In a bold move, developer Level-5 will force players to complete White Knite Chronicles 1 before they can gain access to the sequel.

According to Japanese site 4Gamer (translated by Andriasang), the second game will only allow you to play the new quest if you have a 'Clear Data' saved from finishing the first game.

Series director Toshiyuki Kusuda confirmed in a recent interview that, without that file, the sequel will force you 'start from the beginning', which basically means play the first game.

The redeeming factor is the inclusion of an enhanced version of White Knight 1 on the same disc as the sequel, with the newer gameplay retrofitted in there, and Kusuda reckons that even those that have already played the original will enjoy playing through it again in its boosted form.

The two versions of White Knight 1 are, however, not compatible online. In case were wondering.

Events in the sequel are set a year after those in the first, and it's out on PS3 in Japan in July. No western release yet.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...

Last we'd heard, the next major release of Android -- codename Gingerbread -- was scheduled for a fourth-quarter launch, but the always-entertaining Eldar Murtazin has apparently just spilled a few details on what he knows of the release on a Russian podcast. Most notably, the dude says that we can expect an entirely revamped UI -- the first that the platform will have undergone since its introduction -- and will take cues from the fancy 3D Gallery app launched with Eclair. There's said to be a new 1280 x 760 resolution available for devices larger than 4 inches, which would dovetail nicely with Verizon's desire to bring a bunch of Android tablets to market. Like Windows Phone 7, Murtazin claims that Google will be laying down the law with some hardcore hardware specs to run 3.0, demanding a minimum of a 3.5-inch display, a 1GHz processor, and 512MB of RAM -- so what about cheaper devices? Well, those will apparently continue to run Android 2.1 or 2.2, which sounds like yet another serious recipe for platform fragmentation from the outset. We'll apparently see the first devices launch in time for the holidays following an October introduction, which lines up with what we've heard so far. Needless to say, we'll be keeping a close eye on this one.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/30/a...living-on-for/ ...

The iPhone 4's antenna issues have sparked off a firestorm of debate as to the root cause -- Apple says holding the phone differently or buying a case are the best answers, while other are going down a more voodoo path -- but our friends at AnandTech have done some more scientific testing of the problem and come up with a few interesting results. Turns out the iPhone 4 actually performs slightly better inside a case than a phone like the Nexus One, which has had similar issues crop up, but it's slightly worse when held in the hand, reporting an average signal drop of 20dB. Here's where it gets a little wacky, though: the signal meter in iOS 4 is logarithmic, so that 20dB drop can either leave you looking steady at five bars or drop you all the way to zero, depending on what the actual signal level in the area is like. Take a look at the chart above and you'll get it: the range of values between one bar and four spans just 23dB, while the range for five bars is 40dB. That means holding the phone in an area with a strong five-bar signal will have no apparent effect -- you can lose 20dB at full signal and still see five bars -- but holding the phone in an area with weaker coverage will easily drop the meter to one bar, since the 20dB signal drop covers almost the entirety of the remaining 23dB scale. Oops.

Of course, that's just the on-screen display, which Apple can and likely will tweak in a future iOS update. The real question is whether the reported signal has anything to do with performance, and Anandtech agrees with our general experience, saying that the iPhone 4's improved signal to noise ratio means it actually does a better job of hanging onto calls and using data when there's low signal than the iPhone 3GS. In their words, "this iPhone gets the best cellular reception yet, even though measured signal is lower than the 3GS." However, there's no getting around the fact that we've definitely dropped a couple calls with the iPhone 4 by holding it the wrong way, and Anandtech says the only real solution to the antenna issue will be for Apple to either subsidize free bumpers or add an insulative coating to the antenna band. We'll see what happens -- we've got a feeling an iOS update is on the way, but we'd definitely love to see Apple pursue a more aggressive solution to this problem.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/30/i...-but-its-stil/ ...

As promised, Nokia and Intel have revealed the pre-alpha version of MeeGo for handsets today, supporting the Intel-powered Aava reference phone and the Nokia N900. What most interesting at this early stage is the UI, which appears to have taken a big Nokia-influenced step away from the Intel-designed MeeGo netbook and tablet UI -- and we're definitely detecting some hints of Android and webOS here and there. Seriously, just check out that task switching interface. Of course, MeeGo is open-source, so we're sure Nokia has some deeper UI customizations in store -- like homescreen widgets, which are notably missing here.

On a deeper level, this build of MeeGo includes the base MeeGo APIs, including Qt and the MeeGo touch frameworks, the Firefox-based browser, a photo viewer, and some basic UI elements like the status bar, app launcher, and virtual keyboard. There are pre-built images for the Atom-based Aava handsets available now, but N900 owners will have to do a little building until someone makes an image available. Be warned, though: there's a long enough list of known bugs, and while that's totally fine for pre-alpha code, it might not be too fine for your device. That's not going to stop us from installing this thing, but you be careful, alright? And let us know how it goes. Video of the UI after the break.

P.S. Given that the N8 is destined to be the last Symbian N Series device, we can't help but feel it's being overshadowed by MeeGo before it's even out. Can we pre-pour one out? Is that a thing? It is now.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/30/m...st-appearance/ ...

