Nintendo 3DS shifts ten million units in Japan

January 10th, 2013, 00:01 Posted By: wraggster

Handheld reaches milestone after 98 weeks

Nintendo’s handheld console the 3DS has sold more than 10 million units in Japan.
As reported by Famitsu, as of January 6th the 3DS and 3DS LL have sold 10,068,192 units.

The 3DS has taken 98 weeks to reach the number, while its predecessor the DS Lite took just 61 weeks to hit the milestone.
In the last week of December alone, the 3DS sold more than 400,000 units.
The handheld console was launched in Japan in February 2011, followed shortly by a March release in March 2011 across Europe and North America.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...units-in-Japan

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Snes Emulators with 8MB Support Released - Zsnes - Snes Emulators for Windows

January 9th, 2013, 13:55 Posted By: wraggster

Some very interesting news in the world of Snes Emulation:

This program is an unofficial build of ZSNES, to bring it a little more up to date with where Snes9x is in terms of supported ROM sizes. Previously ZSNES only supported up to 6MB and did not recognize ExLoROM, but this build adds 8MB support for ExHiROM, ExLoROM, SA-1, and SDD-1. This build also fixes an issue in ZSNES with SA-1 ROMs larger than 4MB, where it would overwrite part of the loaded ROM data with the SA-1 RAM and some other table for character conversion DMA.

Download Attached

via http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/904/

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Nintendo finally ready to delve into free-to-play market

January 9th, 2013, 01:45 Posted By: wraggster

It has a reputation for resisting technology and business developments, but Nintendo has finally conceded to the logic of the free-to-play space.
It marks a notable change of tact from president Satoru Iwata, who in 2011 pledged that Nintendo would never venture into the F2P market for fear of further eroding the perceived value of games.
"We [as an industry] can now do distribution by digital means as well as micro-transactions, and the ways to obtain money through supporting entertainment have increased," he told Nikkei, as reported by Gamasutra.
"It's a change in our landscape; competing in game-quality, and working on how money is obtained, I think both are things that require creativity. Therefore, I have no intention of denying the free-to-play model."
Don’t get your hopes up for a F2P Mario or Zelda, however – Nintendo looks set on keeping its successful existing IP safely tucked away from such developments.
"If we were to talk about if Nintendo were to do that, however, I am not so much inclined to do that with Nintendo's established well-known products, where people trust their interesting-ness. For example, for people who are used to Mario games costing ¥4,800 or ¥5,800, we will not have a proverbial door to full enjoyment that can only be unlocked via payment."

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ninte...market/0108974

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Nintendo announces Pokémon X and Y for 3DS; simultaneous worldwide release in October

January 9th, 2013, 01:40 Posted By: wraggster

This morning Nintendo, in the ever-genial form of company president Satoru Iwata, announced the forthcoming release of two new games in the Pokémon series. Pokémon X and Pokémon Y will launch on 3DS this October, and in an unprecedented and very pleasantly surprising step, the two games will be released in all major territories simultaneously.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/nint...se-in-october/

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USBLoader GX rev1208 - Beta

January 7th, 2013, 22:30 Posted By: wraggster

via http://wii.gx-mod.com/modules/news/a...p?storyid=3167

Cyan just update the famous usbloader loader GX, now in revision 1208 on the official googlecode . This is a version considered beta, why it is not yet available for download but only official proposed on the subject of beta versions . Progress since the last stable version (dated May 2012) are such that it is strongly recommended to use the new version (for your information, I use version 1207 for weeks without the slightest concern, since 1208 and today)

