Wednesday, September 28, 2005

DSlazy V 0.2 OUT !!

We have seen the dslazy v 0.1 that patched files with ndsloader.bin, but with the appearance of ndspatch.exe ratx could not be lazier than ever, and so added it to his application.

So this is the link to download DSLazy V 0.2
http://l33t.spod.org/ratx/DS/dslazy/

Have Fun!

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Lots of Updates this wekkend Supercard + Wi-Fi !!!!!

SUPERCARD UPDATE !!

So Romman posted on the forums that the v1.51 of the firmware is finished, and will soon be releasing the patching software.

New firmware 1.51 is ready for you!!! [ Anon:roman ] 219.133.249.178 2005-9-24 22:20:49

Hi, I am romman, our supercard team has finished new firmware 1.51, and covert software will ready soon. And we will release them together.
New firmware feature:
1. Can save game to CF ot SD directly and automaticly. There is a .sav file with the NDS game just like GBA. But can save game to CF and SD without press any HOT keys.
2. Can run game more than 256Mbits, you can play any size games now.
3. Run NDS games directly from CF ot SD card. Very Very fast without loading the game in to Supercard RAM.


------------------------------------------------------------------

Wi-Fi Update!!

Well as an Anonymous person posted in the comments the Wi-Fi hack has considerably advanced to another level. Well done to Stephen !!










Field of work Completion Level
Receiving data: 100%
Transmitting data: 100%
Interrupts/Data Queuing: 100%
arm7/arm9 communication structure: 100%
802.11b implementation (arm7): 100%
TCP/IP [integrating lwIP] (arm9): 20%
API for other wireless functions (arm9): 95%

Well here is an update of the process scene, and as you can see , only the TCP/IP implementation is remaining.

Quote Stephen :
"I have now got transmit working smoothly and the DS has successfully associated to an access point :) From here on it's just TCP/IP integration."

------------------------------------------------------------------

So this is the end of the updates for now, hope for more updates soon.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

No news from RommaN but good news from Stephen's WiFi

Well last week I posted on the WiFi hack development, and now it's at 80%-90% finish.









Field of work Completion Level
Receiving data: 100%
Transmitting data: 85%
Interrupts/Data Queuing: 95%
arm7/arm9 communication structure: 100%
802.11b implementation (arm7): 85%
TCP/IP [integrating lwIP] (arm9): 20%
API for other wireless functions (arm9): 90%


As you see in the table above extracted from the original @ http://www.akkit.org/dswifi/index.html you will notice that it's more thatn 50% finished and as Stephen reported he is smoothly sailing from now on.

I hope he makes progress in this soon so we could all benefit from lots more hacks that use ds Wi-Fi, we could also be able to play online without the official nintendo Wi-Fi connection. As far as I know I will hardly see Nintendo's Wi-Fi in my country, so at least I will be able to play online if I want to using Wi-Fi hacks thanks to people like Stephen.

Keep an eye on Wi-Fi as it will soon make a huge BOOM on the DS.

Portable Sales Surge in Japan

Last week, while the Tokyo Game Show was on the minds of many, Sony Computer Entertainment and Nintendo released new variations of their portable game systems to Japan. Early reports from retailers indicate that both systems managed impressive numbers in their first week, with the big N in particular scoring big.

Game Boy Micro caused the biggest sensation, with sales of around 150,000 units in its first week, despite earlier complaints about a high price tag. The Famicom-themed unit (a version of the Micro made to look like a controller for the Japanese version of the NES) sold out in most locations within days of the 9/13 release and ended up grabbing 60% of overall sales. Following this in order of popularity were silver, black, purple and blue.

In news that's sure to please Nintendo's management, sales of the Game Boy Micro did not adversely affect sales of the company's two other portable systems, Game Boy Advance SP and the DS. We should have specific numbers shortly.

Lining up closely with the Micro's strong sales was Nintendo's unstoppable Super Mario Brother's Famicom Mini series (Japanese version of the NES Classics series) edition. The most popular of the Famicom Mini titles was re-released to coincide with the Game Boy Micro's 9/13 release (and also Mario's 20th anniversary) and ended up selling over 150,000 units.

Other big portable Nintendo titles, including Capcom's Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright in America) and Bandai's Tamagotchi for the DS and Bandai's Super Robot Taisen J for the Game Boy Advance, also performed well. Many older Game Boy Advance titles saw a sales spike with the influx of new owners.

Less is known at this point about sales of the PSP. Sony released a white-colored version of the system to coincide with the 9/15 release of Konami's Winning Eleven 9. While the system did see a sales surge, early reports indicate that it didn't even manage to top DS sales.

Article by IGN.com

DS price cut on the way

Nintendo has announced plans to celebrate the launch of Nintendogs by knocking a tenner off the price of the Nintendo DS.

From October 7, the handheld will retail for £89. For £99, you'll be able to buy a Nintendogs bundle - either the new pink DS with Nintendogs Dachsund, or the blue one with Nintendogs Labrador.

Nintendo will no doubt be hoping that the European release of their puppy sim will give the DS a boost in the war against the PSP, as it's already done in Japan and the US. More than 250,000 copies of the game were sold in the States in the first week after launch, and when we were out there recently we couldn't find a copy for love nor $29.99.

