendo president Iwata was wrong to characterise social and mobile games as a case of quantity over quality, or of lowering the value of games, says ex-Sony Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison.
"Iwata-san has done an incredible job rebuilding Nintendo over the last few years. He is a great leader of that company, but in this particular case he is wrong. He is mistaken if [he thinks] this is some kind of fad that will go away. Social networks, as a way of powering our game and entertainment choices, is here to stay," said Harrison to IndustryGamers.
"I thought it was fascinating that pretty much simultaneously with Iwata-san talking about Nintendo, in a hall across the street Steve Jobs is talking about the iPad 2, which got massive pickup and global coverage.
"Some people are talking about 50 to 80 million 'smartpads' being sold a year for the foreseeable future. It's going to create an enormous market, dwarfing every other market," he added.
Social networks, as a way of powering our game and entertainment choices, is here to stay.
Phil Harrison, London Venture Partners.
Iwata's keynote speech at the recently concluded Game Developers Conference saw him outline three concerns over the future of game development. The most important of these was the future of "high value" games, by which he meant traditional retail products, in the face of social network and mobile games.
"These platforms have no motivation to maintain the high value of video game software - for them, content is something created by someone else," said Iwata. "Their goal is just to gather as much software as possible, because quantity is what makes the money flow - the value of videogame software does not matter to them."
Harrison isn't the only developer to criticise Nintendo's stance - last week Frima Studio toldGamesIndustry.biz that "if you aren't able to offer it for a compelling price point, then your competitor will."
As co-founder of London Venture Partners, Harrison is now specialising in funding online and mobile gaming start-ups. In October last year he predicted that traditional video game market leaders could be dethroned in the move to a digital market.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...gaming-keynote
...by Published on March 15th, 2011 22:59- Categories:
- DCEmu
EA Games label boss Frank Gibeau has admitted that the company purposefully courts controversy in order to gain headlines in the mass media, even going so far as to admit: "We love Fox News".
"When you're building new IPs and you're building games and you're looking at an entertainment audience, they see a lot of messages. Controversy isn't a bad thing. I personally believe you should court controversy," he said in an interview with IndustryGamers.
"You should do it in a way that matches the creative integrity of the game. You shouldn't do it in a gratuitous way, but if it matches the creativity of the game... I loved it when Fox News did the lesbian aliens on Mass Effect. I love when they covered the Taliban; I loved it when they covered the Bulletstorm stuff.
"In each one of those cases, it was true to the game and we were trying to do something creatively. The fact that their point of view is different than ours and represented an audience out there is fine by me. I felt we could stand up and defend what we did and be aggressive about it and be proud of it," he said.
Although many of the controversies, including the recent Bulletstorm coverage and the infamous "Sex-Box" expose for the original Mass Effect, are unique to the US, EA drew considerable criticism in the UK for its handling of last year's Medal Of Honor reboot.
In general though EA's manufactured controversies have had a positive effect on sales, with Medal Of Honor overcoming mediocre critical reviews and only Visceral Games' Dante's Inferno failing to benefit from the publisher's provocative marketing approach.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...nt-a-bad-thing
...by Published on March 15th, 2011 22:56- Categories:
- PSP News,
- PS3 News,
- Nintendo DS News,
- Nintendo Wii News,
- PC News,
- Xbox 360 News
Call of Duty director Keith Arem has told GamesIndustry.biz that the team creating games for the billion dollar franchise know their content will cause controversy, but once they commit to levels such as the infamous No Russian scene, they have to follow it through.
Arem, who has worked on all the Modern Warfare games and the latest Black Ops, said that during the development process the team can become "desensitised" to the subject matter, and need to remind themselves of the impact it can have on those seeing it for the first time.
"Going in on those decisions everyone's going to be aware that there is going to be some sort of controversy behind that. And I think in the end what's creatively best for the project and what's going to tell the story and what's really going to give the team the satisfaction of enjoying what they're working on is really the primary focus," he said.
Some of the actors were very tearful saying the lines because it was a pretty emotionally charged scene
Keith Arem, director, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
"So when we decide to execute on an idea that's been approved both by the developer and the publisher we're pretty committed going in. So knowing that we're going to be dealing with that some times we sort of have to be very careful in announcing that. We knew that the No Russian level was going to be extremely controversial and obviously what happened in Russia and a lot of other areas was a sign of that."
The No Russian scene puts players alongside ultranationalist terrorists murdering innocent civilians, leaving them with two simple options to progress - watch the unfolding carnage or blend in with the protagonists and open fire.
The level proved divisive on release, and caused controversy in the mainstream press for its levels of violence. It was also blamed for a terrorist attack on Moscow airport in January this year. Activision had already removed the scenario from the Russian PC version of the game.
The "brutal" content is something Infinity Ward was well aware of, and Arem admits that it's important to anticipate player reaction to such violent content.
"When you see it actually come together and you hear all the voices and you see what the team bought to that, it's very brutal. It's a difficult experience for anyone to go through.
"At the same time, creatively, when those decision are unanimous between the team we try to make them as engaging as possible. Unfortunately we're pretty much committed once we make that decision because the development cycle is so far in advance of the release of the game.
"Sometimes we become desensitised to the fact that this is going to be so controversial and when it comes out we have to remind ourselves that people are seeing this for the first time and they're also taking in the complete experience for the first time as opposed to seeing it in the various stages of production."
Arem, who is currently working on THQ's latest Saint's Row game, praised the actors taking on the roles of the terrorists in Modern Warfare 2, and revealed that for some the scene caused very real human responses.
Director Arem says he couldn't bring himself to shoot civilians the first time he played the game.
