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To celebrate 20 years of success in the video game industry, family-friendly Nintendo is making its newest game system look exactly like its first one - only much smaller. A retro version of the Game Boy micro comes to the Western Hemisphere on 28 Nov, honouring the 20th anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System home console. The new Game Boy Micro base unit will be maroon with a gold NES-inspired faceplate, and will sell for around $99.99. It also will come with a $10 coupon that can be used toward the purchase of select Nintendo-published Game Boy Advance games. The Special 20th Anniversary Edition Game Boy micro is an anniversary present to millions of Nintendo fans, who 20 years ago single-handedly built this entire industry. The Game Boy micro represents the coolest piece of hardware in Game Boy history. It’s small enough to slip into the tightest pair of jeans, and at 2.4-ounces, light enough to carry anywhere. It’s a shame the games are still so expensive, ey Nintendo?

Originally by Chopper from GadgetryBlog on November 8, 2005, 4:37am

The loved/hated Yoshihiro formerly from WAB team has released a Sega Master System emulator which is a port of the MasterGear non Open-Source emulator.

Here’s what they say on their homepage:

Boutton :
TRIANGLE  : used in game to return to the browser and load another game
CIRCLE    : it’s the boutton 2 of SMS paddle & GG
CROSS     : it’s the boutton 1 of SMS paddle & GG
START     : Pause
SELECT    : Sound on or Sound Off

New :
GPU Full screen added for the sms roms
Stretch screen for the GG roms
and some Fixs .

..:::: soon ::::..
Speed fix at 60FPS with the GPU .
sound fix at 44100 . 80% done
add The sega sg1000 support . 50% done
add the coleco support (it’s a clone of the sg1000); 50% done

Originally by Griffith from Forever Geek on November 7, 2005, 12:09pm

According to this C|NET article, IBM has begun production on a custom chip that was designed in partnership with Microsoft to power the XBox 360 Consoles.

IBM said the chip features a customized version of IBM’s 64-bit PowerPC core. The chip includes three of these cores, each with two simultaneous threads and clock speeds greater than 3GHz.

The chip features 165 million transistors and is fabricated using IBM’s 90 nanometer technology to reduce heat and improve performance. The chip’s 21.6GB-per-second front side bus architecture was customized to meet the demanding throughput and latency requirements of the Xbox 360 gaming platform software, IBM said.

Now, call me crazy, but if I was providing a chip for one of the most anticipated gaming consoles of the Holiday season, I would have started on production a little sooner than a month before the console hits the market. But that is just me, I guess.

Originally by jeremy from Forever Geek on October 25, 2005, 8:32am

In countless Wal-Marts across the country, there are XBox 360 demo machines, giving consumers a first look at Microsoft’s next generation of gaming. Apparently, they have all been switched off for the time being. Why you ask?

There is a bug (imagine that) in the software that is causing interference with Wal-Mart’s wireless product scanners.

Microsoft has admitted that the console is interfering with Wal-Mart’s hand held scanners but has also said that the problem is minor and that a software fix is in the works. Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Arkansas has instructed all branches to shut down the console until a fix is available.

Microsoft’s statement says that their kiosk program has “encountered some minor wireless interference issues that are specific to some retail environments”. The Xbox’s 2.4 GHz wireless is much like that used in cordless phones and wireless routers. Since the implementation of these signals some retailers have had problems with network based stock systems suffering interference.

Originally by jeremy from Forever Geek on October 25, 2005, 8:36am

According to this article, there is a growing list of problem games that may not allow for the Sony Playstation 3 to be 100% backwards compatible.

SCEI has published a list of nine PlayStation 2 games and 38 PlayStation games that run into problems on the new console. The SCPH-75000 will be available in Japan from Nov. 23, and is modeled on the slim-line PlayStation 2 that SCEI put on sale just under a year ago. In launching the new model, SCEI is using an oft-employed sales-boosting tactic of making a console available in a different color — silver in this case — for a limited period.

Originally by jeremy from Forever Geek on October 26, 2005, 11:20pm

Bungie is claiming that Halo and Halo 2 will have an enhanced appearance on the Xbox 360.

Bungie’s weekly update writer says he is “Counting the days” until the release of Microsoft’s next generation console. He went on to write that, “First thing I am going to do is play Halo one on my HDTV… There is a very slight possibility I might play PGR3 or Perfect Dark Zero first. But then, straight onto Halo one.”