This new build fixes and improved support for multi-disc games Gamecube (Dios Mios 2.6 required), but even more interesting, the reactive support waninkoko cIOS (rev17 21) to improve the compatibility virtualization NAND (some games is still not compatible with the cIOS d2x). It is therefore quite possible to install a cIOS waninkoko a free slot of the console, and use it in usbloader GX. During this release, the forwarder has been updated in order to work on WiiU . As usual, each platform has a version of its own ... so avoid mixtures. usbloader GX Forwarder UNEO 5.1 (Wii) SHA1: a866e346f9209b6d7d58e0826207a10d07c9dfc5 Attention! To install ONLY Wii. -------------------------------------------- ---------- usbloader GX Forwarder UNEO 5.1 (vWii) SHA1: ffeda78eea81c7905092766a57b52864719e6d23 Attention! To install ONLY vWii (compatibility mode Wii Wii U). ----------------------------------- ------------------- usbloader GX rev1208 - Beta Official Site: http://code.google.com/p/usbloader-gui/

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Iwata: Wii U sales are "steady"

January 7th, 2013, 21:44 Posted By: wraggster

Nintendo president Saturo Iwata has described sales of the Wii U as “steady”.
The company, however, has still not revealed any concrete sales numbers, although neither has it retracted its initial target of 5.5m Wii U unit sales by the end of March.
So far we know that the console sold 400,000 Wii U consoles in its first week in the US and 40,000 in the same period in the UK. It also sold nearly 640,000 in Japan between December 8^th-30^th.
So the 1m barrier has been broken. But UK sales have slowed dramatically, and if the same has happened overseas then the console it might struggle to reach its targets.
"At the end of the Christmas season, it wasn't as though stores in the US had no Wii U left in stock, as it was when Wii was first sold in that popular boom,” he told Reuters. “But sales are not bad, and I feel it's selling steadily.”
The exec did acknowledge, however, that producing two different Wii U models (the Basic and the Premium) was a “challenge”, with the cheaper SKU struggling to shift units.
"It was the first time Nintendo released two models of the game console at the same time and I believe there was a challenge with balancing this,” he added. “Specifically, inventory levels for the premium, deluxe package was unbalanced as many people wanted that version and couldn't find it.”
Nintendo’s share price has fallen 15 per cent since the launch of Wii U at the end of November.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/iwata...steady/0108908

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Team Ninja boss defends Wii U CPU, insists console is “definitely next generation”

January 7th, 2013, 21:38 Posted By: wraggster

Yosuke Hayashi, producer of Ninja Gaiden 3 and upcoming Wii U revision Razor’s Edge, has poured scorn on the claim last year by Metro: Last Light developer 4A that Nintendo’s new console was hamstrung by a “horrible, slow” CPU.In an interview to be published later this week, Hayashi suggests that 4A CTO Oleg Shishkovstov was using Wii U’s perceived lack of horsepower as a smokescreen – and that too much attention has been paid to the components inside Wii U’s casing, when the real appeal lies in what those components actually do.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/ninj...xt-generation/

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WiiMC v1.3.2 - Wii MultiMedia Player

January 7th, 2013, 14:46 Posted By: wraggster

via http://www.nintendomax.com/viewtopic...8c63e0fefd65db

Tantric and rodries offer version 1.3.2 of " Wii ™ ", excellent media player for wii. Successor MPlayer CE, it is recommended to install IOS 58 prior to use media that find USB. The update is automatic since the Wii ™ Wii if you have a wifi connection.

Version 1.3.2 released has-beens. Full changelog: Fixed YouTube (thanks jhb50!)

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BS-X BIOS English Patch v0.1 - Snes Tools

January 7th, 2013, 14:31 Posted By: wraggster

via http://www.aep-emu.de/

The author of the bsnes fork bsnes-sx2 created especially for Satellaview and Xband emulation has released an English translation for the BS-X BIOS.

Quote:
Happy New Year! This is what I wanted to do since BS-X Project didn´t advance much, I might as well do something.
So I made this translation patch, I call it 2013 version as there was one before.

Every text should be translated, in the exception of the Title Screen, St. GIGA screens, and I think that´s pretty much it.

Beta because it isn´t much tested, but so far it worked.