Article by EuroGamer.net

Animal Crossing DS details

New details have emerged of Animal Crossing: Wild World, the DS version of the hit Gamecube and N64 title that sees you taking of the role of a cute animal, living in a cute town and doing cute things.

According to US magazine Nintendo Power, you only need one DS cart for up to four players to live together in the same village - and indeed the same house, unlike in the Gamecube version.

Then it's up to you and your housemates to fill your new home with cute stuff and, of course, pay off the mortgage.

There's no Animal Crossing train station any more - instead, you visit other LAN and Wi-Fi villages by passing through gates. Loveable old K. K. Slider, who you may have seen entertaining commuters in previous games, now has his own nightclub where he puts on regular gigs.

Animal Crossing: Wild World is due out in Europe early next year, and it'll be one of the first DS titles to make use of Nintendo's new Wi-Fi Connection service. Can't wait..

Article by EuroGamer.net

Games will get cheaper

Activision CEO Robert Kotick has predicted that the price of current generation games will drop as our new friends PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Revolution join the party.

Speaking at a Bank of America conference last week, Kotick said: "You're likely to see price declines on the older generation software."

Sounds like good news to us - especially since next-gen games are expected to carry a suggested retail price of £44.99.

But there will be less new titles to choose from, Kotick continued, as publishers pour their resources into creating games for the next-gen consoles - just as they stopped bothering with PlayStation and Nintendo 64 development following the arrival of the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube.

"I'm a pretty big believer that history is likely to repeat itself," he said.

He also revealed that Activision plans to release no less than 40 titles for the Xbox 360 over the course of 2006 - nearly double the amount of current-gen Xbox titles released by the publisher in the year following the console's launch.

Article by EuroGamer.net

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Nintendo Best Friends Edition Revealed

A few weeks ago IGN.com revealed that Nintendo had registered Nintendogs: Holiday Edition with the ESRB for an E rating. Today, the company revealed that Nintendogs: Holiday Edition has been renamed "Best Friends Version," and is the version that will be bundled with two new DS system colors shipping this October.

On October 24th, Nintendo will release Pearl Pink and Teal DS bundled with a special fourth edition of Nintendogs. Each bundle will retail for $149.99, 10 dollars less than if gamers purchased the system and game separately. The bundle will also include a unique Nintendogs branded skin for the system, as well as a bone-shaped screen cleaner.



Nintendogs: Best Friends Version will feature all 18 of the same dogs within the other three versions already available. This version, though, will have a new list of six starter puppies: Labrador retriever, golden retriever, German shepherd, beagle, Yorkshire terrier and miniature dachshund.

Nintendogs, to date, has sold through nearly 1.5 million units in Japan and North America.

Article by IGN.com.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

A patching tutorial !!

So some guys are finding it difficult to work with the roms so here it is a tutorial complete with a link to the file.

No 1- Download the software that you need to patch DS games to run on every GBA Flashcart, from HERE or click Here and download the file ndspatch.rar .

No 2- Extract the files into an empty folder (preferably), and copy the CLEAN rom dumps/backups/demos there.

No 3- Drag the roms you want to convert on the .exe file ndspatch.exe .

No 4- You will see that new .nds.gba files have been created. These are trimmed and patched nds games, so if you have a normal gba flashcart use the files as is in .nds.gba format. If you own a supercard or M3 or something that is able to play it's own patched roms in DS mode you need to rename the file into .nds instead of .nds.gba format.

No 5- Now copy the roms onto your flashcart, and run them. BUT you need to have either PASSME/FLASHME/WIFIME/SUPERPASS available in order to run these games, so if you only have a flashcart but none of the above you cannot run the games, and will result in white screen.

No 6- To be able to save you need to copy a .sav file from a converted gba game(in the case of the supercard users) or a normal .sav file. Now rename the save file exactly as the converted ds rom you want to associate/assign it to.

No 7- If you succeeded in loading the ds rom play it as usual, but then the saves will be redirected to the SRAM, so you have to quickly turn ON and OFF the DS, boot in DS mode, and save the SRAM to the gba.sav file. (In the case of supercard users you have to go to the saver menu and select the .sav file then select yes and it's done)

No 8- I am not able to tell if other flashcards then Supercard automatically load the save files, but it should be enabled in order to load the save file in the DS rom.( For Supercard users just check the AUTO LOAD SAVER option from the OPTIONS menu when in DS mode)

NOTE: Not all roms patched with the ndspatcher work, save/save correctly. For example, WARIO WARE = 2 white screens, NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 + PGA TOUR= NOT saving, and NINTENDOGS CHIUAUA (US) = SAVING BUT NOT ALL DATA (because of some limitations in the saving)

NDS Patcher that loads DS games from any GBA flashcart !! Updated !!

Sorry for late news but I was formatting my PC.

Well a patcher for ds games has been released to patch DS games to load from any GBA cart. A great step forward in the DS scene, although you still have to use the QPC method. It also trims the roms, for faster loading.

