via pdroms

Backgammon for the iPhone is a native version of the classic game to run on Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

Changes:

- Added: One-tap checker movement.
- Bug fix: In the devices with firmware 1.1.3 settings might not be saved.
- Bug fix: When all checkers were at home and the first die couldn't be played the game did not check the second die.


The game itself is free, but donators will be able to access extra features. Please consider donating if you like this game. http://www.adikus.com/ ...

via pdroms

Search adds some of the most requested features to the iPhone:
1. Searching of contacts based on first name, last name, organisation, job title, department or notes.
2. Searching of calendar events based on summary, location, or notes. (Currently does not include some recurring events, and does not use the special calendar time zone support. All events are displayed relative to the main phone time zone setting)
3. Search allows you to dial up a date, and then jump straight to it in the iPhone Calendar application.

Changes:

- Added support for firmware version 1.1.3
- Calendar event results are now sorted starting from most recent
- Improved unicode support in calendar event info
http://www.polarbearfarm.com/installerabout.php ...

via pdroms

iFob (TM) is Wi-Fi software that helps iPod touch (TM) and iPhone (TM) and laptop owners meet each other in cafes, bars, coffee houses, or any public hotspot. iFob brings physical reality to social networking.
http://www.icloseby.com/ ...

via pdroms

LUA is a scripting language, which is now available for the iPhone.

Lua combines simple procedural syntax with powerful data description constructs based on associative arrays and extensible semantics. Lua is dynamically typed, runs by interpreting bytecode for a register-based virtual machine, and has automatic memory management with incremental garbage collection, making it ideal for configuration, scripting, and rapid prototyping. http://web.newsguy.com/marcio/iphone/lua/ ...

Lxdream is a linux-based emulator for the Sega Dreamcast system. While it is still in heavy development (and many features are buggy or unimplemented), it is already capable of running many demos and some games.

Last 0.8 point release, I swear. Just for a change, this one actually has some new features too. Specifically, it now runs linux (now some may argue that that’s not actually a _useful_ feature, but it’s a nice milestone)

With that out of the way, I think it’s finally time to rip the renderer apart and fix it all up, don’t you? ^_^

What’s New

MMU Implementation - As previously noted, linux-dc now runs quite well, albeit slowly.
Dreamcast mouse and keyboard controllers (also rather essential for running linux-dc)
Support for real joysticks and gamepads (linux host only)
Various bug fixes
Other Changes

Change timer (TMU) interrupts to be precise (within the bounds of a code block anyway)
Implement SLEEP op properly in translator
Clamp run speed in the GUI if it’s running too fast
Run event loop more frequently to avoid missing keyboard events

Download Here --> http://www.lxdream.org/news/ ...

How did Microsoft pull it off? They were a boring, monolithic software company helmed by Bill Gates, the world's biggest geek. They made Windows. They made spreadsheet software and word processing programs.

They were a boring part of our lives we were forced to accept as a boring part of our technological infrastructure, only a few pixels away from concrete or plumbing. Then, of all things, Microsoft turned its hat backwards and tried to sit at the cool table. They released the Xbox.

And they lost $4 billion.

But all was not a wash. While some would say Xbox (original) lost money, others realized that Microsoft really just invested the funds. And from this investment, they'd gained a non-Winblows identity in the marketplace, along with a powerful icon that was nearly as synonymous to the Xbox console as Mario was to Nintendo or Sonic to Sega: Master Chief.

Fast forward to 2007. The Xbox 360 is beating the golden boy PlayStation 3. And Halo 3 is the top selling game—on any platform—all year in the US.

So how did Microsoft, after failure on original Xbox, take Halo 3 and their Xbox 360 to levels beyond any game launch before it? We talked to Microsoft's hired hands, the Xbox marketing gurus at global marketing firm Wunderman to explain how it happened. Chris Loll with the firm's UK branch did his best to politely answer our questions without upsetting Microsoft or getting fired. We hope.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

So let's backtrack to somewhere around November 2006. Wunderman is deep in the throws of planning, preparing to start a nine month increasingly muscled onslaught on the gaming populace before Halo 3's September 25th, 2007 release date.
Do you remember the ads? They included Halo 3 wallpapers, mobile websites, sweepstakes, scavenger hunts, countdown clocks, and specialized RSS feeds. And this stuff occurred before Game Fuel was a twinkle in fanboy eyes.

