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Thompson’s Games as Porn bill to be revived by Utah Legislator

Can they just stop already? Le sigh. Another day, another video game bill proposed. Well, this bill is not exactly new already. This bill confirmed to be sponsored by a Republican state legislator is none other than the one originally crafted by the crafty Jack Thompson. You know, the “Games as Porn” bill.

According to Warchol of The Salt Lake Tribune,

Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka is remote controlling Rep. Mike Morley to introduce yet another bill to regulate those cop-killing video games. Ruzicka, who has been pushing this issue for years, told me today that the bill has yet to get a number: We are working on a language right now.

Apparently, Morley needs to build cred with the Eagles, because he is carrying a bill that other right-wing lawmakers are staying as far away from as possible. (I checked and Morley’s pupils appear to be dilating properly.)

… Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told me he understands the Ruzicka-Morley bill will be completely different from earlier versions, but, “They keep changing the language.” He says the evidence that Thompson keeps quoting about video games turning kids into cop killers hasn’t stood up in court. Looks like Thompson will have to call for Shurtleff’s impeachment again.

To refresh your memories (which am sure have conveniently tucked this little memory under the rusty, old bed in the cobwebbed attics of your mind, here’s what Thompson had to say about the bill:

[The ratings] doesn’t define what content is “harmful to minors,” so we avoid the phony First Amendment arguments Hollywood loves to make. The bill simply states: If you promise the public you don’t sell adult-rated entertainment to kids, then you had better be telling the truth, because if a parent catches you selling this stuff to his or her kids, then you’re guilty of fraud under the Truth in Advertising Law.

We’ll keep you posted.

• Porn game company to bypass ESRB, Sony, Ninty, MS; to create own adult game industry
• Clarifications on the ESRB Adult Only rating
• Gamestop ponders retailing of AO-rated games

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Colem for the Wii v1.0: ColecoVision emulator for Wii

There’s a new ColecoVision emulator out for the Nintendo Wii console from developer Consolius. This emulator is simply called Colem for the Wii. This is the initial release, so no changelog for now. The dev did post the following list of features and known bugs, though:

• SDHC support (build with latest libogc and libfat)
• Some incompatibility issues
• some problems in double buffering causing some corruptions in GFX.
• Sound to be improved in a next release…

And here’s the control scheme:

• “HOME” to exit the emulator at anytime.
• “cursor keys” to navigate up/down/left/right.
• “button 2″ to shoot (or whatever…)
• “plus” to invoke the emulated console’s Keyboard/keyPad (press “plus” again to swap the joystick/keyPad number)
• “2″ button again to come back to the game and/or confirm the pad key press.
• “minus” to go back to the ROMs menu.

Installation instructions are in the bundled readme file, so make sure to look that over before you try to install this on your Wii.

Download: Colem for the Wii v1.0

• More homebrew emulators for Nintendo Wii
  
• PSP Homebrew – PSPColem v1.2.0

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Minimalist Wiimote Mod: the Mini-Mote

And modder DHREK continues to come up with entertaining mod for the Wii’s entertaining Wiimote. Yes, he’s no other than the Hemp-Mote guy (though am sure he’d want to be recognized for much more than that ), and this time he’s back with a more minimalist creation, the Mini-Mote.

He’s emailed  us to inform us of this new release in his Wiimote mod showcase. Apparently, he plans to release six in all, and this is just number 2 of his releases. We’ll be keeping a close watch on your other mods, DHREK!

So, anyway. Back to the Mini-Mote. There are actually two parts to the tutorial for this mod. The first part of the tutorial  involves the building of the base, or the making of a trimmed down Wiimote base. Meanwhile, the second part focuses more on using that base to make the Mini-Mote and Nunchuk minimalistic mod. It’s very extensive so we suggest you just check out the external links we’ve included in-text here.

We’ll be looking forward to the rest of his mod showcase, but in the meantime, we can always have fun with the Hemp-mote and the new Mini-Mote.

Thanks for the heads up, DHREK!

• WiiZii: plug and play mod that lets you connect an HDD to your Wii
• Speed and precision: crossbreeding a Wiimote and a track ball
• Wikey 2 update v1.2 – new Update Blocker feature added

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Rob Yescombe: Free Radical bought by Crytek

As it turns out, neither Codemasters, Monumental, or those interested companies outside the video game industry were able to buy Free Radical Design. Instead, Germany-based Crytek was the one who ponied up the cash to get their hands on the Haze and TimeSplitters developer.

This comes from Free Radical’s Rob Yescombe, who confirmed to 1UP that Crytek had bought Free Radical for an undisclosed sum. Here’s what the scriptwriter told 1UP:

After seven long weeks of uncertainty, I can confirm that Free Radical is now out of the woods. We’ve been bought by a really, really good company. I’m so excited I’m lost for words. It’s the smoothest deal we’ve ever done. It all went through quickly, efficiently, fantastically…”

Yescombe also said that he’s unsure what the deal means for those who were laid off back in December 2008. As for Free Radical’s upcoming projects (1UP specifically asked about a new TimeSplitters), Yescombe said that they don’t know anything yet but more info will be given out in the following weeks.

I had already started thinking about the possibilities of TimeSplitters 4  running on CryEngine before I remembered that Crytek had sold the engine’s rights to Ubisoft. Awww. You guys also kept asking about Star Wars: Battlefront 3, so I did a little digging and found out that Rebellion is rumored to be developing it, although Pandemic has supposedly been attached to the project as well.

• ReSolve: “strong interest” in Free Radical, formal announcement this week
• Haze dev Free Radical goes bankrupt
  

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Wii Homebrew – O2em for the Wii v1.0

O2em for the Wii v1.0 is an Odyssey/ Videopac emulator for the Wii. This version hosts SDHC support, built with the latest libogc and libfat.

