Major Nelson has updated his blog entry regarding the multiplayer over Live aspect of the Perfect Dark Zero demo. As per the Major, the demo does in fact support multiplayer over Live. More specifically;

""Outpost, the story mode level included in the Demo, is playable co-op over Live. Plaza (a new map included in the upcoming DLC) is playable over Live in Team Killcount and Infection game types. (Bots are included in both game modes.) The disabled Live features are Leaderboards and Custom Match. Quick Match works for both game types" - Major Nelson

Posted by nylatenite at 9:53 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 26 May 2006 9:54 AM EDT

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The second intermediate version of MAME v.106 has been released on the public. If you like to use the intermediate updates, head over to Mamedev.org and get the new files. A word of caution though, the latest build starts an overhaul of MAME's video system, and as a result there may be many bugs and broken games. Per the MAME what's new file;

"IMPORTANT NOTE: The video system in this version has been completely upended and redesigned. The old video system is still the default; however, some features may be broken. These are not bug-worthy reports, as the old system will soon be deprecated. The new system can be compiled by setting the NEW_RENDER flag on in the makefile.

THE NEW SYSTEM IS STILL WORK-IN-PROGRESS! Apart from video card- related issues (like it doesn't work on particular hardware or has an incorrect display), bugs are not being tracked at this time. There is already a laundry list of things that are broken at the top of render.c, and there are many other things that still need to be looked at.

In order to run the new video system with hardware acceleration, your machine will require DirectX 8 or later." - MAME V.106U2 What's New file

At this point, we'd like to once again suggest that you take the MAME development team's advice and stick with V.106 proper unless you really want to test out the changes. Click here to see what's new in this update.

Posted by nylatenite at 1:40 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 26 May 2006 1:42 AM EDT

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Gamespot is reporting that Nintendo may have a few more tricks up it's sleeve when it comes to the Wiimote. According to an article posted today, Nintendo has taken out the domain name "wiikaraoke.com" sparking rumors that in addition to there being a speaker built into the Wii's remote control, there will also be some type of microphone. From there, it's only a short jump to the possibility that the Wii could offer Voice over IP features as well. To quote the Gamespot article;

"Besides karaoke games, the obvious application for a Wii-mote-mic would be a voice commands a la Nintendogs or Odama. However, some sites have gone one step further. A string of reports tracing back to a MegaGames.com article speculates that, with the Wii's built-in wireless internet functionality, the Wii-mote could support voice-over IP. That would give it functionality like an Xbox Live headset and could allow it to be used like a phone. As Yanko notes, that would be a very big draw to non-gamers indeed." - Gamespot

Click here to head on over to Gamespot and get the full story. The Wii saga certainly is getting more and more interesting.

Posted by nylatenite at 1:31 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 26 May 2006 1:32 AM EDT

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Nintendo of America's Vice President of Sales & Marketing and E3 showman Reggie Fils-Aime has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America. In addition to his new task of overseeing day to day operations at Nintendo of America, File-Aimes will continue to be directly in charge of the sales and marketing divisions. I'm sure we all wish Reggie the best in his new position and hope for his continued success in being about kicking ass, taking names and making games.

Posted by nylatenite at 1:18 AM EDT

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Kotaku has gotten a scoop from Microsoft on the features in the upcoming Xbox 360 Dashboard update due to hit sometime next week. The biggest things to note in the update are;

1. The much desired Background Download Manager will finally be released, freeing your 360 to do tasks other than multiplayer gaming while a Live Marketplace download is in progress.
2. You will now be able to specify if you want your Xbox 360 to boot either the media in the drive or directly to the dashboard at startup.
3. A general reorganizing of the layout of the Live Marketplace.
4. The download is a Xbox 360 firmware update, so you do not need a hard drive to obtain it. Just speculation on my part, but I'm quite sure there's also something in there to kill that Xbox 360 backup game hack.

Beyond those items, there will also be enhancements made to the systems for DVD playback and photo viewing, support for the Xbox 360 Vision camera and new friends list features. Click here for the full article from Kotaku.

Posted by nylatenite at 1:06 AM EDT

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In his blog, Xbox Live's Major Nelson has advised that a demo of Perfect Dark Zero is now available in the Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo features both single player and co-op modes, but does not support multiplayer games via Xbox Live.

