Square Enix superstar producer -- and master of the zipper -- Tetsuya Nomura is featured in this week's Famitsu through a two page interview. Although most of the space was taken up by Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete talk, Nomura opened up towards the end about a few of his other projects.

First up, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Development on the DS title is approaching completion, he said. The staff is now going through the final areas of debugging. In case you don't keep up with the Nippon gaming seen, the Japanese version is due for release on May 30.

Sharing the sales points of the title, Nomura noted that because it's mission-based, players who want to get through to the end quickly can simply play just the required missions. However, those who do clear all the missions will find a lot of content.

Next up, Kingdom Hearts Coded. Noting that the mobile title will be distributed as a series of episodes, Nomura revealed that the development staff is currently working on building up a stock of such episodes.

Finally, the main event: Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Nomura didn't share much here, stating only that the designs for the main characters' clothing is complete. These designs were previously announced as being a collaboration with Roen. He hopes to unveil them at a major event.

The magazine also asked Nomura about future possibilities for the Final Fantasy VII compilation series. He said that he believes he's done all he wants to do for Advent Children. However, he does have ideas for the next product in the compilation. Don't start celebrating yet, though! Nomura also said that he doesn't expect any developments on the series for the time being.

http://uk.ds.ign.com/articles/966/966121p1.html ...

Cpasjuste has released a port of Quake 3 for the Pandora:


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Cpasjuste has released a port of Quake 3 for the Pandora:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

For many aging (sorry folks, it’s true) PC gamers, Wolfenstein 3D was one of the first truly compelling computer action games. Doom also fits into the same category, but Wolf3D was the grand daddy of it first-person shooters.

ZoomNow, 18 years since its release on 286 computers in 1991, Wolfenstein 3D has been ported to the iPhone by its original creator John Carmack.

Carmack has made it no secret that he wanted to have an iPhone game for launch of the 3G model and 2.0 firmware in July 2008. Due to time constraints, that never happened, but Carmack never stopped looking at the Apple device as a viable gaming platform. Of course, it also helps that he owns an iPhone.

“I had been frustrated for over a year with the fact that we didn't have any iPhone development projects going internally at Id. I love my iPhone, and I think the App Store is an extremely important model for the software business,” he said.

Electronic Arts was set to bring mobile game Wolfenstein RPG to the iPhone, but Carmack explained that he was unhappy with the software renderer that an EA team came up with.

“Using the iPhone's hardware 3D acceleration was a requirement, and it should be easy,” Carmack explained, and later continued, “The developers came back and said it would take two months and exceed their budget.”

“Rather than having a big confrontation over the issue, I told them to just send the project to me and I would do it myself,” said Carmack, going on to prove that he’s more than just a cut above the rest. “Cass Everitt had been doing some personal work on the iPhone, so he helped me get everything set up for local iPhone development here, which is a lot more tortuous than you would expect from an Apple product. As usual, my off the cuff estimate of ‘Two days!’ was optimistic, but I did get it done in four, and the game is definitely more pleasant at 8x the frame rate. And I had fun doing it.”

The id Software lead programmer then went on to apply his work to Wolf3D Redux, an upgraded “true 3D” version of his original built off the source code. The result we have today is an ‘official’ port of Wolfenstein 3D done by the series’ original creator, made for the iPhone.

You won’t find the it on the Apple App Store, however, as Carmack released it as a simple package for jailbroken iPhones. Also included is the source code, and Carmack encourages other able programmers to see if they can improve upon his work.

While the Wolfenstein 3D for iPhone is very faithful to the original of 18 years ago, there have been several changes -- not only to stay better in tune with modern gamers, but also for reasons surrounding the radically different hardware and input method. For one, the “open door” button has been done away with in favor of automatic doors. Ah, technology. The UI has been tweaked for the iPhone screen as well as the addition of an auto map, so that new players wouldn’t feel as if they were lost in a maze. Both lives and scores were also taken out, now replaced with “achievements” for 100 percent kills, 100 percent secrets and 100 percent treasures.

