DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
DCEmu Featured News Articles
by Published on December 6th, 2006 18:23
via gamespot
What we heard: In April, gamers were pleasantly surprised when news broke that a Nintendo DS, Wii, and PC game based on the PBS art show The Joy of Painting was in the works. The show, which ran in the 1980s and early 1990s, was hosted by the late Bob Ross, who painted landscapes with "happy little trees" and "happy little clouds." Ross became a cult hero not only for his artistic abilities, but also for his soothing voice, brown afro, and amicable demeanor.
Little was known about the games except that they were scheduled to be developed by AGFRAG Entertainment Group, a small studio largely concentrating on PC flash games.
Unfortunately, the trees, mountains, and clouds won't be happy to hear that the game is currently in limbo. On the Bob Ross Game Yahoo Group, which the developers used to keep gamers up to date on the project, the following message was posted:
"AGFRAG is no longer involved in the development of ANY Bob Ross Game. Please contact Bob Ross Inc. for further information. Thank You." (emphasis in original.)
GameSpot contacted Joseph Hatcher, head of AGFRAG to confirm the message. Hatcher reiterated the previous statement, saying, "We will not be developing the game on any platform." Citing legal reasons, Hatcher was unable to give details of his company's decision. However, he did leave the door open for the game to live on. "We are not saying it is canceled in anyway," he told GameSpot.
Following his conversation with GameSpot, Hatcher updated the AGFRAG Web site with the following message:
"I'm sorry that we have disappointed so many people on a certain project. Please realize we did what we felt was best, with the cards that were dealt to us and the situation we were in. We have learned from the experience and we won't make the same mistakes twice. The companies we dealt with were
professional in every way and we enjoyed working with them while we did and appreciated the opportunities they presented to us. You won't hear anything about our next game until it's almost on shelves."
While it is possible that another developer may hop onboard, Bob Ross Inc. would be hard pressed to find another taker for what looks to be merely a cult project.
Bob Ross Inc. did not have any news of the game posted on its Web site as of today. Requests for comment from Bob Ross Inc. were unanswered as of press time.
Bogus or not bogus?: Unlike Bob's tranquil landscapes, the picture does not look good. Not bogus. ...by Published on December 6th, 2006 18:20
via gibiz
Apple's move into the console hardware market is 'a distinct possibility' according to Prudential analyst Jesse Tortora.
The research company believes that Apple could combine technology from some of its leading products to create a home console, supported by the continued evolution of its market-leading iPod device.
"We think the videogame market represents a distinct possibility for Apple, especially considering that it recently announced the availability of videogames for its iPod through its iTunes store," Tortora said in a note to clients.
"The game console device could be morphed out of some combination of the MacMini and iTV, while the handheld player could be developed as an enhancement for a future version of the widescreen iPod," explained the analyst.
However, the reality that hardware costs in the videogame industry are often taken at a loss, later recouped by software sales, would represent a real change of business for Apple, which has traditionally made profits from hardware sales.
"The videogame console market is notorious for subsidising hardware to sell profitable games. Apple would have to either rely on the sales of its games and downloadable movies to make enough profit to cover losses on hardware or figure out a strategy to make profits on hardware itself," said Tortora.
Tortora believes Apple's move into videogames would be taken to defend its position in the home entertainment sector, a market that rival firm Microsoft has recently made aggressive moves in with the launch of downloadable TV and movie content for the Xbox 360.
"There are no technical limitations to this capability, and Microsoft is already aggressively wooing the movie studios," noted the analyst. "This could adversely impact Apple's iTunes Movie download business longer-term, along with its iTV and video iPod sales."
Apple recently launched a limited videogames download service for the iPod, and has hired games developers specialising in both hardware and software, according to Tortora. ...by Published on December 6th, 2006 18:09
Given that these days, PS3s are selling on the resale market (e.g., eBay) for somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 or $900, someone in Japan stands to make a hefty profit. Asahi.com reports that on the evening of December 5, 180 units were lifted from the Meitetsu transport company's Ibaraki warehouse in Naka city (northeast of Tokyo), which should yield some serious dough, or whatever the Japanese slang for yen is. While this will only drive up the prices of PS3s in the short term (we hear 180 units is 80% of this week's production run), at least this good ol' fashioned theft was the type where no one gets hurt, or killed.
via engadget ...by Published on December 6th, 2006 18:08
Well whaddaya know. Sony just rolled out a global update for the PS3 this morning, fixing some of the smaller gripes with the console, and completely ignoring the only one we care about. Naturally, most people have been a bit anxious about that 1080i bug, especially since Sony retracted its initial statement about a fix being on the way, so instead of calming our fears with soothing PR statements or, perish the thought, actually fixing the problem, Sony is teasing us all with a re-org of display resolution hierarchy, moving 720p to below 1080i in preferences. Sony also added a BD/DVD image output option, for switching between automatic, RGB and Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr over HDMI. Slightly less exciting -- but still welcome -- are the additions of a utility to backup your SD cards, compact flash cards and USB memory sticks to the hard drive, and a HDD formatting option, to bring your PS3 back to spankin' new status. All that's great and all, but if Sony doesn't currently have 50 engineers chained to desks in Tokyo, feverishly working out a fix for this bug, we're not inviting Sony to our birthday party. So there!
