DCASTLE source code with the 3d lib is released

at

http://a128.blogspot.com

have fun.
mirror the archive if you like ...

If you like Skinz Sudoku and consider buying a copy, now might be the best time !

Clickgamer just announced a special offer : Skinz Sudoku Professional will be 80% off for the next 48 hours, bring to price down to as low as $1.99 !!!

And as it's now available for Smartphones, no reason not to try it out !

http://www.xflib.net/index.php?topic=53.0 ...

This is one of the options the UN is taking into account in its attempt to find new ways of financing its fight against poverty.

Philippe Douste-Blazy, the newly-appointed Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development for the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has recently declared that the branch he is leading (the UNITAID- the international drug purchase facility hosted by the UN World Health Organization) is behind schedule with implementing the measures required by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agenda:

"We are halfway in the timetable with the deadline in 2015, but we are not halfway in terms of results. The truth is we are late." He added that global development assistance has fallen for the first time in 10 years.

In order to find new resources, Douste-Blazy, who was also the French Foreign Affairs minister and a member of the European Parliament, said to French newspaper La Croix that "the UN is reflecting on the possibility of putting taxes on video games and Internet commerce to finance the fight against poverty". Another option would be to convince citizens to "contribute voluntarily with one or two euros".

The high-ranked official unveiled the fact that more than $500 billion are needed to reach the targets established by the world powers in 2000. Although to some this might look like an insanely huge amount of money, Douste-Blazy said that transactions worth more than $1500 billion are being rolled on the world's financial markets every single day.

Mr. Douste-Blazy's conclusion is that "new means" of financing are necessary, like putting taxes "on Internet video-games and the e-commerce".

However, the irony is that in the fight against hunger and poverty, money is actually not a problem. Corruption is. Prestigious magazine Wall Street Journal has recently unveiled that more than 90% of the funds allocated by the World Bank for Indian health programs have been wasted on badly executed repairs or have simply vanished (read "have entered the pockets of corrupted Indian officials"). This adds to the massive thefts registered in Africa, where tons of food, medicine and construction materials never reach the hands of the poor.

And speaking of corrupted officials, not a year has passed since Paul Wolfowitz's resignation from the World Bank, after it was found that he personally negotiated a generous salary for his mistress at the US State Department. Former UN Secretay-General Koffi Anan's son was also investigated for using his father's influential position to obtain preferential oil contracts in Irak, during Saddam Hussein's reign.

We're just curious: what kind of new taxes does the UN have in mind, since the gaming industry is already paying a lot of taxes?

http://www.playfuls.com/news_12350_T..._the_poor.html ...

I got a chance to swing by the SNK Playmore Suite at GDC to check out some of their offerings. Most of what they had going on on their screens were showings of their various game anthologies including Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol. 2, King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match, King of Fighters Collection Orochi Saga, Samurai Shodown Anthology, SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 and World Heroes Anthology. Not a whole lot new here but there were a couple of nice looking trailers for King of Fighters XII and the New Samurai Shodown.

The real treat however was a little surprise waiting on a DS in the corner, Metal Slug 7! I hot footed it over to the corner of the room and practically wrestled the girl playing it to the ground in my attempt to check out the game. It looked great, played better and had everything you could possibly want from a Metal Slug game. So if you are ready for a new Metal Slug experience, look no further than Metal Slug 7, coming soon to a DS near you.



http://kotaku.com/360017/snk-playmore-suite-visit ...

Here we have another look at the new Mario Kart game for the Wii. We get see a bunch of multiplayer gameplay as well as some people "enjoying" the Wii wheel. Something about that wheel just leaves me scratching my head. Perhaps it's the fact that it's not attached to anything and just seems to be floating there. I think I'll stick to driving my Kart with a good old fashioned controller thank you very much.



http://kotaku.com/360037/mario-kart-...-floor-trailer ...

http://www.genmay.com/showthread.php?t=775108 ...