Check out Voodoo Extreme for the full 5,100 word release document from John Carmack detailing almost everything you could imagine. Download the iPhone port and source here, though it’s reserved for those who are knowledgeable about poking around an jailbroken iPhone.

Perhaps the best news of all is that this won’t be a one-off thing. Carmack said that if there is enough interest in this port, he shall make available the entire Spear of Destiny expansion. And even better, we’ll be getting Doom.

Carmack said in closing, “I'm going back to Rage for a while, but I do expect Classic Doom to come fairly soon for the iPhone.”

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Wol...mack,7367.html ...

For many aging (sorry folks, it’s true) PC gamers, Wolfenstein 3D was one of the first truly compelling computer action games. Doom also fits into the same category, but Wolf3D was the grand daddy of it first-person shooters.

ZoomNow, 18 years since its release on 286 computers in 1991, Wolfenstein 3D has been ported to the iPhone by its original creator John Carmack.

Carmack has made it no secret that he wanted to have an iPhone game for launch of the 3G model and 2.0 firmware in July 2008. Due to time constraints, that never happened, but Carmack never stopped looking at the Apple device as a viable gaming platform. Of course, it also helps that he owns an iPhone.

“I had been frustrated for over a year with the fact that we didn't have any iPhone development projects going internally at Id. I love my iPhone, and I think the App Store is an extremely important model for the software business,” he said.

Electronic Arts was set to bring mobile game Wolfenstein RPG to the iPhone, but Carmack explained that he was unhappy with the software renderer that an EA team came up with.

“Using the iPhone's hardware 3D acceleration was a requirement, and it should be easy,” Carmack explained, and later continued, “The developers came back and said it would take two months and exceed their budget.”

“Rather than having a big confrontation over the issue, I told them to just send the project to me and I would do it myself,” said Carmack, going on to prove that he’s more than just a cut above the rest. “Cass Everitt had been doing some personal work on the iPhone, so he helped me get everything set up for local iPhone development here, which is a lot more tortuous than you would expect from an Apple product. As usual, my off the cuff estimate of ‘Two days!’ was optimistic, but I did get it done in four, and the game is definitely more pleasant at 8x the frame rate. And I had fun doing it.”

The id Software lead programmer then went on to apply his work to Wolf3D Redux, an upgraded “true 3D” version of his original built off the source code. The result we have today is an ‘official’ port of Wolfenstein 3D done by the series’ original creator, made for the iPhone.

You won’t find the it on the Apple App Store, however, as Carmack released it as a simple package for jailbroken iPhones. Also included is the source code, and Carmack encourages other able programmers to see if they can improve upon his work.

While the Wolfenstein 3D for iPhone is very faithful to the original of 18 years ago, there have been several changes -- not only to stay better in tune with modern gamers, but also for reasons surrounding the radically different hardware and input method. For one, the “open door” button has been done away with in favor of automatic doors. Ah, technology. The UI has been tweaked for the iPhone screen as well as the addition of an auto map, so that new players wouldn’t feel as if they were lost in a maze. Both lives and scores were also taken out, now replaced with “achievements” for 100 percent kills, 100 percent secrets and 100 percent treasures.

Check out Voodoo Extreme for the full 5,100 word release document from John Carmack detailing almost everything you could imagine. Download the iPhone port and source here, though it’s reserved for those who are knowledgeable about poking around an jailbroken iPhone.

Perhaps the best news of all is that this won’t be a one-off thing. Carmack said that if there is enough interest in this port, he shall make available the entire Spear of Destiny expansion. And even better, we’ll be getting Doom.

Carmack said in closing, “I'm going back to Rage for a while, but I do expect Classic Doom to come fairly soon for the iPhone.”

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Wol...mack,7367.html ...

Wiibrew have today posted that you should not update at the moment


So for those who homebrew dont update for now, and if you dont bother with homebrew then let us know what its like ...

Amarth and Daid have released Jump 'n Bump 0.3


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

The_Lemon_Man has released signCheck 0.2:


Download Here and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

When it was launched in 2005, Microsoft boss Bill Gates called it the Ferrari of games consoles. Since then Microsoft has sold 28 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide, but the console hasn't always had a smooth ride.

