Last year, all anybody could talk about was the possibility of PS3 price cuts, which eventually happened. These days, the PS2 continues to roll along at a fairly decent clip, so some are wondering when the never-say-die console will drop to a very attractive $99.

Well, because the PS2 continues to do so well, you probably shouldn't expect that drop any time soon. According to the MTV Multiplayer blog and our two favorite industry analysts, the demand for the PS2 remains high, and Sony doesn't have much incentive to lower the price tag to $99. Here's what Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter had to say on the matter-

"The real reason we haven't seen a $99 PS2 is that demand hasn't dropped enough for Sony to justify the price cut. Compelling content like 'Guitar Hero' and 'Rock Band' keeps the demand for PS2s up. As long as you've got a couple hundred thousand PS2s a month selling, Sony doesn't feel compelled to make the cut. I think you will get the cut, because, frankly, Sony wants to differentiate the PS3. I think the PS3 comes down to $349, maybe $299 if they can afford it. But they've just been selling four to five million PS2s a year in the U.S. so there's no reason to cut the price until it drops to two million. It really is just demand-driven."

Wilson obviously agrees with Pachter's analysis, saying that while the PS2 will probably see $99 some time down the line, it won't be soon. Here's his two cents-

"The PS2 will almost certainly drop to $99 at some point, but I think it's unlikely in the near-term. The PS2 continues to sell through very well without a price cut. Even if the PS3 was a rip-roaring success (all other things remaining equal), Sony would have little incentive to cut the price."

Well, at the very least, the PS3 is now competitively priced and the top-notch next-gen software is right around the corner. Some of it is already here ('cough' GTAIV 'cough'), and the more we see players leaping into the new generation, the more the PS2 will - finally - get left behind. We believe that then, and only then, will you see that $99 price.

No, you can't have another Xenogears, but Sega will give you the next best thing.

This summer, Sega will release World Destruction, a new fantasy RPG for the Nintendo DS created by three key Xenogears alums.

Writer Masato Kato, character designer Kunihiko Tanaka, and composer Yasunori Mitsuda are at the core of the game's development. All three previously worked together in similar roles on the classic Square Enix RPG, and have since gone on to freelance game development careers.

The developer is Image Epoch, creators of the Luminous Arc series of Nintendo DS tactical RPGs.

The current issue of Famitsu shows off plenty of screens of both gameplay and cut scenes. The story revolves around a pair of characters, Kyrie and Morute, who join an underground organization called "Destruction of the World." The goal of said organization is -- you guessed it -- to bring about the end of the world. But for a good cause: humans are enslaved by monsters.

Illustrating just how serious Sega is about this franchise, World Destruction will also be accompanied by an anime series produced by Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell, Blood+).

The Dreamcast is dead? Don't tell the production crew of new martial arts flick Forbidden Kingdom. Siliconera's Spencer just finished up a viewing of the Jackie Chan/Jet Li epic, and says that while the film's littered with gaming references, one stands above all others:

However, the best reference is also the most subtle. In the first five minutes of the movie, after Jason wakes up from his dream, you can see a Dreamcast on the left hand corner of the screen underneath his TV.

Sounds pretty blink-and-you'll-miss-it, but then, so was the Dreamcast.

NeoDS v0.1.0 by Ben Ingram
Website: http://groups.google.com/group/neods

If you have questions, READ THIS DOCUMENT FIRST!!! . If you still have questions, email me at ingramb AT gmail DOT com. I will be happy to help, but possibly slightly annoyed if your question is answered in this document.

INTRODUCTION

This is a NeoGeo AES/MVS emulator for the Nintendo DS. It can run all types of NeoGeo roms with some limitations.

