This week's notable items in the iPhone gaming space include Pangea's particle arcade game Antimatter, Yoot Saito's (Seaman series) Gabo, and two newly announced titles from Gameloft.

Here are the top stories:

Antimatter in App Store
"Enigmo developer Pangea Software released Antimatter to the App Store, its first iPhone/iPod Touch title that hasn’t been previously released for Mac. Advertising the title as a “particle arcade game,” even Pangea has a difficult time explaining Antimatter’s mechanics, admitting, 'The game is so unique that it is hard to describe.'"

Seaman Developer Reveals Gabo
"As with Seaman 2, this iPhone title charges you with rearing a 'Peking Man' named Gabo, allowing you to act as a god and alter his island environment to influence his growth. Unlike past Seaman titles, however, you probably won’t use a specialized microphone to command Gabo. Instead, you’ll likely just use the iPhone touchscreen."

Gameloft Announces Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes, Hero of Sparta
"Hour of Heroes will use a virtual directional pad for movement, with elements like ducking for cover and jumping over obstacles handled automatically by the game. Hero of Sparta also uses a virtual D-pad for contextual options like hitting, defending, and changing weapons."

Developer Diary 3: Pay the price
"When you start the development of a new game, one day or another, you’ll have to face the following questions: What will be the price of this game? What will be our strategy to make a good game as well as a financial success? ... Developers are not only making games for the sake of entertainment, it is also a business, and people are living off of it."

ngmoco Prescribes Dr. Awesome For Next Week
"CEO Neil Young revealed that surgery game Dr. Awesome, Microsurgeon M.D. will be available on the App Store next week. Presented with Trauma Center-esque art and Qix-like gameplay, the title enables players to admit contacts from their address book as patients, and operate on them."

Touchgrind in App Store
"Illusion Labs, the studio that has seen almost 4.5 million downloads with its maze game Labyrinth, just released a multi-touch fingerboarding title called Touchgrind. The game allows players to use the touchscreen to execute a variety of tricks with an on-screen skateboard, such as ollies, shuvits, kickflips, heelflips, smithgrinds, boardslides, and more, along with combinations of those moves."

• Adjustments to make Public matchmaking faster, especially in the single player party and the four player party case. Some of these adjustments should be felt immediately and some will play out over several days as our update enables us to reduce player segmentation by reducing the number of servers required to do matchmaking. This will increase the number of possible matches available for you to join.
• A tweak that should prevent us from losing some of our additional detailed stats data that we gather for gearsofwar.com. Due to the large number of concurrent matches, our stats gathering servers were not able to collect data for every single match played. The Xbox LIVE leaderboards are 100 accurate but our existing stats web pages may have some missing data prior to the update.
• A fix to address the issue where some players were unable to start the story-based campaign if Xbox LIVE was down or unavailable.

• Co-op gameplay - adding better experience to your gaming
• Gears of War 2: get the Golden Lancer for only US 1,250
  

Check out this video that we put together to see it in action:

The Wireless Keypad is a Bluetooth device that can be paired with the PS3 and charged seamlessly just by connecting them with a USB cable. You can use it with the PS3 system as well as any other Bluetooth enabled device, such as a smart phone, that has keyboard functionality. Given all these user friendly features, no wonder the Keypad just received a Consumer Electronic Show (CES) Innovation Award. It will be available at retailers for $49.99 (MSRP).

Second, an AC Adaptor for charging the DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller, SIXAXIS wireless controller, Bluetooth Headset and Wireless Keypad will be available for $24.99 (MSRP) starting the second week of December. The AC Adaptor can simultaneously charge two compatible hardware devices that have a USB connector without having to turn the PS3 system on. And, it charges both the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000.

Unlike the PS3 controller charging stations that are available in the market, we wanted to come out with an accessory enabling PS3 users to not only charge their controllers, but also other accessories, such as the new official Bluetooth Headset and Wireless Keypad.

Enjoy!

Some gamers were disappointed that EA didn’t allow for Co-op Campaign play through the LAN network menu for Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3. A few were so miffed, they created a mod to allow LAN gameplay. FileFront has the Red Alert 3 Co-Op Lan Enabler Utility (1.1) with detailed instructions on how to install and use this mod. More information follows the break.

As we all know, Electronic Arts decided not to include Coop-Campaign functionality in LAN network menu of the game. We decided to change that - in result, you can now play any mission of your choice, with your friend, on LAN without need of being connected.

Turn off the game!

Extract “Ra3LanCoop_v1.1_TeknoGods.rar” to the Red Alert 3 installation folder.

Extract & Rebuild Campaign maps into LAN-friendly format using our home-brew map extractor utility which should be now located in “MapExtractorMapExtractor.exe”. Screenshot:

Run the game using “RA3Coop.exe”. This program enables you to choose a game version to execute, different language, configuration file, switch the window mode ON/OFF, disable bad language filter and switch coop mode ON/OFF, in case you would like to simply run the game normally. In the future we will also enable the AI difficulty settings, right now they are causing very heavy network desynchronization and disconnects. Screenshot:

In game, do not use LAN menu to play Coop-Campaign games with AI, use Skirmish menu instead.