In 2007, Watchdog reported on a problem which seemed to plague thousands of Xbox 360 owners - the infamous 'Red Ring of Death' - whereby a console would be rendered unable to function.

We thought that this was the only issue that Xbox 360 owners were encountering, but it appears we were wrong. We've had complaints from many of our viewers telling us there's another serious problem with the Xbox 360s, one that doesn't affect the console but could destroy the games you've paid a hefty wad of cash for.

What's worse, many of you have told us that Microsoft won't accept responsibility and in fact say it's your fault, not theirs.

Michael Mowatt, 13, is a devoted fan of the Xbox 360. His mum, Rachel, bought him the console to play when the weather was bad; but in order to buy his games, Michael has to save his pocket money.

Michael's neighbour keeps several racing pigeons in a coup in his garden and, in order to earn his pocket money for his games, Michael visits three times a week to clean out the pigeons - poo and all.

It took Michael two months to save enough money for two games and he was excited to get started on them straight away. But after just a couple of weeks of playing his new games discs, Michael heard a strange grinding noise coming from the Xbox 360.

Large scratch around the disc

The action on screen came to a halt and when the disc was examined there was a large circular scratch around the disc. Rachel thought that Michael had perhaps done something to it and told him off for misusing the console.

A few days later the very same thing happened to another of Michael's discs. This time Rachel knew something was wrong. Rachel called Microsoft who refused to cover the costs of replacing the games. The Xbox 360 was still in warranty so Microsoft did take the console away to be looked at, but it still refused to acknowledge responsibility and said it was Michael's fault the discs had ended up scratched. It said that he must have moved the console while playing. Michael resents this claim as he worked so hard to save for the games and is confident he hadn't touched the console at all while it was loading.

Microsoft blamed the family

Michael's Xbox 360 isn't the only case where the family have been blamed. The Monaghans are a family of seven - mum, dad and five daughters. Dad, Robert, wanted an activity the whole family could enjoy and so he decided to buy an Xbox 360 along with the game Rock Band.

The family enjoyed playing together, until only a few weeks later when the music came to a sudden stop. The console was displaying a disc read error and, when inspected, they found a large circular scratch along the surface of the disc. Robert wasn't pleased and thought the girls had done something wrong, so he put the Xbox away as a punishment.

When the Monaghan's eldest daughter, Alana, turned 11 they decided to buy a new game and put the family band back together. This time they bought Guitar Hero: World Tour but after only an hour and half of play they discovered the disc had been scratched and ruined again. This time Robert knew it wasn't his daughters and he called Microsoft.

Again Microsoft denied responsibility, telling the family it was their fault and that they'd not be replacing the games. The family were furious and adamant that the console had not been touched while the game was playing. The Xbox was taken away to be looked at and the Monaghan's were left without their console.

Complaints also extend outside the UK

This problem isn't restricted to the UK either. The EU's Consumer Commissioner has written to Microsoft twice, asking why she's receiving so many complaints about the Xbox 360. Further still, in the United States, lawyers are organising a class action against the company.

The law firm believes that Microsoft's stance, that Xbox 360 owners are cavalierly throwing their consoles around the room, doesn't make sense. It has spoken to a number of people who have insisted they didn't move the console at all.

We decided to set up an experiment with two Xboxes, a brand new console and one that we knew had already caused a scratch. We placed them both on level, stable surfaces. We arranged vases of water to indicate any movements, sealed off a secure space and inserted brand new games. Watchdog researchers then played solidly for six hours a day for three days, with neither Xbox being moved once.

After three days, the team hadn't had a single scratch. The conditions, however, weren't exactly what you'd find in an average teenager's bedroom, so we decided to take the test a little further and this time the result was quite different.

Boxes subjected to simulated vibrations

We sent the same Xbox 360s to a lab in Hampshire, where special testing equipment replicated the vibrations you'd find in a typical home. The first test simulated walking ...