StyleTap, the folks behind the CrossPlatform Palm emulator for Windows Mobile have built a proof of concept version of the software for the iPhone / iPod touch. They're not committing to releasing any such product, and aren't releasing the software as a beta or anything like that at the moment, but the video demo of the software in action is certainly promising. All the apps are rather responsive, the device benchmarks a good bit faster than the Tungsten | T, and Apple's keyboard is even integrated into the proceedings quite nicely.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/23/p...hat-iiic-at-h/ ...

Hi All,

Here is the final version of PSPZX81 the ZX-81 emulator for PSP.

For those who haven't seen previous release, XZ81 is an emulator of the Sinclair ZX81
computer running on Unix systems. It has been written by Russell Marks in 1995.
See http://rus.members.beeb.net/ for further informations.

PSPZX81 is a port of the version 2.1 on PSP.

What's new then in this version ?

- New eboot icons based on Raven's stuff
- Add several new hotkeys :
. settings such as fps, render mode can now be directly
modified inside the emulator
(no need to enter in the settings menu)
. quick save / quick load current state
(no need to enter in the main menu)
- Default Hotkeys can now be set in the keyboard mapping menu
(useful to add hotkeys on existing/previous keyboard files)
- Add vsync option
- Can now be compiled for linux (useful for debug)
- Bug fix in the low battery watchdog


How to use it ? Everything is in the README.txt file.

If you're looking for a manual or documentation for the zx81 itself have a look here :
http://www.zx81kit.com/

If you're looking for games and software have a look here :
ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no/pub/sinclair/

Sources are included, and this package is under the GNU public licence,
read COPYING.txt file for more information about it.

You can download it on my blog :
http://zx81.zx81.free.fr/

Enjoy,

Zx.

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The Homebrew scene is bigger now than its ever been, when i first got really into homebrew we just had the Dreamcast and Gameboy Scenes but now we have homebrew scenes for PSP, Nintendo DS, GP2X, Xbox, Wii, PS3, PS2, Dreamcast, GBA, Sega Saturn, GP32, Gizmondo and many others.

Homebrew is so big now that thousands of sites are posting news on it and even the major sites such as Slashdot, Digg, Engadget and even BBC News have posted interviews and articles about homebrew.

A few years ago saw the release of the GP2X a linux based console that was to revolutionize the homebrew scene, it was and is a good console but the build quality of the first units was not so good and the problems of firmware updates bricking the console didnt help either not to mention the crap battery life. Also problems with the company making the console didnt help either, however the F200 Version of the GP2X addressed some of the problems and gave a touchscreen option which is selling well.

The Pandora Console

Last year i was told of a new project to bring a console that would be as powerful as the PSP and maybe even have Nintendo DS Emulation on it, a big boast if ever there was one.

That project was given the name Pandora and a few months ago it transpired that it would look like a Nintendo DS in shape with a keyboard on, the first version was white and didnt impress but a new photo of the design has been released and it looks much better in black.

Heres the photo:



Heres the specs:


Heres some more details about the console:


From the photograph you can see it borrows a lot from the Nintendo DS with the clam style and body shape but improves on it with the dual SD card slots.

The screen is a rather big 800x480 which may be problematic for some emulators, the Wifi part should be awesome for playing emulators and games against people worldwide.

The qwerty keyboard, tv out and USB mean you have a portable console that could double as a mini laptop.

Is Pandora the Future of Homebrew?

Personally i hope that Pandora will be a major success, lets hope the build quality is professional and that battery life is comparable with the likes of the Nintendo DS.

Its unlikely the console will ever be a console that major commercial games will be released on but it could be a great bed for indie developers looking to impress the likes of EA and the many major companies out there.

Thats my feelings but what do you think about the design and if it will be a success, will it challenge the likes of the PSP and Nintendo DS who have very strong Homebrew scenes.

Give us your views via Comments ...