For more information on Command & Conquer, visit Command & Conquer Files on the FileFront network.

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Related Articles at Gaming Today:

• Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 for PS3 Put on Hold
• Wi-LAN Files Suit Against Big PC Names
• Red Alert 3 Practically Confirmed by Second Magazine Cover
• Blimps Are Back in Style: New Screens from Red Alert 3
• Finally, Gameplay Footage From C&C: Red Alert 3

Doom! Dooooom! In a browser! Yes! It’s only the shareware chapter, and controls can’t currently be rebound from their archaic cursor key default, but what a proof of concept it is. Browser X-Com next, please.

I believe the old man’s been shoved rudely into Java or something before, but it’s very much a different affair for this one, as it’s realised in dripping-with-gaming-potential new Flash 10 format, thanks to Adobe’s Alchemy project - which handily enables programmers to use C and C++ code. Which in turn means it’s super-fast to load and run, dead pretty and should work on any browser/OS that Flash 10 plays nice with.

(...)
Read the rest of Dark Magicks: Doom In A Browser (76 words)

Posted by ento. | 13 comments | Donate or subscribe to RPS | Post tags: 3d in your browser, Doom, free
This article is from Rock, Paper, Shotgun. If you're reading it on any other website, they're stealing it from us without permission.

Of course, this comes at a price — $30, to be exact. A new battery from the England-based maker of Action Replay, Datel, enables users to put the PSP in service mode, reports Maxconsole.net. From there, you’ll be able to downgrade the system’s firmware, thereby allowing you to access all of those wonderful (albeit typically illegal) tools, apps, and emulators you’ve no doubt heard of. The battery features a convenient switch to allow you to jump between service mode and normal mode and functions with both the PSP 3000 and 2000.

The Datel ‘Lite Blue Tool’ battery is being released on November 28 for $30 in North America and $20 in the UK. A technical explanation (containing fancy words such as “de-capsulated”) of how the feat was accomplished can be found at Maxconsole. Those interested in picking up the new battery can find it’s now available for preorder from Datel’s online store.

Your move, Sony.

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Related Articles at Gaming Today:

• Third Generation PSP in the Works?
• Sony Talks Big about Hackers
• Sony Ditching the 4GB PSP 3000 Bundle
• Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars - Patch is Finally Here
• PSP Skype Headset Now Available, Finally

I’m not sure if I’ll go with Yellow Dog Linux or Ubuntu. Ubuntu offers more support than Yellow Dog Linux. But YDL is made specifically for the PS3. Anyway here are the primary updates to YDL, and it’s now available for download.

“For end users, Yellow Dog Linux v6.1 offers an updated Firefox and OpenOffice.org, a vastly improved graphical wireless configuration tool, and the introduction of ps3vram functionality which enables use of PS3 video RAM for temporary storage or swap.”

Yellow Dog Linux v6.1 Released

Tags: PS3, PLAYSTATION 3, Yellow Dog Linux 6.1

The recent announcement of this stunning Guitar Hero controller from Logitech got me thinking about the varied shapes and sizes of gaming interfaces over the past 30 years.

Logitech's Wireless Guitar Controller with its wood neck and fingerboard and metal frets will be one of the most expensive gaming peripherals ever released, but will certainly have many guitar heroes salivating and willing to "hammer on" some more damage to their long-suffering credit cards.

Today Screen Play looks at other notable gaming controllers released over the past three decades that have been designed to provide a unique new experience, increase comfort, assist immersion, improve realism, or just to help gamers show off.

I'll also be keen to hear about your favourite gaming controllers, as well as those that you hated because they caused blisters or simply didn't work...

Surely the most extravagant controller ever commercially released, this peripheral devoted to a single obscure Xbox mech game features 40 buttons, two joysticks, three foot pedals and a throttle.

There have been many, many lightguns released over the years, but Namco's G-Con for the original PlayStation is probably the most fondly remembered because of its reasonable accuracy and that it supported great games like Time Crisis, Point Blank and Rescue Shot.

An exact replica of the flight controls on the F-16 fighter aircraft, these full metal controllers might help bring the Thrustmaster name back to where it was in the mid 90s among flight sim enthusiasts. I certainly fondly remember Thrustmaster's early equipment - I had a joystick, throttle and foot pedal set-up to play pioneering online flight sim Air Warrior.

Notable because its analog controller facilitated two of the best games of all time - Super Mario 64 and GoldenEye. Sony's Dual Analog Controller (which later morphed into the DualShock) with its twin analog sticks took the concept even further and enabled simultaneous movement and camera control - a much more elegant solution than the N64 pad's yellow buttons. The N64 pad's unusual design certainly wasn't flawless in other areas, either - if you used the analog stick you couldn't reach the left shoulder button, and if you used the D-pad you couldn't use the trigger underneath the analog stick - but its legacy was enormous.

An exquisite racing wheel for the likes of Gran Turismo and SimBin's PC simulators complete with a leather steering wheel with force feedback, a six-speed gearbox and quality non-slip pedals that include a clutch. Screen Play still has a soft spot for the ColecoVision steering wheel, though.