Quote from readme - "This program will patch a normal (ie. not a GST release) rom to allow it to load from a GBA flash cart instead of the usual NDS card. It also attempts to patch the saving functions so that it can save on the flash cart's SRAM instead of using the NDS card's SRAM."

I have tested this myself and I am currently uploading the zip file on Filefront so everyone can download it.

Hope you enjoy it, I really am.

UPDATE: You do not need to have different ds carts for saving. I saved NintendoDogs with metroid demo in the DS slot, although I did not have a 2Mb gba save, it saved part of the data, but it works. I also tried NFS2DS and Ridge Racer, but they do not work.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

TGS:- More on Wi-Fi from Nintendo .

Speaking at the Tokyo Game Show, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has revealed more details of the company's plans to promote wireless gaming for the Nintendo DS.

"It is our goal that all consumers who purchase a Wi-Fi enabled game will try Wi-Fi connection at least once," he said.

Iwata confirmed that consumers will not be required to pay any monthly fees to play first party titles - the only costs incurred will be the price of games and the user's own Internet connection. He said that Nintendo has worked hard to design a system which is secure and protected from the kind of abuse that can come from anonymity.

A Nintendo-branded USB Wi-Fi access point will appear on the shelves along side the first Wi-Fi enabled game for use by gamers who don't have a wireless Internet connection already set up - which would suggest that third party wireless access points can also be used.

Online retailer Play is already taking pre-orders for the "Nintendo DS USB Access Point", due for release on November 11. The adaptor is priced at GBP 14.99, a saving on what Play claims is an RRP of GBP 19.99.

Nintendo has said that there will be two types of service to choose from - users can either find people to play against according to how they've performed in the offline game, or create a list of friends.

Neither service will support voice chat as, according to a Nintendo Europe product manager quoted in a recent product guide, "We need to be entirely confident that there can be no untoward activity."

Gamers will be able to play online for free at high street stores across the country, which will be equipped with Wi-Fi antennae. Nintendo is also said to be negotiating free Wi-Fi hotspot connections with leading telecomms companies, and looking to close the deal by the end of the year.

The supplement confirmed that Mario Kart DS will launch in Europe on November 11, with Tony Hawk's American SK8Land to follow soon after. Animal Crossing Wild World and Metroid Prime Hunters are due for release in 2006.

Article by EuroGamer.net

Supercard also works with GBM

Romman, officially confirmed on the Supercard website that the Supercard works with the GameBoy Micro.





Notice that I have put two different photos one with a Supercard CF , and the other with a Supercard SD, so that you see for yourself that both work with the GBM.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Some interesting NintendoDS Gadgets

I was searching through Google when I encountered some interesting NintendoDS gadgets that I did not know about their existence, yet until now.

NO.1 The NDS/GBASP camera ;




Features:

<1.1> Photo - Taking
<1.2> Photo management
<1.3> Memory management
<1.4> Connection to PC
<2> Built-in 8 MB memory capacity
<3> 640 * 480 pixel resolution
<4> Can save upto 26 hotographs
<5> Photos can also be deleted
<6> No matter day or night, indoors or out doors,contrast can be adjusted
<7> Colours include tend to blue, tend to red, natural and rich colour"
<8> 9 photos can be viewed on each page
<9> Photographs canbe viewed on each page
<10> Photographs can also be viewed one by one in a sequence
<11> Photograph could be backup to computer by USB port.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NO.2 NDS Solar Charger;



Features:

Uses sunlights to charge the NDS game console

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NO.3 NDS Winding Handle Charger;



Features:

Rotate the handle to charge the NDS game console and no need of any other power source.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No.4 NDS Speaker Amplifier



Amplifies the NDS sound using the speakers + they are also foldable.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The site from where I extracted these gadgets is FirstSing.com, plus there are also other products that I think you have already seen but I did not post here so it's up to you to take a look.

Maybe not all of these gadgets are in production state, but I have to admit that they are very interesting, especially the solar charger and the camera.

Takes time to patch your homebrew games/apps look here to save time.

Are you tired of patching all those homebrew games or apps with ndsloader.b to play them on your DS. Do not worry there is a shortcut. So Ratx posted on scdev.org that he created an application to patch the files with simply two clicks.

HERE http://l33t.spod.org/ratx/DS/dslazy/ you will find the file that contains the current files:- " screenshot.jpg, readme.txt, ndsloader.bin, go.bat, dslazy.exe ". Follow the few steps from the readme file, but it should not be difficult to patch the files.

Visit the site to download the file. Soon I will be uploading them on filefront, but you'll have to wait because currently there are some problems with filefront.

So have fun with this app and good work to Ratx

Reaching 10,000 clicks!

Since 14th August this blog/site has improved quite a bit, thanks to constant visitors that navigate through this blog/site everyday.

Right now while I am posting this article a total of 9708 hits have been registered, but after this night(or day) when I'll wake up tomorrow I will see a 10000 hits on the index page.

Keep in touch for Supercard, and NDS news. Soon there will be a BOOM.

Will Konami and Capcom Merge?

US website Bloomberg has published a report predicting that major Japanese publishers will look to mergers as a means of raising funds and combatting escalating development costs.

