Entries from July 2006 ↓

MaxConsole says 'TheGuy' has tipped them off with some previously unreleased Wii knowledge. They say the tipster has let them in on some more complete specs of Nintendo's upcoming system.

Check it out here.

*Update*

It seems 'TheGuy' was upset so many people were claiming this was fake that he sent MaxConsole some more information.  The new info gives details of the Broadway CPU, Hollywood GPU and the MEM2 (external main memory).

Now I've done it…

That's right, I finally went out and picked up a DS Lite.  I couldn't hold out for the blue version any longer and I couldn't justify importing it (even though I really wanted it).  So, yesterday I bit the bullet and got a DS and a copy of New Super Mario Brothers (which is great as most of you probably already know).

Look for some DS related post eventually. 

ZX-81, has just released a new version of PSP-FTPD.  PSP-FTPD is simply an ftp server on your PSP.

What's new:

- Fix the bug with DHCP on FW 1.5

You can download the binary for 1.5 firmware PSP's from ZX-81 here.

Somehow I missed the news that NJ had updated his CPS-1 emulator - again.  In fact, I noticed that this morning when beta 2 was released.  This version fixes some bugs introduced in with the beta 1 release.

Translated from the readme:

beta 2

-Fixed a bug where the controls for length-wise games did not correctly reflect the rotation.
-Added Service Coin and Service Switch to Key Configuration.

News and translation: DCEmu (download and forum thread)

QJ.net is reporting that UMD Tools have been leaked from Sony's PSP SDK. I looked at one bittorrent site and sure enough there is a file called umdtools.rar that was uploaded this morning. Who knows if this is what it actually claims to be…

Just remember kiddies software piracy is bad. Yar!

Massive Inc., creator of the world’s leading video game network and wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp., today announced that it has launched interactive in-video-game ads, allowing advertisers to engage gamers in new and entertaining ways. The first advertiser to utilize the new interactive ad unit is Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., with a campaign for its new 2007 Yaris sedan in “Anarchy Online,” a top multiplayer online game published by Funcom.

View Press Release

I've never played Anarchy Online but, from looking at some screen shots I'm not sure what the connection between the MMO and Toyota is. I'm sure the ad wizards from Massive have some iron clad "link" between science fiction role playing and the Yaris. There is a 7 day trial so maybe I'll check it out to see just how bad the advertising is. According to the press release the ad campaign is running in several games however, it doesn't state which ones.

Via HardOCP

It looks like NJ has updated his CPS-1 emulator already. The second alpha was released a little while ago. According to DCEmu the translated readme is as follows:

It corresponded to the game of QSOUND.
Dip switch inscription of the old game was corrected.
Japanese resource the file was added. Method of using is the same as NGEPSP.

QSOUND processing is light, is. To 22050Hz perhaps it is good. Sprite of the scroll surface does not draw with [panitsushiya]. The pattern where VRAM for sprite is not enough somehow. Next becomes beta, but you think that time is required for adjustment for a while.

If this version is still as good as the last the upcoming beta version should be killer.

Via DCEmu (Download)

NJ, the author of the PSP Neogeo CD and MVS emulators, is at it again! He has release an emulator for Capcom's Play System 1 arcade hardware. This is only an alpha so don't expect too much from it. My quick test of four games (1941.zip, 1941j.zip, strider.zip and unsquad.zip) went off with absolutely no problems. According to the readme QSound doesn't work at the moment but, since it's alpha test NJ might have it implemented in the next version.

Via: DCEmu (Download and Compatibility List)

This morning I noticed that an update to the PSP port of the WINUAE Amiga emulator was released. I've used the Windows version of WINUAE so I figured I might as well give the PSP version a try. The emulator does not come with the Amiga Kickstart ROMs needed to boot the emulator but, with some good Google searching you should have no problem tracking them down. Take a look at the emulators readme for details. The archive I downloaded from DCEmu did not have the STATE or DISKS directories only files with the same names. Since you need those directories for disk files and save states I deleted the files and created the directories.

Not wanting to bother tracking down Amiga games I decided to head directly to Pouet Dot Net and download the first Amiga cracktro that caught my eye. I ended up with The Immortal by Paradox. WINUAE expects the file images to end in a .ADF (Amiga Disk File) extension which the files on Pouet do not include so you'll have to add it yourself. After spending a good hour trying different settings I finally got it to run at almost acceptable speeds. I was using Kickstart ROM v3.1 for the A1200 (for anyone interested it's CRC is 1483A091). My other settings were as follows:

Frameskip: Auto
CPU Type: 68020
Fastmem Size: 0kb
Chipmem Size: 2048kb
Bogomem Size: 2048kb
Sound Emulation: normal
Stero: mono
Kickstart: 3.1

I messed around with changing the Fastmem setting but it didn't seem to do much in the way of improving the emulation. So far I would have to say that the emulator isn't quite good enough for general use. Cheers to Ric for the great work on this port.

*Update*

I forgot to mention, when exiting the emulator do it through the options menu.  Exiting via the PSP's home button doesn't seem to work. 

MaxConsole is reporting that Booster has updated his DevHook program to v0.45. The new update incudes the ability to launch homebrew direct from the emulated 2.71 firmware.  Meaning you can enjoy the use of 2.71 "almost" full time.  Check out the MaxConsole forums for the latest!

Download from MaxConsole