Released in 1998, this motion-sensing gamepad worked well with Microsoft's Motocross Madness but wasn't terribly comfortable and soon sank without a trace until Peter Moore regularly referred to it when questioned about Microsoft's response to the Wii Remote and Sixaxis. "Been there, done that. Consumers said it was interesting, but there was a collective yawn from the gaming community," he told Screen Play in 2006.

Originally released with the GameCube's Donkey Konga, one of Nintendo's (surprisingly rare) rhythm action games, these bongos were also utilised brilliantly in platformer Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, with players clapping and tapping to control their monkey mate. Sadly, here in Australia Donkey Konga 2 and 3 were never released because of the poor sales of the original, depriving us of the chance to play bongos to Hilary Duff and REM tunes.

Now you're playing with power! But only a select few NES games supported the device and
few players had much success controlling the ones that were compatible.

Designed for use with Resident Evil 4, NubyTech released both PS2 and GameCube versions of this delightfully balmy controller back in 2005. The controller has all the standard buttons plus a motion sensor that makes your character raise and lower his weapon by moving the chainsaw up and down. It also has a ripcord and chainsaw noise to scare your mates, plus a handsome display case for collectors.

While otherwise very similar to the Sega Saturn's analog controller, the Dreamcast's pad was notable because of the Visual Memory System which slotted into one of two slots in the middle of the peripheral. VMUs were not just memory cards, they could play mini-games loaded into them by Dreamcast games and even connect to another unit to exchange data.

Manufactured by Namco, this unusual controller had a central swivel joint and was excellent for racing games like Ridge Racer once players acclimatised to its unusual feel.

To replicate the experience of the delightfully crazy arcade gem, Sega used ultrasonic transmitters to triangulate each maraca's position from a sensor bar. Surprisingly, it worked a lot better than this year's Wii version.

You'll find various snowboard and skateboard controllers at your local Cash Converters, but the Wii Balance Board's extremely sensitive pressure sensors make it far more sophisticated than similar devices that have tanked in the past. Astonishing sales of Wii Fit should ensure the board enjoys wide support well beyond the likes of EA's Skate It and Ubisoft's Shaun White Snowboarding this Christmas.

Beatmania was one of the first popular rhythm action games, but home versions didn't enjoy success in the West because of the size and cost of its dedicated DJ turntable controller. While over a dozen Beatmania games were released on PlayStation in Japan, we only got one.

An important weapon in Sony's arsenal for widening the PS2's audience, this set of four USB buzzer controllers with their irresistible flashing red button are simple enough for anyone to use. In addition to Sony's range of Buzz trivia games which explor topics like music, film, sport and general knowledge, the Buzzers are also utilised in kids games like Jungle Party. Wireless versions are now available, saving us the trouble of spending hours untangling the cords every time we want some trivia fun.

Released for the Dreamcast's Sega Bass Fishing, this controller had a built in motion sensor almost a decade before the Wii Remote. It could also be utilised for other games, leading to the bizarre sight of someone playing Soul Calibur using a fishing rod.

A mechanical system featuring a retractable cable and glove that enables games to track three-dimensional movement. Games included beat-'em-up Black Wind and Real World Golf. Developer In2Games is currently working on a wireless version as an alternative to the Wii Remote for the PS3 and Xbox 360 formats.

So bulky it caused some hands to cramp, few players could get their mitts around the original gargantuan Xbox pad, and it was thankfully soon replaced by the much smaller "Controller S" when Bill's behemoth came to its senses.

For millions of gamers around the world, this ergonomic disaster was the first joystick they ever picked up. And they still have the calluses to prove it.

The NES pad has become something of an icon in the industry, celebrated on t-shirts, belt buckles and all manner of merchandised tat, but the SNES pad was far superior: wonderfully comfortable, responsible and reliable. It also introduced shoulder buttons and the four button layout still seen today in PlayStation and Xbox controllers.

Atari was already in huge financial strife before releasing the Jag, bumbling from one disaster to the next. But what chance did the hapless console have with one of the most ridiculously uncomfortable controllers known to man?

Has any controller had the impact on the gaming industry that the Wii Remote has had? Doubtful. It might not be suited to all types of games, but the novelty and accessibility of this wonderful device has almost single-handedly attracted millions of players to the Wii console.

EL SEGUNDO, CA - November 18, 2008 - Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. and announce today that Karaoke Revolution® Presents: American Idol® Encore 2 for the Xbox 360® video game entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™ has shipped to retail stores nationwide. Featuring 40 all new smash-hit songs, including hits performed on the show, and several unique modes of play, KRAIE 2 enables players to sing and perform through a full season of competition to claim the title of American Idol. Contestants are challenged to put on their best performance as they must face digital versions of the famed judges - Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, who are ready to critique their singing performances.

“With Karaoke Revolution® Presents: American Idol® Encore, fans of the #1 TV show in America are given the ability to create their own personal American Idol experience and bring the excitement and competition into their living rooms. We expect KRAIE2 to be the ultimate must-have gift this holiday season,” said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.

(more…)

Mario Tennis: How to Play on Wii originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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