The report refers to the recent Namco/Bandai merger and the bid for Taito by Square Enix (itself born out of a previous merger) as evidence of a growing trend.

But not everyone is convinced by the findings - speaking to Bloomberg, Capcom spokesperson Ryosuke Tanaka pointed out that the company has not been involved in any mergers or acquisitions during its entire 20 year history.
Advertisement


Bloomberg is not alone in its predictions, however. A Cosmo Securities analyst has also stated that "Capcom is probably the most likely candidate for acquisition or merger out of the remaining large companies.

"The company is in a difficult situation financially. The most effective of possible combinations for Capcom would be if Sega Sammy bought the company."

Bloomberg also highlighted Konami as a prime candidate for a new merger, and Konami executive officer Michihiro Ishizuka said the possibility is already under consideration.

"Rising costs and falling profit margins will speed up consolidation in the industry," he stated.

"Buying companies with knowhow and infrastructure for online businesses would make a lot of sense for us."

Konami has previously purchased Bomberman developer Hudson Soft, and bought stakes in toy manufacturer Takara and developer Genki. The company also owns Japan's largest fitness gym operator, People Co., and is in the process of rebranding the gyms under the Konami name.


Article by EuroGamer.net

TGS:- Sonic Rush

By nature, Sonic Rush is a 2D game, but the title is filled with 3D elements that, while staying in the 2D plane, moved Sonic around in ways that break the game out of the flat plane and help give it life. The game is gorgeous, taking all advantage of the 2D style to blow out the graphic quality at full speed on both DS screens. You see little details all over the game, while the big set-piece Sonic features (the twirling slides and wild level shifts) overwhelm you. The TGS build did have some bouts of early development slowdown when we hit one or two of these, but the game should be full-speed at all times in the finished game. (A giant propeller that sucked in Sonic in the center of the stage and had no gameplay to it dragged the game slow, but we are thinking that this was not a graphics engine clog and instead a stop-gap for de-compressing level data -- after seeing these kinds of glitches in early builds of other games, we have confidence that the developer will have these ironed out when the game is shipped.)

Sonic Rush doesn't do a lot with the DS's key touchscreen feature, but it does make use of the double-screen set up uniquely. The game constantly plays across the two screen, but in the demo level here at TGS, it seemed that the split plane has been carefully addressed so that you're not always lost in the gap trying to play on both screens at once. The game mostly crosses over at big moments, and the level design rarely has you jumping from one screen to the other except when needed. This way, you're typically playing on one screen at a time, but you still see all kinds of things up above or down below that you know you'll have to get to in another play-through. The boss battles should also make use of the two screens for bigger battles once the action slows down and you can concentrate.

The level present here at TGS, for example, was a half-underwater stage that often played out the fastest sequences with the screen split right on the surface of the water. You could see all of the open-air up above, and there were floating mines all over that Blaze could grab to float to the surface and jump out to explore out of the water. The stage was filled with catapults and bouncepads to send your character speeding and flying through the game, and there were sections that were upside down that, if you were fast enough, you could race along the surface of. There was even a section that had us racing along the surface of the water, blazing to try to stay in the upper section. The stage had a nice waving water effect drawn across it, and though it's a fast game, Sonic Team didn't skimp on the details when you slow down. Small floating fish sprites floated through the water, and when you spun to jump, they'd fall out of.

Sonic Rush only uses some of the distinct hardware features of the DS, but we don't imagine that this game would have come together on another game system the way that Sonic fans need. The game is due out in America this November, so look for more on it very soon.

Article by IGN.com

TGS:- Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble

Viewtiful Joe Scratch!, as it is known in Japan, is in a word, Viewtiful. It's beautiful too.

The DS's moderate 3D abilities are put to their fullest in this amazing DS product, with full 3D on both screens. The top screen (at least, depending on how you scratch or set the angle) is a zoomed-in picture of the main screen action, while the bottom screen was the regular Viewtiful Joe action. It's dressed up with the comic-style animation shading, and character detail was fantastic and smooth throughout. World detail was also colorful and busy with polygons, with only some small concessions in texture smoothness (which we probably wouldn't have gone looking for if we hadn't watched the game for so long waiting in line for Japanese children to let us big boys play.) The framerate was nice and fast throughout despite having both screens filled with 3D detail. The only detail that marked this DS version out against its Cube papa was that the slo-mo sequences animated with some frame-doubling instead of the console's perfect smoothness. All in all, a dazzling display on DS.

You may see some screenshots HERE
or click HERE to read the full artcile by IGN.com

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Some WiFi interesting news you will enjoy.

You thought developers left WiFi apart, but here is a site of a Wi-Fi "hacker". See for yourself there is also a development stage design.

This is part of the developer's words on his project:

"The API will be purely exposed on ARM9, and will consist of a TCP interface through lwIP (look it up for it's api), a small raw interface to allow sending/receiving raw data, and a custom interface to poll for and connect to access points and other wireless networks.
As far as integration goes, it'll probably require a function to be called on init of arm7 and arm9, a function to be called periodically on arm7 and arm9 (via timer or vblank), and the wifi interrupt will need to be connected on arm7."

