via Computer and Video games


Has Microsoft inadvertently confirmed that an Xbox 360 featuring HDMI support is indeed coming?

Well, possibly.

In the latest talk surrounding the company's plans for a revised console, internet reports are pointing to a comment made by Microsoft rep and XNA Framework Developer Shawn Hargreaves in the MSDN XNA Game Studio Express forums.

A forum poster asked "Will the HDMI output on the revised 360 require any code changes", to which Hargreaves replied, "No changes required".

Certain parties are taking this as 100% confirmation that HDMI Xbox 360 is on the way; however we're still awaiting any official announcement from Microsoft.

Last week, reports claimed that the Xbox 360 supporting HDMI will be called 'Elite' and will be decked out in black and feature a 120Gb HDD.

UPDATE: A further report on the Elite 360, this time from Dean Takahashi at The Mercury News, says that the new version of the console will support IPTV. Takahashi also goes as far as to say "It's true that Microsoft is preparing to announce the Xbox 360 Elite, a version of the game console with black plastic and advanced features." ...

via Computer and Video Games


UK senior regional director for MS has been speaking to the times about the arrival of PS3 across Europe last Friday.

"In the technology and gaming there's really little in the PS3 where I can say, 'Gosh, I wish we had that'," he told the Times online. "The biggest threat that Sony has for us is the brand that's been established around it."

While Thompson admitted that PS3's graphics would give 360 a run for its money, he said that Microsoft is leading the race in the online department: "More and more we're seeing that the online experience is a really important factor. Sony has come up with an online world that seems to let you do just about everything except gaming.

"It's two, three years ahead of the market. People won't want to replace their entire DVD collections, and they'll get a better resolution with a standard DVD on an Xbox than a PS3. It's nowhere near the importance of the format war between VHS and DVD. The internet is becoming an increasingly important medium. Surely online is going to be the distribution method for much of the high-definition content." ...

via Games Industry



Microsoft has reignited its war of words with arch rival Sony following the launch of PlayStation 3 in Europe, with UK boss Neil Thompson attacking the system’s price tag and Blu-ray functionality.

Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz, Thompson dismissed suggestions that the PlayStation 3's in-built Blu-ray drive gives the machine a tactical advantage over Xbox 360.

"Do I want to make people pay £200 extra for a machine with discs that have storage space I don’t need? My answer's no, I don't need to do that today," Thompson said. "And I don't think I'm going to need to do that for quite a while."

Thompson argued that the flexibility of 360, which allows users to upgrade their experiences over time, will be key to the console's success. "I’m not sure the market has moved to high definition [movies] yet," he said.

"And if and when it does, then the way that we’ve constructed the offering we’ve made means we’ll be able to go whichever way we want."

The inclusion of a Blu-ray drive in every PlayStation 3 unit has been cited as one of the reasons for the system's hefty GBP425 price tag. The premium Xbox 360 unit carries a lower RRP of GBP 279.99, but does not allow users to play next-gen DVD movies out of the box. A separate HD-DVD drive must be purchased at a cost of GBP 129.99.

Sony executives have been at pains to argue that the additional storage Blu-ray offers is also essential for games, as it means developers are freed from memory restrictions they may encounter on other platforms.

But according to Thompson, Microsoft’s "nimble" hardware could adapt to anything the Sony console has in its arsenal. He cited the 360's latent ability to output in native 1080p - a feature previously only available on PS3.

"I’d be really surprised if technologically, and we’re a software company, we couldn’t get to a situation where we can deliver whatever content we need to," he offered - adding that improved compression techniques and the ability to deliver content via Xbox Live would negate any disc storage issues in the future.

"This is about the architecture of the hardware. With the PS3 you’ve got a big, heavy truck that requires a big, heavy engine.

With Xbox you’ve got a much more nimble box that uses software in the architecture of the box in a much more nimble way."
Thompson concluded, "That’s the difference between us and PlayStation - we didn’t have a need to develop a really complicated engine to get Blu-ray players into the market. We wanted to deliver HD gaming. Judge us on what we’ve done."