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PokeMini 0.5.3 - Pokemini Emulator for Dreamcast, PSP, DS, Dingoo & Wiz

January 7th, 2013, 14:24 Posted By: wraggster

JustBurn has released a new version of his Pokemini Emulator for Dreamcast, PSP, DS, Dingoo & Wiz


Portable homebrew-emulator for Pokémon-Mini.
0.5.x features a debugger and "sync cycles" option which allow improving performance (at cost of accuracy) along with many other features, improvements and new platforms


0.5.3 Changes

• Fixed command-line parsing which caused problems with lastest GCC

• Directory '.' no longer listed

• Configurations now save the directory of the last ROM loaded

• Improved support on color PRC (now works on framebuffer and LCD)

• Dreamcast Only:

• - Added read/write VMU support

• - EEPROM write disabled by default

• Debugger Only:

• - Fixed "Add watchpoint at..." in Memory Viewer

• - Added symbols list window

• - Added run trace window

• - Added "Go to cartridge IRQ" with ability to decode the address

• - Middle and Right click now set breakpoint/watchpoint

• - Go to address/IRQ now highlight the location

• - Added autorun .min after load

• - Fixed offset of CE jump instructions

• NDS Only: Removed real battery status
  
  Downloads attached

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FBZX Wii 8 released - ZX Spectrum emulator for Nintendo Wii

January 7th, 2013, 14:06 Posted By: wraggster

Oibaf has released a new version of his ZX Spectrum emulator for Nintendo Wii

The main features are:

• Emulates accurately the Original 48Kspectrum (both issue 2 and issue 3), the classic 128K, the Amstrad Plus 2, the Amstrad Plus 2A, the Spanish 128K and the NTSC 48k. This includes screen, keyboard and sound (both speaker and AY-3-8912 chip).
• Screen emulation is extremely accurate, so it can emulate border effects and even attribute effects.
• In precision mode floating bus and interrupt timing are accuratly emulated.
• Frambuffer resolution at 640X480 or 320X240.
• Supports Z80 snapshots, both loading and saving, and loading .SNA snapshots.
• Supports TAP (both read and write) and TZX (only read) tape files, supporting normal speed loading and fast speed loading.
• Supports POKE files.
• Supports ZIP files.
• FTP client.
• Emulates up to 2 joysticks of types: kempston, cursor and sinclair1 and sinclair2.
• All the wiimote, nunchuck and classic controller buttons and joypads are fully configurable.
• Virtual keyboard support.
• Emulates the Interface I and Microdrive.
• Emulates the ULAPlus
• Based in a new, fully free, Z80 emulator (Z80Free).

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3DS Parental Tool Released - 3DS Tools

January 6th, 2013, 22:47 Posted By: wraggster

Swizzy has released a great tool for unlocking the Parental Lock on your 3DS/3DS XL, heres the details:

****************
* Requirements *
****************
- Microsoft .net framework 2.0 or later
- a Nintendo 3DS
********************
* What does it do? *
********************
- It'll generate the master key for you to unlock your parental locked Nintendo 3DS
********************
* How do i use it? *
********************
1. Forget your pin for the parental controls of your Nintendo 3DS after you've locked it
2. go to System Settings (you may have to launch it in 2D mode)
3. Go to Parental Controls
4. Click on Forgot Pin
5. Click on I Forgot
6. Write "Enquiry Number" into the "Servicecode" box and click OK (NOTE: Make sure the date set in the tool matches the date on the 3DS!)
7. Click on GetCode this will generate your key
8. Press OK on your 3DS and type in the number then press OK again
9. Do whatever it is you needed to do once you had unlocked your 3DS
***********
* Credits *
***********
- Thanks neimod for uploading the original source code: https://github.com/3dshax/ctr/tree/master/parentool

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You'll enjoy Faceball on your Virtual Boy soon!

January 6th, 2013, 22:41 Posted By: wraggster

news via http://www.planetvb.com/modules/news...hp?storyid=359

A lot is happening at the moment related to Bulletproof Software's unreleased "Faceball" game for Virtual Boy, thanks to some noble souls going to great lengths to do great things for the community.

