There are now over five million PSN accounts in Japan, Sony has confirmed, who seems pretty chuffed with the milestone.

So pleased, in fact, that it's giving away five WHOLE Bravia 3DTV to five lucky PS3 owners in Japan. The promotion apparently starts on June 3, according to JPS, and five of those 5,000,000+ accounts will be plucked out of a giant virtual hat for the prize.

In a promotion more likely to benefit people who don't have houses covered in horse shoes and Buddha statues though is the reduction of all paid-for content on the Japanese PlayStation Home by 50% - presumably for a limited time although this went unspecified on JPS and we're not of the Japanese-reading variety.

Sony's European PlayStation boss has confirmed that a subscription PSN service is on the way to PS3 - and that details are set to be revealed 'soon' - possibly at E3.

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

News via http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/...ZZiyfULSSz.php

Blackaddr released Xbox 360 SMC I/O Config Utility v0.1 Alpha:
[QUOTE]
DESCRIPTION:
This is a simple utility to reconfigure output pins on the SMC that are used to execute the JTAG transaction to the GPU. The utility only supports decrypted SMC files which already contain the JTAG hack code. It is used to research and fix problems caused by sharing SMC output pins, or caused by the bit timing of the JTAG data.

FEATURES:
* Basic Mode:
-Change only the TMS signal to use AUD_CLAMP pin. Fixes many issues, a good starting point for testing.
* Advanced Mode (for researchers):
-Change the TMS and TDI signals to any general purpose I/O pin on the SMC.
-Change the TMS lead-in delay. This determines how long between a TMS logic change and the assertion of TCLK.
-Change the TCLK period. The bit rate is controlled by changing the delay between TCLK level transitions.

USEFUL INFO:
* The purpose of this utility is to help fix and research boot issues caused by SMC I/O sharing or JTAG bit timing. On non-Xenon consoles, there are no unused I/O available, so we have to borrow some from Microsoft.
* The original hack borrowed ARGON_DATA for TMS, which is the data line that controls the Ring of Light and RF board. This can cause weird issues with the controller and LED display (particularly Falcons) and E79 issues on Zephyr. The original hack also borrowed DB1F1 which is used for HDMI purposes(?) on the ANA/HANA chip. It could causes isses with setting up the output video, especially HDMI resulting in boot failures.
* At the time of this release, two new I/O have been found that are not critical to system boot. First is AUD_CLAMP. This signal is an control signal that mutes the output of the analog audio. It has no interaction with system boot and is an excellent replacement for TMS. The second I/O is TRAY_OPEN. It is a logic signal that tells the DVD drive to open or close. It does not interfere with boot, however on some DVD drives, the tray may eject on bootup, it depends on the mobo/drive combination. It can be useful for moving TDI if boot failures persist.
* Many issues seem to be resolved simply by moving the TMS signal from the RF header to the AUD_CLAMP. ...

News/release from mootjeuh

...

News via http://psx-scene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64395

Hard to believe that this great homebrew project is now half a decade old, but it is one that has truly stood the test of time. Here's E P's release post with the 5th anniversary release:


Quote:
Originally Posted by E P
OK, time for a new version in honor of unofficial LaunchELF's fifth anniversary release. Hard to believe it's been five years already.

LaunchELF v4.41 (2010.05.30)
-Updated ps2sdk and existing source files to SVN rev 1682.
-Fixed some compiler warnings with the vmcfs driver do to changes in the latest ps2sdk revision.
-Removed the modified screen update delay methods, restoring previous functionality.

Note: This version is similar to v4.40i only built from the newest ps2sdk. It also doesn't have the MC renaming functionality either as this version too utilizes the internal memory card drivers. Hopefully at some point jimmikaelkael's MC drivers can be added back when a viable workaround is found to fix issues with some console versions. Anyway, the main reason for this release is the end of the earlier beta process. Apparently the newer builds of uLE are stable enough for further future use. ...

News via http://www.nintendomax.com/viewtopic.php?t=11914&f=54

We're the Nintendomax Wii Dev Competition 2010 is officially closed to all new entries. We record eight original entries, we égalons the number of entry games last year. I confess that I expected to see more entries, but 8 is still very good. I want to thank all the authors for their participation projects, thanks to you we can organize competitions.