"Sometimes they bring something to the performance that is actually even more tragic or more powerful than anything that we would have actually envisioned. By them bringing that to life, it really engages the player emotionally," he said.
"It's a difficult moral question for the player and directing the actors and hearing what the actors are saying in Russian is actually almost worse than seeing the action on screen, because these families [in game] are separated, fathers telling their wives to take the children and everything will be okay, and knowing that it's not... it was a difficult thing to work with a lot of the actors.
"Some of the actors were very tearful saying the lines because it was a pretty emotionally charged scene."
And Arem confessed that once the final game was complete, he himself found the level hard to play and couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger on the innocent civilians.
"The first time I played it - when the team brought the idea to me I actually raised the point of how controversial this was going to be - and then playing through the game the first time, and actually seeing it put together, at least for me, I didn't engage any of the civilians.
"I was hanging back although I was forced through this level and to go through the experience."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-controversial
...by Published on March 15th, 2011 22:54- Categories:
- Zune News
Reports suggest that Microsoft has stopped introducing new versions of the Zune media player, although it will continue to use the software technology in its other hardware devices.
According to an unnamed sourced speaking to Bloomberg, Microsoft will now concentrate on using Zune software on its Windows Phone 7 line and on the Xbox 360, as the Zune hardware is gradually phased out.
Never released outside of North America, the Zune project was headed by former Xbox frontman J Allard. The first product was released to market in 2006, but never broke into the list of the top five-selling media players - where Apple then held a 77 per cent market dominance.
Responding to Bloomberg's article Microsoft refused to confirm or deny the story: "We have nothing to announce about another Zune device - but most recently have introduced Zune HD to Canada via the Zune Originals store and remain committed to supporting our devices in North America.
"We are thrilled by the consumer excitement for Zune across many new platforms, including Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360. Our long-term strategy focuses on the strength of the entire Zune ecosystem across Microsoft platforms," added the company.
Bloomberg's source suggests that Zune hardware will continue to be sold in the short term, but that no new versions are expected following 2009's Zune HD.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-zune-hardware
...by Published on March 15th, 2011 22:51- Categories:
- Nintendo DS News
Nintendo's DS RPG double act Pokémon Black/White shifted over a million copies in Europe in their first 10 days on sale....
A spokesperson for Nintendo told Eurogamer that the game, which launched on 4th March, had sold 150,000 copies in two days in the UK, making it the country's biggest ever Pokémon launch.
The announcement comes soon after news that the games topped the million mark in the US after just one day on sale, with Japan sales soaring past the five million mark six months after its September launch there.
Eurogamer's Keza MacDonald slapped a 9/10 on the latest entry in the long running saga, insisting "its connectivity is exceptional, it's mind-blowingly huge, and for the first time, it's beautifully presented."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-1m-euro-salesby Published on March 15th, 2011 22:48- Categories:
- PS3 News
Sony has postponed the UK launch of MotorStorm: Apocalypse following last week's devastating earthquake....
The game was due out this Friday.
In a statement issued this morning, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe noted the unfortunate similarities between Apocalypse's fictional setting and the tragic events of last Friday.
"We are shocked and saddened to see the impact of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and our thoughts are with all those affected, including our colleagues within the Sony family, living and working throughout Japan," Sony said.
"We are very conscious of the parallels between these events and the underlying theme in MotorStorm and are doing everything we can to be as sensitive as possible to the situation.
"Although the game itself is already in distribution, we are ceasing any further shipments and removing as much of the marketing materials as possible."
Apocalypse, by UK studio Evolution, sees players drive around a San Francisco-inspired fictional US city as it is ravaged by an earthquake.
A statement from Sony Computer Entertainment UK added: "Ahough we have shipped the game into the channel last week, given that we are able to do so, we have chosen to postpone the launch in the UK. In the meantime we will continue to monitor the situation very closely."
Sony will donate 300 million Japanese yen to help relief and recovery efforts in communities affected by the disaster.
A disaster relief fund will collect donations across the Sony Group from employees worldwide, and their contributions will be matched by the company through a matching gifts program.
Sony will also donate 30,000 radios to assist the relief of earthquake victims, while the Sony Group will prepare further product donations going forward, taking into account local needs.
Sony has been hit hard by the earthquake. The Tohoku region is historically important for Sony, with a high concentration of manufacturing sites, and many employees and their families have also been affected.
The earthquake has caused difficulty in connecting to the PlayStation Network in Japan. Sony has urged players back up their data. Its PlayStation information call centre and repair centre were both suspended by the earthquake.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...launch-delayedby Published on March 15th, 2011 22:44- Categories:
- PS3 News,
- PC News,
- Xbox 360 News
Blizzard could potentially release its next next super-hit on console as well as PC, the firm has told MCV.
CEO Mike Morhaime said the firm has been conducting ongoing exploration into the viability of Diablo on console.
The third game in the franchise was announced in 2008 but was only confirmed for PC. Speculation has been rife since that it will also be released for 360 and PS3.
The 'Diablo on console' rumour had new life breathed into it last month when Blizzard posted an ad its website, looking for a senior producer with top level console experience
http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...o-for-consoles ...- Search DCEmu
- Advert 3
News Categories
- Links of Interest
Sony Consoles News
- Nintendo Consoles News
- Sega Consoles News
- Apple & Android News
- Xbox Consoles News
- Open Source Consoles News
DCEmu News Archive
- Advert
- Retro Consoles News
- PC News
- Latest DCEmu News
- DCEmu Network Sites
-
Menu 
Forum Stats
- What is the DCEmu Homebrew & Gaming Network
Catherine: Full Body’s English translation for the Vita