To make a long and twisted story short: an about 80% complete prototype of the game has been in private hands for many years, but last September, everything changed when detailed descriptions of said prototype had been posted on our forum by Japanese "Mr. G".

A bit later, the prototype had found its way into the hands of Virtual Boy enthusiast and PVB member bigmak, who has successfully dumped the cartridge by now and is going to release the ROM for free later this year! To recoup a part of the five-figure(!) sum spent to make all this possible, a special fundraiser is going to happen soon, in which people will have a chance to show their support for bigmak and receive complete, boxed reproduction copies of the game in return! Check out the respective thread in our forum for all the yummy details.

Even more goodness is added by the fact that substancial progress has already been made by thunderstruck in hacking the game. Chances are good that the game will eventually be completed by fans and released in a special edition. Find all the info in our forum here.

Unaware of the great things that would happen, elite homebrew coder DanB chose a completely different approach to let everybody enjoy Faceball: he coded a clone of the game called "Ballface", using the detailed descriptions provided by Mr. G. Don't miss to check out the freshly released first demo of this impressing homebrew achievement in our forum!

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Get a free 3DS eShop game when you buy an XL in Europe

January 6th, 2013, 22:14 Posted By: wraggster

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Lost Virtual Boy game NikoChan Battle found and being re-released

January 6th, 2013, 22:13 Posted By: wraggster

Planet Virtual Boy forum users stumbled on a copy of the unreleased Faceballgame for Virtual Boy. Known as NikoChan Battle in Japan, iterations of the game were published on a number of platforms by Bullet-Proof Software, including Game Boy and SNES.

Those looking to add the rare game to their collection are in luck; reproduction cartridges for Virtual Boy will be released in February for $100, while the ROM of the game will be free to download.
http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newb...mode=0&start=0

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New Super Mario Bros. U - a whole new world?

January 6th, 2013, 22:12 Posted By: wraggster

One of the big highlights of the holidays would undoubtedly be the arrival of Nintendo's Wii U launch title, New Super Mario Bros. U - a reprisal of a familiar formula that now lets us crank the player count up to five, and also play the game solely via the GamePad's LCD. As if to imply the tussle of the Wii version's multiplayer mode wasn't manic enough already, this new release allows a fifth person to lay down platforms via the touch screen, delay the march of Koopa Troopers, and even reveal secret 3-Up blocks to the other four players. Of course, there's nothing to stop them abusing their new-found powers, supposing they've just had a rough day at the office.It's a sightly game too, brimming with bright, pastel-coloured stages and with an image quality that has been greatly clarified by the Wii U's digital HDMI output. Indeed, Mario Bros. U also marks the first title in the series to reap the benefits of a bump to 1280x720 native resolution, which, in practical terms, makes it far easier to decipher the on-screen action once the camera pans all the way out. With that 640x480 resolution barrier removed, we can see Nintendo's worlds and characters in all their splendour - but it also means there's little it can hide.The canon of "New" 2D Mario games takes pride in its simple-but-effective visual design and even running the preceding New Super Mario Bros. Wii through the Dolphin emulator at 1080p produces impressive results. However, considering the technological gap between that release and the latest Wii U version, we'd hope that Nintendo has developed the visuals of the game beyond a resolution bump alone - perhaps with an increase in character detail, higher resolution textures, or additional effects. It begs the question: have changes been made this time around, and if not, where might Nintendo have dug its heels in?To answer this, we've put our experimental hats on over the holiday break, and captured stages from New Super Mario Bros. U, before proceeding to pair them against similar stages in the Wii version. The idea is to look at asset quality alone in comparable instances and so, for the sake of visibility, we've captured the Wii version running through the Dolphin emulator at a matching 1280x720 resolution.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/di...ros-u-analysis

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Wii U launch disappoints, says analyst