Currently emulated:

* M68000 cpu (cyclone)
* Z80 cpu (DrZ80)
* All forms of NeoGeo protection/encryption
* Graphics
* ADPCM audio
* PSG audio

Not emulated:

* FM audio
* Raster effects
* Multiplayer
* Some timings are not that accurate

FM audio has already been done in jEnesisDS, so it is possible in theory. It will be hard to squeeze it into NeoDS, as both the ARM7 and ARM9 are pretty busy. But I will try. Most of the graphics in NeoDS are drawn with textured quads. Emulating raster effects using this method would require more polygons per frame than the DS is capable of (as far as I can tell). It may be possible to emulate raster effects using the DS 2D hardware, but there are lots of reasons why this would be difficult.

USING THE EMULATOR

Required:
* Nintendo DS (lite)
* DLDI compatible flash card

First, you need to patch NeoDS.nds for your DLDI flash card (NOTE - not all flashcards require patching). See here: http://chishm.drunkencoders.com/DLDI/index.html. Please don't email me for help about this, there are plenty of places online that explain how this works.

Next you will need to convert some NeoGeo roms (mslug.zip for example). You also need a bios rom (neogeo.zip). NeoDS uses the same rom sets as MAME, so make sure your games work in MAME before proceeding. Put all the roms you want to convert along with the bios together in a folder. Copy NeoDSConvert.exe into the same folder. Run NeoDSConvert, and it will convert all the NeoGeo roms in that folder. The converted roms will have the *.neo extension.

Copy the DLDI patched NeoDS.nds, and all the *.neo roms into the root of your flashcard. Run NeoDS.nds. The main menu should load, showing you a list of all the roms on your card. Use the arrow keys to select, and press start to choose. The rom should load, and you should be playing. You can load a rom without audio which will improve frame rate, but you won't get any sound (obviously). Once a game is loaded without audio, the only way to get audio back is to reload the game. Some games will freeze with audio disabled, so be warned!

Controls
[Arrow keys] - Arrow keys
[A, B, X, Y] - NeoGeo face buttons
[Start] - Start
[Select] - Coin

The NeoDS gui is controlled with the stylus.
* Video - Video can be normal or scaled. Normal is a cropped screen. Scaled shows the full screen, but scaled down to fit.

* CPU Clock- The NeoGeo cpu can be underclocked. This can actually make some games run faster! It is easier for NeoDS to emulate a slower cpu, and some NeoGeo games don't use the full cpu power anyway. Experiment and see.

* Screen Off - The lower screen can be turned off. Touch anywhere to turn it back on.

* Load rom - Load a new game

Please report any crashes to me. The more info you can give me, the better. Thanks!

ADVANCED

You can run NeoDSConvert from the command line. In this case, it takes up to 2 parameters.
-bios0 use the euro bios
-bios1 use the euro-s1 bios
-bios2 use the us bios
-bios3 use the us-e bios
-bios4 use the asia bios
-bios5 use the japan bios
-bios6 use the japan-s2 bios
-bios7 use the japan-s1 bios
-bios8 use the uni-bios.10 bios
-bios9 use the uni-bios.11 bios
-bios10 use the debug bios
-bios11 use the asia-aes bios
If there is another parameter, it will be interpreted as the name of the game, as given to MAME. In this case, only this rom will be converted.

For example, pretend you want to convert Metal Slug 1, using the japan-s2 bios. Create a new directory (C:\roms). Copy mslug.zip and NeoDsConvert.exe into C:\roms. To open a command line, click start, select "run...", type "cmd", and press enter. Type "cd c:\roms". Press enter. Then type "NeoDSConvert -bios6 mslug". Press enter.

TODO
* Save states
* Faster M68k cpu core
* Improved stability
* FM audio (?)
* Raster effects (?)
* Wifi multiplayer (?)
* Clean up NeoDSConvert source if I feel like it

TECHNICAL NOTES

NeoGeo games can be close to 100MB in size, while the ds only has 4MB of ram. Graphics, sound, and program code all need to be streamed into ram constantly while the emulator is running. NeoDs uses a modified libfat which has a lookup table to vastly speed up seek times. In the future, slot2 ds ram expansion packs could provide some speed up. But they only have 32MB, so games will still have to stream.

The emulator uses a slightly modified version of Cyclone for the m68k core. The memory