Click for Site

Some interesting DS homebrew Apps to try on Supercard while waiting.

Some of you have heard or even tried these homebrew apps, but for those that are not aware I will post the links to their respective homepages to find out more. Some of these apps are in development process, but do show something on the screen when you try them.

So here is a small list:-

DSLinux: this app ports linux to the nintendo DS system. It currently shows some linux loading code on the upper screen of the DS, while touch keyboard is shown on the lower screen.
DOWNLOAD

WinsDS: this app shows a GUI on both screens and is highly developed. You can drag, write on the notepad, play tic-tac-toe, and there is also a love calvulator.
DOWNLOAD

WindowsDS: this emulates WinXp on the DS, but currently it only shows a splash screen. (Sorry I lost the website for this if anyone knows what it is post in comments pls thank you)
DOWNLOAD

NOTE: I patched these roms with ndsloader.bin to make them work on supercard. If you do not know how to patch them read Here and scroll down to read.

Next Game Releases .

I navigated through DS Fusion and found a release list of the next DS games to be released this year.

Tak - The Great Juju Challenge ( 9/19/2005 )
Ultimate Spider-Man with Bonus! ( 9/19/2005 )
Wac A Mole DS ( 9/20/2005 )
Dig Dug - Digging Strike ( 9/20/2005 )
Trace Memory DS ( 9/26/2005 )
Frogger DS ( 9/27/2005 )
Lost in Blue ( 9/27/2005 )
Lunar Dragon Song ( 9/27/2005 )
Castlevania - Dawn of Sorrow DS ( 10/4/2005 )
FIFA Soccer 2006 ( 10/4/2005 )
Zoo Tycoon DS ( 10/10/2005 )
Trauma Center - Under the Knife ( 10/11/2005 )
Scooby-Doo! Unmasked ( 10/17/2005 )
Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney ( 10/17/2005 )
Texas Hold Em Poker DS ( 10/18/2005 )
Quad Desert Fury 2 DS ( 10/18/2005 )
Animaniacs Lights Camera DS ( 10/20/2005 )
Real Time Conflict Shogun DS ( 10/24/2005 )
Marvel Nemesis Rise Impe DS ( 10/24/2005 )
Sims 2 ( 10/24/2005 )
Metroid Pinball DS ( 10/24/2005 )
Scurge Hive DS ( 10/26/2005 )
Shrek SuperSlam ( 11/1/2005 )
Shamu's Big Adventure DS ( 11/1/2005 )

No news about the Supercard DS SD saving progress.

Four days passed since Romman posted the news on the Supercard DS saving for CF/SD cards. No software or firmware have been released, only some basic information e.g no different save cards needed i.e. only one card needed.

More news will be posted when available, until then I will try to issue some homebrew apps, and some interesting nintendo revolution things to keep you busy.

Keep in touch!

Friday, September 16, 2005

Well what I thought about SC was true then.

Quote from scdev.org forums from exzapel:

"I just read the front page, I can confirm this post is true upon speaking with romman about it. He said that he would just like to release them at the same time. But infact, the CF version of the kernel is done.

However, he said he wasn't sure how soon the SD version will be done and that it may take as little as a day or as long as a few weeks, these are not his exact words I mind you, this is the impression I got.

But he truly has confirmed there is a CF version done and an SD version on the way to completion and that neither will be released until they are both finished. I hope that I helped you understand the situation. "

by exzapel

Hamtaro on DS.

Famitsu Weekly has revealed that Hamtaro, Nintendo's cutesy hamster adventure series, is on its way to Nintendo DS - and for once we have the luxury of actually looking directly at the page to confirm that. It's called Totoko Hamtaro: Ham Ham Q.

Hamster-lovers (no, not that sort) have been speculating for a while based on retailer notices and scattered reports, but now we can actually see it for ourselves, which is a comfort - even if we still have no idea what people are expected to do with the stylus.

It's due out this year in Japan, judging by the big "2005" in the corner of the Hamtaro box-out, and it looks like you'll be gathering fuel for balloons, and generally smiling with delight as you do so.

Article by Eurogamer.net

Thursday, September 15, 2005

GameBoy Micro Part2 : The Interior

So we have seen the exterior design of the GameBoy Micro in Part1, and now we'll see the interior circuit of the GBM.





Thanks to PC Watch for the photos click HERE if you want to see more.

GameBoy Micro Part1 : The Exterior

So nintendo released the Gameboy Micro in Japan and on 19th September it's going to be released in the US, so lets take a look at it from the exterior and interior views.


These are the US packages of the GBM.

Now Let's take a look to its design.





Images provided by IGN.com and by PC Watch

Burnout Legends DS

Electronic Arts made it official that Burnout Legends is coming to the Nintendo DS.

No details have been revealed about the dual screen version of the Criterion-designed racer aside from a November 2005 release date. The game will be based upon the just-released PlayStation Portable production, which takes elements, such as cars, tracks, and gameplay features, from past Burnout games on the console and combines them into one racing design.