Here is a list of all entries:

- 24 points per skyfrog (France)
- Alien Puzzle Wii Gemis (USA)
- Wii JellyCar by Drakon (Poland)
- Nanomech by EvilTroopa (France)
- PixelMerge by evilynux (Canada)
- PixelPlot by Morukutsu (France)
- Scape by Sheeft (France)
- SwingBall by ThatOtherPerson (Canada)

I invite all members of the jury to download the archive above to reach their scoring, scoring system identical to last year.

Thank you and good luck to all participants, the results will be posted no later than June 30, 2010. ...

News via http://www.nintendomax.com/viewtopic.php?t=11910&f=19

blabla offers version 0.80 of its RPG with Pokemon, "Pokemon Battle".

Pokemon Battle is an RPG with Pokemon.
You can fight your Pokemon with a map.
Charizard, indivisible and JOLTEON are available.

INSTALLATION:
The installation has been simplified.
Just put the folder and lua myluads400.nds directly into the DS.
Start myluads400.nds.
Voila! The game starts!
NOTE: For those who would microlua, just take the file and title.lua pokemon battle in lua / scripts and run title.lua.

POKEMON BATTLE 0.80
Changelog:
Change the fighting engine, it is much better than its predecessor but
you will not have translations.
In addition, the sound effects are not yet set and the opponent has only one attack.
But this time I master completely the VRAM and therefore you will receive better graphics.
Expect version 0.8 beta and see! ...

Hillbilly posted this over at palib


http://palib-dev.com/forum/index.php/topic,584.0.html ...

News via http://www.wii-addict.fr/forum/WiiXp...66-t20040.html

The pace of releases has slowed to WiiXplorer but here is the R166 of the file browser on the Wii made by dimok and r-win.

Are also available Forwarder v5 and Alternating Forwarder of Leathl & Jeanny

WiiXplorer:
- Copy / move / delete / rename files and folders from SMB / USB / SD / DVD
- View the properties of a file or folder
- Do a search on SD / USB / SMB / DVD / WiiDisk
- Launch a file .dol / .elf
- See the videos of Wii and GameCube
- Open files. TXT /. / XML. MP3 / .OGG / .wav /. SNB /. AIFF
- Read the images formats. PNG /. Jpeg /. GIF /. BMP /. BPD /. TGA /. TIFF /. GD /. GD2
- Slideshow and zoom images
- Convert images to formats. PNG /. Jpeg /. GIF /. BMP /. TIFF /. GD /. GD2
- Making screenshots
- Explore and decompress archives in formats. ZIP /. Rar / zip .7 /. BNR /. U8Archive /. RARC
- Play files. PDF
- FTP Client and FTP Server
- Text Editor
- Support with USB2 cIOS202
- Support for file system FAT and NTFS
- Address bar with road access
- Multi-language
- Support for different fonts
- AutoUpdate

QUOTE
R166
- Language files update
- Fixed Positions of Buttons and List on MusicPlayer
- Added Effect Slideout from behind for the PlayList in the MusicPlayer
- Added Scrollbar to MusicPlayer
- Fixed bug When Selecting multiple files with Tooltips
- Added a Trashcan you can delete the ImageViewer Which viewed: current queue.
- Added fade out / in on Changing Images / PDF Slideshow IS active sites while
- Maybe some more stuff i forgot ...

News via http://www.wii-addict.fr/forum/Alien...06-t20038.html

Alien Puzzle Wii is a game developed by Gemis. It is a port of the game NDS of the same name. This is in the Nintendomax Homebrew Wii Dev Competition 2010.





QUOTE
v0.6
Final Update Before the end of the competition. Includes a fix to a video problem, and Some shiny new graphics. The graphics are not all done yet, goal MOST of the hand ones are Including the menu and the in game ones. The original ones Will Be available as a download on the DLC shop soon.

V0.5
- New mp3 player layout! Now features a pause feature, playlist support, and more!
- Two new multiplayer modes, Vs Mode and Co-op mode!
- Object and packs for use as DLC! This Allows you to customize the game play graphics.
- An options menu
- 5 Difficulty settings now: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard
- Bug fixed
- Nicer looking text thanks to True Type Font support!
- Some graphical Improvements
As of this release, There are a few "new DLCs. There are single player Three New downloads:
- World
- Choices
- Bus
one new multiplayer level:
- Racer
and the first object pack for download:
- InvisibleWalls

http://www.nintendomax.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=11911 ...