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via Games Industry


High street retailer HMV has described Sony's decision to offer free Bravia televisions to the first PS3 buyers as "unnecessary", warning that it could be seen as a last-minute bid for positive PR.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz a spokesperson for the high street retailer said, "The stunt of giving away over £200,000 worth HDTVs, though great for the fans that managed to get one, struck me as being slightly unnecessary in the greater scheme of things - especially as it may have encouraged some of the more cynical media to think of it as a last-minute attempt to bolster queues and PR coverage."

The official UK launch event for PlayStation 3 took place at the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street last Thursday night. With just 20 minutes to go before the console went on sale, Sony UK boss Ray Maguire announced that the first 125 people in the queue would each be receiving a 46" high-definition television worth around GBP 2000.

"If Sony had that kind of money to spend I'm surprised they didn't just invest it in a truly memorable and fantastic launch event, full of theatre and special effects, like the one we saw for Nintendo Wii - which to my mind remains the benchmark for such launches," the spokesperson continued.

Sources told GamesIndustry.biz that HMV was originally lined up to host the PS3 launch event, just as it held midnight openings for the PSP and Wii. However, Virgin Megastores was eventually chosen as Sony's official retail partner.

HMV Oxford Street opted to host a special 'breakfast launch' at 7.30am on Friday, offering free copies of Virtua Tennis 3 to the first 150 customers buying a PS3 console, while other branches around the country did open at midnight.

"We've been very happy with the overall launch so far and with the response to our midnight and breakfast openings, including our Sega promotion," said the spokesperson.

Demand for the PS3 had been building steadily over the past few weeks, but it's really taken off these last few days as the media have become more interested."

zHowever, queues for the late night and early morning PS3 launches were much smaller than those seen for Xbox 360 and Wii - with many retailers, including HMV, attributing this to healthy stock supplies and the time of year.

"Obviously there's been relatively strong supply of the console compared to other platform launches, which enjoyed a major advantage coming out just before Christmas to become 'must have' gift items. So we're in the nice position of actually having some units for customers to buy off-the-shelf for a change rather than having to apologise for being out of stock."

According to the spokesperson, HMV is expecting to sell through its remaining PlayStation 3 stock "quite quickly, if this level of interest continues".

"Sony have a great track record in achieving huge household penetration over the course of a campaign, and there's every prospect we'll see the same for PS3," he added.

"Sales of the console can only grow - especially as more titles are released."


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via Games Industry


The latest stats for the Folding@home project reveal that more than 30,000 PlayStation 3 owners have now signed up to take part in the project.

The project, which kicked off earlier this month, is being conducted by Stanford University and uses the power of the PS3's Cell chip to calculate data. By utilising the Cells of thousands of consoles world wide, researchers hope to find out more about the causes of diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and cancer.

According to the latest statistics, nearly 40,000 PS3 CPUs are linked with the project - and more than 30,000 have been actively performing calculations in the last 50 days.

That figure stood at just under 15,000 on Friday, and has likely been boosted by new sales of PlayStation 3 following the console's European launch.

To sign up for Folding@home, which runs while PS3 consoles are idle, users must select the relevant icon in the Xross Media Bar.


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archeide posted a new release of his excellent Snes emulator for the Nintendo DS:

Heres the info.


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archeide posted a new release of his excellent Snes emulator for the Nintendo DS:

Heres the info.


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Spectrum Emulator for the DS updated again

Heres whats new:


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Hello all

As the DLDI interface means I can now load external files (hoorah! cheers Chishm) I've finally done some updates to DS81, the ZX81 emulator.

It now supports some hi-res games and includes a basic file selector for lazy typists who have short-memories for file names. There is even a simple machine code monitor so you can look all wind-swept and interesting on the bus to work as you watch Z80 opcodes scroll up the screen.

You can grab the files from the DS81 page here:

http://www.noddybox.co.uk/nds.php?I=ds81

Have fun.


Ian C ...