To view the latest screenshots on IGN.com click HERE

The Puffy AmiYumi girls head to Nintendo's new handheld.

Publisher and developer D3Publisher announced today that the rock and roll gals of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi will arrive on Nintendo DS early next year, following the Game Boy Advance adventure expected later this year.


Based on the popular Cartoon Network show, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi for the DS challenges players to use their touch-screen guitar skills to defeat enemies across the globe -- using nothing but the power of rock and roll. Players can help Ami and Yumi in solo mode, or join another player in co-op wireless mode. Along the way, you'll earn popularity points and even make a little sushi.

Article by IGN.com

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

No releases for now .

Currently there have been no firmware or patching software releases by the Supercard Team. No exact date have been announced, but I suppose that by the end of the week or maybe even tomorrow everything will be released.
The only thing that we know is that the last step they are working on is the SD part of the software/firmware and Romman said it may take some time, but we all hope this inconvenient will not delay the release too long.

More info soon when available.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Some Updates on supercard !

So, ROMMAN AND HIS TEAM or THE SUPERCARD TEAM worked out how to directly load and save from/to CF/SD cards. Right now they have finished the CF part and working on the SD part.

Well RommaN began to visit the english forum more frequently and gave some updates, yes because he is not in Canada anymore but in CHINA again. I think that everyone agrees with me when I say that Hong-Kong, Tokyo, and China altogether form a completely modern and technological world (I would like to live there).

So all of us (Supercard Users) are waiting for the final update that will turn our supercard for GBA into a NDS/GBA card. We never expected this to happen, but dreams come true sometimes.

!!CONGRATULATIONS!! to the SUPERCARD TEAM.

I will be updating every few hours if there are news or very good news, so keep an eye on supercard.blogspot.com . You'd better bookmark this site/blog.

Monday, September 12, 2005

!! AttentioN !! GooD News from RommaN !!

Very Good News from ROMMAN (If it's the real one, but hope so)

Quoting from supercard forums:-

"Hi, everybody, this is romman, I am back to China now.
Good news one:
We had succeeded make supercard save DS game saver on CF card or SD card. No save lost any more!!!
Good news two:
We had succeeded make SuperCard CF version play DS game from CF card directly, that mean SuperCard can play DS game more than 256Mbits. SD version is still in progressing..., we need more time...
We will release all the function soon with kernal update!!! "

Finally some response , and we heard what we were expecting to hear from ROMMAN. Now we will take the best from the Supercard, a GREAT product with great updates.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

New DS Titles From Sega to join Monkey Ball.

News earlier in the week that Super Monkey Ball was bound for the DS was enough to hold us over for many months, but Sega didn't stop there. The company has announced two other games for the system, and while they probably won't offer the same addictive challenge of Monkey Ball, they should command a following, especially in Japan.

First up is a DS adaptation of Mushi King, Sega's world-conquering arcade game for kids. Following up on a successful Game Boy Advance release that has already topped the half million sales mark, Sega will be brining Konchuu Ouja Mushi King: Greatest Champion e no Michi DS to the DS. The game is listed as an RPG, and given that it shares the same name as the GBA title, we're expecting a similar game. A Japanese release is set for 12/8.

The other new game is set for release in 2006. Sega will be tapping into the Doraemon license for a new DS game titled Doraemon: Nobuta no Kyouryuu 2006 DS, or Doreamon: Nobuta's Dinosaur 2006. The game is listed as an RPG, but aside from that details are top secret at this point.

These two titles join Monkey Ball (set for December release) and Sonic Rush (now set for Japanese release on 11/23) to form a strong DS lineup from the former Nintendo rival.

Article by IGN.com

Marvel Nemesis

This fall, Electronic Arts will unleash the first Marvel-centric fighting game for the Nintendo DS. The dual screen game, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, is based on the same game design as the title that will also ship on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and PSP, with the Nintendo DS version having exclusive features made specifically for the Nintendo portable.


Marvel Nemesis will feature 18 playable characters, each represented in the game's extensive storyline in Story Mode. Adding to the feature list is a Time Attack mode where players can work their way through an assortment of opponents in a set amount of time. Of course, the game will feature two player connectivity using the wireless function of the Nintendo DS system. The Nintendo DS touch screen is used minimally but effectively, enabling the character's powered "rage" move simply by tapping the screen like a massive button.

Read more on this game along with an interview done by IGN.com to Jai Kristjan, the game's producer at EA Canada. CLICK HERE

New website Format - Leave Comments !

I changed the format of the website to a more cleaner one. I would like some feedback from you about the other format i.e would you like the drop-down article thingy etc, and what should I add e.g calendar etc.

The site will be better than ever if you send your feedback in.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Ford Racing 3 screens + New DS Game

New Ford Racing 3 ds screens hereHERE

+PLUS+

The DS is establishing a name for kids games, mini-game based games and more adult-oriented fare like Nintendo's own Brain trainer title. Now Namco is combining all three into one with Kono Quiz Yarou!!.

This quiz game places you in the shoes of Kyuji Kaidou, a freshman at Kuizu Higashi High School. (The "Kuizu" part of the school's name is a pun on "Quiz," with Kyuji's last name being a pun on "solve.") Kyuji, along with other kids from around the world, take part in a tournament to determine the king of quizzes. At stake is a 100 million dollar prize.