Regular Hackaday reader [Osgeld] is at it again with this USB conversion for an NES controller. This is a ubiquitous hack that we started seeing very early on, sometimes involving an adapter kit, and other times including things like a thumb drive and USB hub. But this time around is truly a bare-bones version. He’s using an Arduino but it’s really just an AVR ATmega168 running the bootloader. We’d wager this can be done with an ATmega8 just as easily. Grab a couple of diodes (we never seem to have the 3.6v zener diodes around when we need them), a couple caps and resistors, a crystal and you’re in business. The hack wires each button to a pin and implements a keyboard HID that can be mapped for any purpose you desire.

http://hackaday.com/2010/06/30/nes-c...o-usb-gamepad/ ...

We know that the iPad is selling like hotcakes, but how satisfied are the people who buy it? Over at Technologizer, we conducted a survey of 6,000 iPad early adopters. There are a few places where they were critical — the majority, for instance, aren't happy with Apple's App Store approval process. Overall, however, they're overwhelmingly upbeat.

http://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/0...d-Satisfaction ...

Technical data revealed on retailer site Play.com appears to confirm that the Xbox 360 Kinect system can only support two players at a time in-game.

The data represents the most detailed information so far released, with the most controversial being the specification of Kinect's skeletal tracking system. The system is listed as being able to track 20 joints per active player and to map them to Xbox Live Avatars.

Although up to six people can be tracked at a time only two active players can actually take part in a game at once.

Although Microsoft has been inconsistent in defining the upper limit for the number of players using the system, it has previously been implied that up to four could take part at once.

Other notable specifications, as examined by Eurogamer's Digital Foundry, include the 320x240 resolution of the camera - reduced from the 640x480 resolution of the original PrimeSense technology that Kinect is derived from.

The 20 joints limit has also been reduced from the Project Natal demos that used 48 points at gamescom in 2009. However, Digital Foundry suggests this has resulted in only a negligible change in performance.

Although the Play.com data appears to be from official sources Microsoft has yet to release any advanced technical data on the system, while questions continue to linger over Kinect's ability to track players while seated.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...wo-player-only ...

UK retailer ShopTo has claimed Microsoft's motion sensor Kinect will carry an RRP of £129.99, and be released on Friday, 19th November.

ShopTo pre-orders are open now with the price trimmed slightly to £124.86.

No other major UK retailer - Play, Amazon, GAME, HMV - has a price or date listed for Kinect.

ShopTo hasn't responded to our request for comment.

Microsoft has yet to announced an official price for Kinect, despite the company's own shop listing a $149 tag.

Kinect will be released on 4th November in the US and the rest of the world thereafter.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/sh...t-at-GBP129-99 ...

Retailer Play.com has published new specifications for the final Kinect hardware.

While the information is unconfirmed via official channels, Play said that the details are direct from the manufacturer, while specs collected by Digital Foundry but not published to date tie in extremely closely with the new data. The smart money is on this being the real deal.

Perhaps the most interesting information we can glean from this is in how the final production Kinect camera differs from the reference technology designed by Microsoft partner PrimeSense.

The Israeli company, who we interviewed back in April, provided the basic design that Microsoft adapted to create the-then Project Natal. Its camera features much the same viewing characteristics as the final Kinect in terms of field of view, but its depth map is much more detailed: 640x480's worth of resolution up against Microsoft's 320x240.

If the depth map has been scaled back, so has definition of skeletal tracking. The new spec suggests 20 points that make up the human skeleton while our demo of Natal back at gamescom last year revealed that 48 points were used.

Having played the same game in both iterations of the hardware, it has to be said that aside from small "jumps" in the fidelity of the 1:1 skeletal tracking, the overall experience is fairly close despite the spec cut-backs.

Probably the biggest concern is the low-resolution depth map, but again, the cut-back does make sense.

In our gamescom demo, presumably using something closer to the original reference design, Kudo Tsunoda expressed reservations that hand and finger tracking would work consistently with the camera simply because human beings come in all different sorts of shapes and sizes. There would be no way to ensure accurate tracking of a child's fingers, for example.

Therefore, for the sake of reliability, the emphasis would shift to tracking the whole body and at that point the need for the VGA depth map was less apparent, although clearly tracking more subtle movements does become more challenging. The lower-resolution depth map also reduces the amount of data being beamed across USB, and decreases processing overhead too.

The other major difference in the final spec compared to the reference is the inclusion of a motorised tilt function in Kinect, which was never part of the original PrimeSense design. This is powered via a bespoke port on the new Xbox 360S, or via a bundled PSU for the older console.

The purpose of the tilt is fairly straightforward: it allows for a more flexible placement of the camera, allowing it to fit more comfortably in more environments. During gameplay it's never been observed to move dynamically, and it is understood that skeletal tracking functions within the 360 APIs are no longer active when the camera motor is in use.

Here's Play.com's data in full.

Sensor

Colour and depth-sensing lenses
Voice microphone array
Tilt motor for sensor adjustment
Field of View

Horizontal field of view: 57 degrees
Vertical field of view: 43 degrees
Physical tilt range: ± 27 degrees
Depth sensor range: 1.2m - 3.5m
Data Streams

320x240 16-bit depth at 30FPS
640x480 32-bit colour at 30FPS
16-bit audio @ 16 kHz
Skeletal Tracking System

Tracks up to 6 people, including 2 active players
Tracks 20 joints per active player
Ability to map active players to Xbox LIVE Avatars
Audio System

Xbox LIVE party chat and in-game voice chat (requires Xbox LIVE Gold Membership)
Echo cancellation system enhances voice input
Speech recognition in multiple languages

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/di...pec-blog-entry ...