For now, though, there are some problems in the form of double buffering causing some corruptions in GFX. And the sounds will also have to be improved for the next release. At least we’re sure to get more updates for this, then — this is but the initial release after all.

Here are the instructions for installation and use. Enjoy!

• Copy the application folder (o2em) in the “apps” directory of the SD card (HomeBrew channel directory structure).
• Create a directory “/roms/romsodd” on the SD card
• Put all your roms (.bin or .zip) in that directory including the system rom (named “o2rom.bin”)
• Boot the emulator from the HomeBrew Channel.
• Select ROM and press the “2″ button.”
• Press:

• “HOME” to exit the emulator at anytime.
• “cursor keys” to navigate up/down/left/right.
• “button 2″ to shoot (or whatever…)
• “plus” to invoke the emulated console’s Keyboard/keyPad (press “plus” again to swap the joystick/keyPad number)
• and “2″ button again to come back to the game and/or confirm the pad key press.
• “minus” to go back to the ROMs menu.

Download: O2em for the Wii v1.0

• Neopop Wii (02-03-2009)
• DolphinWX Rev2069
• Fuse Snapshot 3
• Frodo v6 Commodore 64 emulator

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EA focusing on Wii games, bringing Dead Space to Nintendo console

As part of its plans to recover from the losses it sustained recently, Electronic Arts is turning to the most popular console of this generation: the Nintendo Wii.

EA CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that it intends to “rival Nintendo on their own platform” by increasing its focus on the Wii. “Nintendo is the leader; they’re getting half our emphasis in terms of title counts,” said Riccitiello.

A new tennis franchise from EA Sports and the fitness line EA Sports Active will be headlining the assault. The company will also be looking to snare the Wii’s core audience by bringing “core intellectual property” like Dead Space to the platform.

Concerning the Dead Space port, Riccitiello emphasized that it won’t be weak at all, although I’m inclined to believe that he means atmospherically speaking. “It is absolutely going to be the quality of fear factor of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions,” he said.

Hmm. More fodder for MediaWatch UK and other watchdog groups that want the Wii to retain its family-friendly image I suppose. I guess the Pfeiffer siblings will be getting ready for more name calling as well.

• Electronic Arts lets go of marketing and PR people in UK
• EA’s Need for Speed studio has massive layoffs; leaked memo to rest of staff
• EA expected to post US 111 million in losses

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Wii Homebrew – Neopop Wii (02-03-2009)

Askot’s Neopop Wii homebrew emulator is for the SNK NeoGeo Pocket handheld console. Originally based on neopopUK’s NeoPop/SDL , it was later on ported to the GameCube by the “Genesis Plus” team, and then converted from a PC based platform to run on the GameCube’s proprietary PPS Gekko processor.

Among its features are customized code to guarantee that you get the best gaming experience possible. This release hosts the following features:

• NeoGeo Pocket Color Emulation with sound
• 1-2 Player Support
• FreezeState support (save & load)
• Load a game from SDCARD or DVD (4.7GB support for Wii users)
• Zipped rom support
• Load/Save FreezeState files (compressed) from/ to Memory Card and SDCARD
• SDLoad or IPL reboot option

As for the installation procedures:

1. Create a directory named “neopop” at the root of the SDCARD.
2. Inside this directory, you have to create then a subdirectory named “roms” to put all your roms.
3. You should also create a subdirectory named “saves” where SRAM and FreezeState files will be saved

And the changelog for this release:

03/02/2009 (TheStripper):

• Added Wiimote, Nunchuck, and Classic Controller support.
• Changed some men text
• Created icon.png and meta.xml
• Removed Gamecube controller support

Download: Neopop Wii (02-03-2009)
Download: Neopop Wii (02-03-2009) (source)

• WiiHandy/SDL v0.2 Atari Lynx emulator
• Snes 9x GX 009
• Visual Boy Advance GX 1.0.7

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Riccitiello: Mass Effect 2 to be released on multiple platforms

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello dropped even more hints at Mass Effect 2‘s multiplatform future during recent EA’s earnings call.

According to Riccitiello, BioWare will be releasing the sequel to the popular sci-fi RPG “on multiple platforms” in Q4. I’m inclined to think that the “Q4″ here pertains to EA’s fiscal year instead of the actual calendar year.

The PS3 wasn’t specifically mentioned as a target platform, but it sounds likely that a PS3 version is in order. Heck, with EA’s new-found focus on the Wii, a Mass Effect title for that platform isn’t even that far-fetched anymore.

• Mass Effect 2 seminar at GDC 09 for academic panel, not game details; PS3 port rumors denied
• EA: Mass Effect PS3 rumours are “inaccurate”

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Wii homebrew – Pong2 v0.97

Prolific Wii homebrew developer wplaat is back with another new version of Pong2. The Pong reimagining now stands at version 0.97 and features the following changes:

• HotFix: Set start level to zero each game.
• HotFix: Remove typo on help screen.
• Release notes screen is now showing information fetch from internet.
• Added up and down cursor event to scroll through the release notes.
• Build game with libogc 1.7.1 and devkitPPC r16 compiler

Download: Pong2 v0.97
Download: Pong2 v0.97 (source)

• Wii homebrew – Pong2 v0.96

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Another Code: R available now for importers – new game info revealed

Nintendo’s usual ‘we haven’t announced dates yet’ rebuttal of my enquiry about Another Code: R’s potential European release hasn’t lessened my excitement for the Wiiquel to CiNG’s superb DS adventure. So it’s taking all my resolve not to just order the Japanese version, particularly as it’s available right now.
So I’ll have to console myself with [...]