Posted by nylatenite at 3:38 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 25 May 2006 3:41 PM EDT

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Eurogamer has published a response by Jennie Kong, a Sony UK spokesperson stating that the rumor about Sony looking to restrict the sale of used games is false. To quote the Eurogamer article;

""However, a Sony Computer Entertainment UK spokesperson today outright denied that any such message had been conveyed to retailers - telling GI.biz that following conversations with the firm's European parent company, neither division has "any knowledge" of such a strategy.

"We have definitely not been communicating that," UK spokesperson Jennie Kong confirmed. "It's false speculation. We don't have any further knowledge about this topic - either officially or unofficially, to be frank." - Eurogamer Article

So there you have it folks, Sony goes on the record with more than the regular "We don't comment on rumors" statement and flatly denies the story. From the way the statement from Ms. Kong is worded, it almost sounds like Sony is beginning to get a little tired of the constant negative rumors surrounding the console. Click here to head over to the Eurogamer article.

Posted by nylatenite at 1:24 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 25 May 2006 1:28 PM EDT

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Kotaku is reporting that at their press conference for fiscal year 2005, a reporter asked Nintendo what the price of the Wii console would be. While Nintendo stated that they would not be announcing a price or release date until a later date, they added that there were no plans to price the console for over 25,000 Yen (approximately $222 U.S.). Nintendo also added that they expected to sell 6 million Wii consoles and 17 million Wii games by March of 2007. Click here to head over to Kotaku for all the pertinent details.

UPDATE 1: It now appears that Nintendo has further clarified the matter by stating that the Wii will not exceed 25,000 Yen in Japan or $250 in the United States. We've corrected the headline to this story accordingly.

Posted by nylatenite at 8:01 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 25 May 2006 11:23 AM EDT

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Gamespot is reporting that Valve has announced that the much anticipated expansion to Half Life 2, the colorfully named, Half Life 2: Episode One has finally gone gold and will be shipping on June 1st. As if that wasn't enough news to make Half Life fanatics jump for joy, they also gave a rough figure of "later this year" for the expected release of the Half Life 2: Episode Two expansion, and confirmed the existence of Half Life 2: Episode Three for a Holiday 2007 release. I bet they agonized for weeks over what to call each expansion... "do we call it, four even though it's the third?", etc. Insert your own Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch joke here.

Half Life 2: Episode One will retail for $19.99 via both Valve's Steam download service and in retail box form distributed by Electronic Arts. Most interestingly, Episode One will not require buyers to own Half Life 2. Gamespot summed up the situation in Episode One this way;

"Episode One will be rated M for Mature due to sci-fi violence. However, unlike most expansions, it does not require the original game to play. That may be because the game goes outside City 17, the setting of much of Half-Life 2, to follow hero Gordon Freeman and supporting heroine Alyx, who plays a more prominent role this time around." - Gamespot

Definitely a good news day for Half-Life 2 addicts everywhere. Click here to head over to the Gamespot article to get all the juicy details.

Posted by nylatenite at 1:06 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 25 May 2006 1:16 AM EDT

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U.K. rumor-monger Games Radar, the same people who brought you the false "No wireless controller support for the 20gig PS3" story , have now resurrected the "No Used Games" on Playstation 3 rumor. The original rumor was based upon a technology patent Sony had taken out that would restrict software to the original machine it was purchased on. This time, the rumor as per Games Radar is the following;

"High street games shops have been told by Sony that there will be no PS3 pre-owned sections in their stores as it will be illegal for customers to sell any next-gen PlayStation games that they've bought, retail sources have revealed to GamesRadar.

It seems that Sony is planning to adopt a licensing system that will mean gamers won't own the PS3 titles that they've paid money for. Instead, they will only be purchasing the licence to play the game and that the software itself will still be Sony property - meaning that the disc won't be the customer's to sell." -Games Radar

Beyond the many legal issues a scheme like that would invariably bring up, based on the wild nature of the rumor, the fact that it's source is completely anonymous and the past history of Games Radar in terms of stories like this, and you'll probably come to the same conclusion that I have - until I see something official from a solid source, I consider it false. This is just my opinion, but something here smells not only rotten, but reeks of a publicity stunt - and based on the server overload at Games Radar right now, I'd say it's working.

Click here if you must for the Games Radar article, and then wash your hands. If you're really concerned, click here for the older rumor as summed up by Gamespot. Stay tuned as we specifically don't follow this story. Thanks to JG for the heads up on this one.

Posted by nylatenite at 10:36 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 24 May 2006 10:38 PM EDT

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