Kono Quiz Yarou!! features both single and multiplayer modes. In single player, you select a character and work through a story which has you take part in a tournament. Each character has unique special moves. In multiplayer mode, up to eight players can hook up for both competitive and cooperative play. The game supports download play from a single cartridge.

Tony Hawk's American Sk8land

Back in July we had a first look at Tony Hawk DS, the then-untitled sequel for the dual screen handheld. The reason for the lack of a name was pretty clear after playing the game: the development team is clearly aiming its portable project in a completely different direction than the console sequel, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. The Nintendo DS and GBA rendition will be completely original designs that are based upon the existing, established Tony Hawk gameplay mechanics. So, this November, be prepared to say hello to Tony Hawk's American Sk8land on the handhelds.


The Nintendo DS version of Tony Hawk will utilize a very stylized art direction that will truly set itself apart from the console renditions. We've already experienced this engine in motion in a very early hands-on, and the game in that pre-alpha build was already running at 60 frames per second in full 3D environments, complete with a ton of graphical detail in the area. The game will be the first Tony Hawk game to offer a constant overhead view of the skateparks via the lower screen's scrolling map that shows locations and objectives.

For screenshots click HERE
For full article by IGN.com click HERE

Animal Crossing renamed plus dated to next year for a European release

The DS version of Animal Crossing has been renamed to Animal Crossing: Wild World.

Animal Crossing lets the player live in a town of their choosing as a animal, raising money through work, paying off a mortgage and watching the seasons change as real-time floats by.

Nintendo UK told Eurogamer that the DS version of Animal Crossing, newly renamed Wild World, is aiming for a first quarter 2006 release in Europe.

The date is no clearer than that however, but import fans should note that the game will release in America on December 5th this year, according to schedules at the UK arm of Nintendo's operation.

Players will be able to trade items, chat with each other and so forth, when the game finally releases. Animal Crossing achieved cult status on GameCube with its unique styling and ability to keep people playing till near-death in an effort to fill that stupid bloody museum with dinosaur skeletons. Not that we're bitter, or anything.

Doesn't look like you're going to have to wait so long after all, eh?

Article by EuroGamer.net

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Monkey Ball Set for DS

Sega's Monkey Ball is a guaranteed riot wherever it ends up, be it on GameCube, Xbox, PS2 or even Game Boy Advance. Now DS owners will be able to get in on the fun as Sega brings Super Monkey Ball DS to the platform. The game is unveiled in the latest issue of Famitsu.

Monkey Ball DS features the same basic gameplay idea as its predecessors, although a shift in control to the stylus ought to make for a different feel. The top screen displays the action in 3D. The bottom screen shows a 2D version of your monkey ball with AiAi inside. To move on the top screen, you scratch the monkey ball with the stylus. AiAi's expressions change depending on the situation.

The game will offer over 100 stages, some pulled from previous entries and some new. In addition, you can look forward to six party games, of which two will be playable by up to four players. We currently know of a hockey-style party game where you draw lines with the stylus in order to deflect a puck. The game will also have a racing party game with the top screen showing a map of the track. Presumably, this mode will use a more traditional control scheme.

Super Monkey Ball DS is currently 60% complete and is set for Japanese release in December.

Article by IGN.com

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on DS

Harry Potter's no stranger to the handheld market, as the wizard has had adventures that's spanned over both the Game Boy Color as well as the Game Boy Advance systems during his theatrical and literary career. But Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the first time the character's heading to the Nintendo DS, with a Game Boy Advance version in tow as well.

Though much of the experience takes place in a wandering design, we did experience a level that requires players to guide Harry on his broomstick through the forest to avoid being a snack by a massive, pursuing dragon on his tail. This fast-paced challenge was very similar in concept to the familiar Battletoads vehicle missions where players work up and down avoiding and leaping over obstacles that zoom in from one side of the screen. Both versions will also have a challenge based on the movie's Yule Ball scene, where players bust a move in a Dance Dance Revolution-style competition of timing D-pad and button presses to the beat of the music.

For screenshots go HERE for the full article by IGN.com click HERE .

Comments Updated for blog security

I updated the blog's comments so that a word verification had to be entered in order to post a comment. I did this to secure the blog from spam and unwanted content so it will be as clean as possible from unwanted ads.

I hope you are not bored by this addition if so please pass comments.