January 6th, 2013, 21:25 Posted By: wraggster

Sterne Agee industry watcher says Nintendo's latest hasn't lived up to already-low expectations
The Wii U's first holiday season has been a disappointment, according to Sterne Agee's Arvind Bhatia. In a note to GameStop investors previewing the company's holiday sales report next week, Bhatia said Nintendo's new console hasn't been living up to expectations.
Bhatia said Sterne Agee checks suggested the Wii U has been easily available at retailers, with the $349 Deluxe bundle proving more popular than the $299 Basic configuration. He added that the Wii U's software attach rate has been poor as well.
"Our conclusion is the Nintendo Wii U launch has been slightly disappointing," Bhatia said. "Keep in mind investor expectations with respect to Wii U were already fairly low going into the launch."
As for GameStop's holiday haul, Bhatia expects it to be in line with the company's same-store sales guidance between -7 percent and +1 percent. He said that Call of Duty: Black Ops II has been tracking below last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but added that Assassin's Creed III and Halo 4 have performed well for the retailer. Looking ahead, Bhatia expects GameStop to benefit from an industry-wide rebound driven by easy comparisons, more high quality games, and new consoles. Bhatia said there was a high probability Microsoft and Sony will launch their new systems in 2013, with October and November given as a likely launch window.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...s-says-analyst

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Turning a Raspberry Pi into an SNES

January 6th, 2013, 21:23 Posted By: wraggster


Back at the turn of the century, shoving MiniITX motherboards into just about everything was all the rage with the technologist crowd. [waterbury] had the idea of making a computer out of an SNES, but with the added ability of reading SNES cartridges. This idea had been floating around in [waterbury]‘s head for years now, and with a Raspberry Pi he can finally make his project a reality.
After desoldering a cartridge connector from an original SNES, [waterbury] plugged it in to a piece of perf board and started to figure out how to actually read the cartridge. An SNES cartridge need 16 address pins, 8 data pins, 8 bank control pins and 4 other control pins to be read; a total of 36 pins that [waterbury] accessed with the help of a neat I/O expander and a whole bunch of level converters.
[waterbury] accessed these data, address, and control lines via the Raspberry Pi’s I2C interface, a non-trivial task that took 70 minutes to read Donkey Kong Country before he found a way to speed up the Raspi by a factor of two. You can check out [waterbury]‘s complete project – able to read cartridges and play roms with EmulationStation after the break. Also, the code for the cart reader is available on [waterbury]‘s git

http://hackaday.com/2013/01/04/turni...es/#more-92575

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Analyst: GameStop's Wii U sales were "below expectations"

January 6th, 2013, 21:18 Posted By: wraggster

Sales of Wii U hardware and software failed to meet expectations at leading US games retailer GameStop, an analyst has claimed.
Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia claimed that the disappointment was despite an “abundance” of stock,GameSpot reports. Software attach rates are also said to be low.
Bhatia adds that the high-end $350 Premium Wii U SKU has sold better than the entry-level $300 Basic pack, presuming that consumers are finding it to offer “better value”.
"Our conclusion is the Nintendo Wii U launch has been slightly disappointing," Bhatia stated.
The Wii U launched to week one sales of 400k units in the US, 309k in Japan and 40k in the UK. However, since then sales have fallen dramatically in key territories while sales in other regions have not been revealed.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/analy...ations/0108850

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Pre-owned Wii U consoles can access former owner's downloads - report

January 6th, 2013, 21:14 Posted By: wraggster

Claims are circulating that pre-owned Wii U consoles are able to access digital content purchased by the machine’s previous owner.
Eurogamer reports that even machines whose hard drives have been wiped and accounts removed are still susceptible to the loophole.
Speculation suggests that the problems stems from the fact that the licenses for digital games are tied to an individual console rather a user’s account. This is why any user of a Wii U is able to access content downloaded by another user on the same machine.
Retail could theoretically use this to sell pre-owned consoles loaded with digital content.
Nintendo of America has confirmed that it is able to transfer Wii U licenses from one machine to another (which is vital should an owner’s machine break and need to be replaced) but there’s no word yet on such a service being rolled out into other territories.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/pre-o...report/0108859

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