via engadget ...by Published on December 6th, 2006 18:06
Divineo China have in stock a load of newly released Nintendo Wii Games, heres the full listing:
Call of Duty 3 USA version
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 USA version
Elebits JAP version
Ennichi no Tatsujin JAP version
Happy Feet USA version
Kororinpa USA version
Madden NFL 07 USA version
Necro-Nesia JAP
Odoru Made in Wario JAP version
Rampage: Total Destruction USA version
Rayman: Raving Rabbids USA version
Red Steel USA version
SD Gundam: Scud Hammers JAP version
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature From the Krusty Krab USA version
Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz USA version
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz JAP version
Super Swing Golf Pangya JAP version
Tamagotchi no Pika Pika Daito-ryo-! JAP version
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess JAP version
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess USA version
Trauma Center: Second Opinion USA version
Wii Sports JAP version
Wing Island JAP version
All available to buy at Divineo China ...by Published on December 6th, 2006 18:00
via cvg
In preparation for the European launch this Friday, the UK version of the Wii Virtual Console has just gone live, and blighty gamers will be disappointed to hear that some downloadable retro games suffer from black borders and significantly slower game speed than their US equivalents.
Among the games reported to suffer from poor PAL ports on the UK Virtual Console are Sonic the Hedgehog and F-Zero.
We tested Sonic on our PAL system and low and behold the game does indeed sport a pair of black borders along the top and bottom of the screen, but even more worrying is that the PAL version of the game runs significantly slower than the US equivalent, somewhat hampering its speedy platforming gameplay.
For anyone young enough not to remember, this is down to 1980s Japanese and American game designers' failure to accommodate the extra 100 lines of the PAL display signal, resulting in a squashed and bordered view. Back before the days of 60hz options, the slower scan rate of the European TV system also resulted in slower-running games.
Bizarrely we also tried out Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario 64 - a game that suffered from a terrible PAL port - on our UK Wii, and they both matched the US Virtual Console versions with no borders and smooth-running gameplay.
When we contacted Nintendo UK regarding the issue it was unfortunately unavailable for comment, but we'll let you know when they get back to us.
UPDATE: You can now see Sonic's borders for yourself in our screen and Mario's full-screen conversion as well (ignore the dodgy Mac button).
Screens Via Comments ...by Published on December 6th, 2006 17:57
The UK version of the Wii Virtual Console has just gone live, and we've discovered a few significant changes from the its North American counter-part.
Apart from the puzzling swap of all of the game graphics, the UK version of Nintendo's download service has one title that those chaps across the pond can't get their hands on; the excellent SNES platformer Donkey Kong Country.
However it's not all good news for UK Wii owners; the recent US update to the Virtual console which added Donkey Kong Jr., Victory Run and Mega Drive titles Ristar and Columns - with the exception of Victory Run - doesn't seem to have made its way to our shores.
Nintendo UK was unavailable to comment on when we'll be getting these currently US-only Virtual Console titles, but we'll be sure to let you know when they get back to us.
via cvg ...by Published on December 6th, 2006 17:54
In the latest Virtua Tennis 3 screenshot serve-up Sega has revealed some of the third instalment's wild and wacky mini-games.
According to Sega, the first game 'Drum Topple' challenges you with scattering a carefully built house of drums around the tennis court within a set time limit, with awards up for grabs for more powerful strokes.
There's no mention of the other two mini-games though; a bizarre looking giant-ball affair complete with various pieces of fruit, and something that looks a bit like tennis bowling. For now, we can only dream what those giant tennis balls are for.
Virtua Tennis 3 is out on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP in Spring 2007.
News and Screens at CVG ...by Published on December 6th, 2006 17:53
New details emerging on the PS3 version of From Software's RPG Enchanted Arms are telling us to expect numerous improvements over the already-released Xbox 360 iteration.
According to a report on 1up, improvements include the likes of the game's story benefiting from new episodes, graphics being given a lick of the soup-up brush to bring them more inline with the title's movie sequences and characters receiving a makeover. In addition, the battle system is being tweaked and there's significant work being done with the title's music - and apparently "a large number of new golems will be added".
Enchanted Arms, which has previously been described as one of the first true next-gen RPG adventures, hits PS3 and Japan in January 2007. In the game, you play Atsuma, a young enchanter who is living during a time of war and eventually develops into a kick-ass fighter and magic wielder who'll save the day.
via cvg ...by Published on December 6th, 2006 17:52
EA has released a few details on SSX Blur, the new instalment in the snowboarding series that's being developed at EA Montreal exclusively for Wii.
The Wii instalment of the much-loved snowboarding series was revealed last weekend on US TV, and if you haven't already you can watch the trailer yourself.
According to the publisher, Blur retains the series tricks and racing formula but the fun-factor is "amplified by the unique capability of the Nintendo Wii controller". It claims that the game features everything you'd expect from the franchise, "delivered in a totally unexpected way" and there's talk of the controls taking full advantage of the console "by putting you in total command of your skier or rider, on-the-ground & in-the-air, by translating every motion you make into the skills that create mountain legends."
"We wanted to take the soul of the franchise-the air, the speed, the tricks, the fun-and Wii-ify it," Alex Hyder, producer on the product, has explained. "You're going to see that reflected in the On-the-Ground & In-the-Air controls, the characters, the user interface, and every other aspect of this game."
Via CVG ...- Search DCEmu
- Advert 3
News Categories
- Links of Interest
Sony Consoles News
- Nintendo Consoles News
- Sega Consoles News
- Apple & Android News
- Xbox Consoles News
- Open Source Consoles News
DCEmu News Archive
- Advert
- Retro Consoles News
- PC News
- Latest DCEmu News
- DCEmu Network Sites
-
Menu 
Forum Stats
- What is the DCEmu Homebrew & Gaming Network
Catherine: Full Body’s English translation for the Vita