Originally by jeremy from Forever Geek on October 26, 2005, 11:38pm

This rumor has been spreading fast in the scene, so we decided to post this warning.

I got up this morning and saw an “unbricker” email lying in my inbox. I was impressed and followed the link to the post.

A guy named “12step” posted in the forum saying his method and Eboot would unbrick the accidentally bricked PSP, no matter what the reason and version it was. What a salvation!!! A couple of guys were yelling that this thing worked. This thing seemed really promising!

But after I downloaded it and checked the Hex code… “4D 5A” for the first 2 bytes… I wonder when PSP started to support Windows executive. You can also see the typical “This program cannot run in DOS mode.” I was curious and renamed it to .exe and… A winamp installer revealed its form.

We believe that one day a REAL unbricker will be done. But now liars, just stop hurting the unlucky users who has a bricked PSP even deeper. Let them rest in peace… or repaired for a 2.50 one.

Originally from PSP Sony PlayStation Portable - News Updated 24/7 on October 24, 2005, 12:13am

LuNcHb0x has released his LUA Blackjack v1.0 for PSP. LUA Blackjack v1.0 is a blackjack card game written in the Lua scripting language.

You will need Lua Player v0.11 to run this game. Extract the blackjack folder to the application folder under the Lua Player installation folder.

You can get LUA Blackjack from our PSP download section [here].

Currently, this application/game will only run on PSPs with firmware version 1.0 or 1.50. If you do not know which firmware version your PSP has, or if you need help installing this application/game on your PSP, check our Ultimate FAQ.
If you have a higher firmware version than 1.50 on your PSP, pleas check the information below:
– To downgrade the firmware from a version higher than 1.50, please visit [here].
– If you want to try to run it on a 2.0 PSP, please visit our forum for the latest 2.0 eboot loader [here].

Originally from PSP Sony PlayStation Portable - News Updated 24/7 on October 23, 2005, 11:09pm

Ryochan7, from our forums, has just released another (maybe the last) version of Doom-PSP. This is the fifth release of Doom-PSP v0.04 S.S. Here is the changelog of this release:

>

Compiled against newer version of the PSPSDK
A graphical glitch that periodically occurred in the other versions of Doom-PSP v0.04 S.S. has been fixed. Doom runs slightly faster now and the graphics have slightly improved.

Menus changed slightly.
Analog nub works in menus. Holding directional buttons now works to allow faster navigation through menus.

Cleared conflict with the default button configuration without config.ini.

Added overclocking feature
The CPU clock speed can be changed to run at 222 MHz, 266 MHz, or 333 MHz.

This release includes the eboot files for firmware 1.0 and 1.5. This release also includes the complete source code for this program.

You can get Doom-PSP in our PSP Download section [here].

Currently, this game will only run on PSPs with firmware version 1.0 or 1.50. If you do not know which firmware version your PSP has, or if you need help installing this application/game on your PSP, check our Ultimate FAQ.
If you have a higher firmware version than 1.50 on your PSP, pleas check the information below:
– To downgrade the firmware from a version higher than 1.50, please visit [here].
– If you want to try to run it on a 2.0 PSP, please visit our forum for the latest 2.0 eboot loader [here].

Originally from PSP Sony PlayStation Portable - News Updated 24/7 on October 24, 2005, 3:49am

Team Xtender has updated the information about PSP2TV.

This product will be released in a few days. Here is a brief summary:

- Supports Sony Playstion 2 Dual Shock Controllers
- Supports S-Video output and standard composite AV output
- Charge your PSP’s battery while it docks on the PSP2TV
- Supports wide screen and standard TV formats
- Supports NTSC, PAL, and NTSC J formats
- Includes 3 free PSP replacement faceplates including Platinum Silver, Black and Crystal Blue

This product is now availabe for pre-order at lik-sang [here].

You can also check the following websites for ordering:

China/World:
www.divineo.com
www.Hardstore.hk

US/Canada:
www.modchipworld.com
www.modchipman.com

Germany/Europe :
www.Gamefreax.com
www.heo.com

Spain:
www.bahia-systems.com

Australia:
www.quantronics.com.au
www.psp-shop.com.au

Originally from PSP Sony PlayStation Portable - News Updated 24/7 on October 24, 2005, 6:39am