A list of Working + Non-working nDS roms with Supercard

Working:-

  • Electroplankton - 0kb

  • Need For Speed - Underground 2 - 64kb

  • Yoshi Touch & Go - 4kb

  • Feel the Magic - XY-XX - 64kb

  • WarioWare Touched! - 64kb

  • Polarium - 64kb

  • Pac-Pix - 4kb

  • Cool 104 Joker & Setline - 64kb

  • Asphalt - Urban GT - 64kb

  • Pac-Pix - 4kb

  • Ridge Racer DS - 64kb[Needs a 64k save cart]

  • Super Mario 64 DS - 64kb[for some it freezes after 1st star]

  • Star Wars Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith - 4kb

  • Robots - 4kb

  • GoldenEye - Rogue Agent - 64kb

  • Sprung - The Dating Game - 64kb

  • Polarium - 64kb

  • Daigasso! Band Brothers - 2mb

  • Ping Pals - 4kb[0kb when converted]

  • Another Code - Futatsu no Kioku - 64kb

  • Nintendogs - Chihuahua & Friends - 2mb

  • Spider-Man 2 - 64kb

  • Retro Atari Classics - 4kb

  • Another Code - Two Memories - 64kb

  • Tiger Woods PGA Tour - 64kb

  • Bomberman - 4kb

  • Madagascar

  • Nanostray - 4kb

  • Animaniacs - Lights, Camera, Action! - 0kb

  • Nintendogs - Chihuahua & Friends - 2mb

  • Nintendogs - Lab & Friends - 2mb

  • Nintendogs - Dachshund & Friends - 2mb

  • Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour [No text]


  • Non-Working:-

  • Pokemon Dash - 64kb[0kb when converted]

  • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory - 2mb[0kb when converted]

  • The Urbz - Sims In The City - 64kb[0kb when converted]


  • I had to change this post because some did not understand well if the roms were all working or not so I rearranged it to be more understandable. My apologies. If any mistakes please post comments.

    There is also a bigger list that is available at www.gbarl.it posted by zio128 just click HERE if you would like to view it now.

    Tuesday, September 06, 2005

    New Pokemon game dated ! Yet again

    Nintendo of Japan has announced that GBA and DS title Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon will launch over there on November 17.

    Chunsoft's Mysterious Dungeon series has been around since way back in the days of the SNES and sees you exploring a load of, well, mysterious dungeons, on the look out for handy items. And in this case, we'd imagine, Pokémon.

    MD games don't usually make it over here, but what with Pikachu and chums appearing in the new titles there could be a break with tradition on the way. More news as we get it.

    Monday, September 05, 2005

    Ultimate Spider-Man

    Last year's Spider-Man 2 for the Nintendo DS was one of the more successful and noteworthy games in the system's launch library. But if our current play with Ultimate Spider-Man for the Nintendo DS is anything to go by, perhaps we may have been a bit too glowing in our review of last year's game when it came out. Ultimate Spider-Man is similar in design to Spider-Man 2 but the new game has clearly been given far more time in the oven, and given way more creative freedom in the action design. We were able to put a bit of time in the final build of the Nintendo DS game, and we walked away thoroughly impressed with the direction the series has taken on the handheld.

    The graphic engine has definitely been given a boost from last year's game, and the art style now uses toon-style shading to mimic both the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book as well as the console version set to release day and date. Everything moves at a tremendously smooth 60 frames per second clip, though it did bog down once or twice when the camera made some walls transparent during transitions from outdoor to indoor environments.

    Ultimate Spider-Man also features two player battles using the wireless capabilities of the Nintendo DS, and in this mode each player chooses a character from the game (Spidey, Venom, Peter Parker…and others that would be considered "spoilers" if I said who they were) and simply try to beat the other person up. We played this mode for several minutes, and while it has its moments, don't expect it to be the selling point of Ultimate Spider-Man.

    Release set to late September so keep an eye on latest releases.

    Click HERE to see full article by IGN.com

    Another Nintendo DS superiority

    Still riding the success of a new red color in Japan, Nintendo DS won yet again during the week of August 22nd to 28th in Japan, with 57,313 sales to the PlayStation Portable's 20,322. Overall game sales for the week were a strong 113.49% of the weekly average.



    The top three game sales spots were Sony territory, with the new games Tales of Legendia (Namco, 242,371 sales) and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY: Generation of C.E. (Bandai, 118,343) at #1 and #2 respectively, and last week's release from Bandai, NARUTO: Uzumaki Ninden, at #3 (33,762)

    Saturday, September 03, 2005

    Attention !! About M3 !!

    On http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=985&topic=23185744 a member posted this :-

    Hi,
    Thanks for your concern about our products.
    We will have our agents in every country and district, and you can contact our
    agents for purchasing our products or you may buy it from online shops after our
    products have been put out.
    We will list their websites on M3 site.
    No need modify your console, just plug&play.
    Save in GBA cart and then save in CF/SD card.
    You Can play SNES games by SNES emulator , but it is not perfect. It is not
    concerned about G6, and that’s the emulator’s problem.
    In fact , we can make it ,but we don’t do it. Because the conversion file are
    very larger, and the movie file reaches 256Mb.We think 10FPS is enough and movie
    effects is good.
    Can support our own format rom, GST & clean dump rom. later .

    Regards
    Danny

    That means clean dumps are not supported yet.

    [Quoted fromalbrowne a member of the Unofficial Supercard site]

    Also note that it says 'Save in GBA cart and then save in CF/SD card. ', JUST like SuperCard and that it uses SNESDS, JUST like SuperCard and that it runs movies at 10 FPS JUST like SuperCard and that DS roms need to be patched to run on it, JUST like SuperCard.

    So check before you buy M3 if you already own a Supercard.

    Nintendo News