This first phase of Halo 3 marketing was for the hardcore fans, the people who had been "anticipating Halo 3 since they finished Halo 2," Loll explains. What Wunderman attempted was to bridge this playtime gap between sequels, feeding fans as much content as they could through a smaller scale viral approach. And during this phase, Wunderman worked closely with Bungie to make sure that they had the right media assets to offer fans.

"All of these things were part of a plan to make sure that we were giving the customer what they were looking for without actually giving them the game experience," explains Loll.

Then came the second (and final) stage of advertising. For this, we jump ahead to early September 2007, just a few weeks before launch.

"Halo 3 was about finish the fight. So for a lot of people, if they hadn't started the fight, that might not have resonated as much."

And it was this group—one that didn't necessarily know the fight even existed—that Wunderman needed to excite if Halo 3 were to become "an entertainment phenomenon," as it was so often described to me. So Wunderman leveraged strategic partners, companies that could team with Microsoft and share the Halo branding for mutual benefit.

"I think that it is subtle, we're not trying to tell the history of the conversation on the back of a Burger King cup, but we are trying to generate that level of awareness and build a curiosity of this phenomenon that is happening around them..."

This was the mass-market strategy that we've all seen and often joked about, formerly reserved for the likes of the film industry. It included television ads, Burger King containers, NASCAR sponsorship and even a custom line of Mt. Dew.

So I had to ask, how did Mt. Dew Game Fuel come about? It was pretty simple, really. Wunderman and Microsoft pitched Pepsi (the soft drink company is already friends with Wunderman). Pepsi pitched them Game Fuel. And the rest was history. But didn't anyone else want in on the Halo fun?

"There were some [products] that will obviously go unmentioned but were not the right fit and wouldn't have been right for our target."

We can only imagine Master Chief on a carton of Tampax. And then we wonder what the hardcore fans would think of such a thing.

"With the core audience, a lot of the marketing blitz...wasn't targeted at those guys. It makes them feel more part of the broader community, but it was really focused on a much larger audience that hasn't been engaged to the level that they have since the original."

Because these two audiences have different understandings of Halo 3 and the Xbox 360 brands, Wunderman must also present that Halo/Xbox relationship differently.

"We're looking to align the appropriate balance of Xbox and Halo based upon who we're actually talking to...It was definitely a strategic consideration as we were developing all of the marketing materials for the Halo 3 campaign - as sort of the balance and the weighting of the brand's imagery and the connection between ...

Hey, is that Mario Kart Wii final box art? Maybe! It seems to have all of its facts straight, now that the Mario Kart Wii title has dropped its "tentative" moniker and that the ESRB has given it an "E" rating. The logo is certainly different than the one shown in Nintendo's own press room, but we're willing to let that slide in our evaluation of box art authenticity. Then again, it's box art, so who ultimately cares at this point if it's legit? Kidding, of course, as box art is serious business.

We're certainly down with the rumored look and feel, but that packaging to accomodate a Wii Wheel that we don't really want or need seems a bit excessive.

http://kotaku.com/351271/mario-kart-...-pack+in-alert ...

Today's Playstation Portable firmware update came with a little touch of Skype (except if you live in China, go figure). Once patched, the Skype option shows up under Network. I was able to pretty quickly register for a new account using the PSP and get it working in less then five minutes.

It's a pretty cool build of the software and while I'm not sure how often I'd use it around the house, I definitely plan on bringing it with me when I travel for some free calls. Also plan on abusing the hell out of it to harass Ash since it only cost me $10 to buy seven hours worth of worldwide Skype to phone service. (Skype to Skype is free) That's right seven hours of me rambling to Ash... can't wait!

Video Here --> http://kotaku.com/350606/hands+on-with-skype-psp ...

via Gamasutra

Publisher Atlus has announced it will be continue to support the still-strong PlayStation 2 by bringing 2D all-girl fighter Arcana Heart to the North America this April.

Sporting four different modes including arcade, story, versus, and training, as well as an unlockable extras gallery, the game centers around elemental spirits from called Arcana which particular humans can call upon.

Players will fight to keep "the mysterious Mildred Avalon" from forming a rift between the human and spiritual world to "prevent her from bringing an end to all humanity."

Atlus says the game, when it launches in April, will feature 11 female fighters with customizable attack and defense skills, as well as "11 different Arcana to pair with your fighter." It also notes that the game features "huge battle maps" for vertical fighting with "air dashes and homing techniques to create devastating aerial combos."

...