You've got to admire Mollusk's dedication to his craft. He works slowly but surely not wanting to release a haphazardly done PAlib. It took him a month to make a follow up to his first Beta release, and has yet to make an official release. "I initially wanted to release an official version, but as I played around a bit everywhere in the code I decided it would be safer to test it a little first," said Mollusk.

Good thing though because it looks like those that would want to put textures in their 3D stuff, like Rockard in the PAlib forums, would have to exercise more patience. After hearing the difficulty he's been having, Mollusk was immediately on top of everything.

Meantime, download the Beta 2 version of PAlib, give it a test run and if you see any bugs, give Mollusk a good tap on his shell so he can deal with it immediately. So finally when time comes for the official release, it'll be picture perfect.

Changelog:

• 16cText, corrected a bug, added a few stuff and a really nice TypeWritter example...
• Microphone works, check out the example, though it's not perfect right now for some reason
• Sound panning added, check out examples and demo...
• PAGfx small speed increase, added a better percentage count and estimated time left :)
• PAFS now has 64 characters in the names instead of 22...
• Sprite moving functions and DualSprites should be fixed now...

Download: [PAlib Beta 2Installer]
                  [PAlib Beta 2 (ZIP)]

Infantile Paralysiser will open the dam that is WiFi VoiceChatClient. His release of v1.4 today will also serve as a soft launch for v1.5. And we all know v1.6 is just around the corner.

However, we 're hoping that there will be much more updates in the coming releases compared to this one. There are still some minor connectivity issues but just as was posted in the last article, just reboot your DS to work this out. Don't leave your console idle for too long, because the connection logs off automatically after three minutes.

Changelog:

• The touch panel response accuracy has been improved.
• The user interface has been improved.
• The click noise of the voice reproduction was reduced.
• The network packet was optimized.

Leaves you to wonder what he's still got planned for v1.7. Download links are below, enjoy!

Download:[WiFi VoiceChatClient v1.4 (ZIP File)]
Download:[WiFi VoiceChatClient v1.4 (7z File)]
Download: [WiFi VoiceChatClient v1.4 (Source Code)]

It's going to be a tough call for Nintendo DS users on whether to upgrade to a higher version of Infantile Paralysiser's WiFi VoiceChatClient.

Tough call because it looks like this latest one is experiencing a few connectivity issues. He writes that because it uses DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), it's tough to request and obtain an Internet address from a server. When this happens, he suggests rebooting the DS. It hasn't been tested in a WAN (Wide Area Network) yet. And if for example, no communication has transpired for three minutes, the connection logs off automatically.

And on the other hand, there are improvements mentioned in this changelog that might be appealing for some people, enough for them to make an upgrade.

Changelog:

• The touch panel response accuracy has been improved.
• The draw tool was optimized a little.
• The label according to the language was put up to the private ROOM number.

Download: [WiFi VoiceChatClient v1.3 (ZIP File)]
                  [WiFi VoiceChatClient v1.3 (7z File)]
                  [WiFi VoiceChatClient v1.3 (Source Code)]

Atari's Shiny Entertainment Studio has recently been acquired by Foundation 9 Entertainment, the largest independent game developer in North America.

Shiny Entertainment is best known for its work Earthworm Jim which will remain an Atari property unlike the two games that were based on the hit blockbuster, "The Matrix." They join the incredible F9E studios family which includes The Collective, Backbone Entertainment, Pipeworks, ImaginEngine, and Digital Eclipse. The team will co-locate with The Collective in 2007.

"Shiny Entertainment fits well with the current studios of Foundation 9 Entertainment and aligns with our long-term goals for the future. The studio has tremendous talent and experience working with big Hollywood franchises and will be working with us on a major, as-yet-undisclosed day and date release. The Shiny team will only add to our capabilities and technology base." said Jon Goldman, Chairman and CEO.

The company is currently at work on more than 20 titles including two new editions of its original property, Death, Jr., to be published by Konami; Dirty Harry to be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment; and, Sonic Rivals to be published by Sega. The company’s Backbone studio recently shipped MechAssault: Phantom War for the Nintendo DS, published by Majesco Entertainment.

NoNameDS' Icy Tower is now burning hot with changes. It has always experienced problems since it was added to the application, earning it the reputation as being the black sheep of NoNameDS. But Kaktus621 is taking care of these problems one by one, starting with the no random level bit, to give Icy Tower a squeaky-clean image.

In his most recent blog post, he says that the no point system and the auto scroll problems are up next. This update isn't exactly filled overplaying with new features, but it's definitely better than the last one. Here's what new.

Changelog:

• Level nearly unlimited (I set Array size to 1000, should be enough especially when there'll be time limit)

Download: [NoNameDS v1.6]

Let's accept the fact that in the end we're all at the mercy of Mother Nature and that she'll pwn us anytime she wants. This can include letting bears who can turn a pink brassiere and a moose's antlers into a lethal slingshot, armed with either a smelly skunk or a grouchy squirrel with lots of acorns to spare, run lose in the wild.

So, we thought it best that you learn to recognize these situations and know how to get out of them. And who better to learn from than the master of wildlife mischief himself - Boog the bear from Open Season! Just follow this 'Open Season Guide to Surviving the Wilderness for Bears' lessons, and up your chances on not being the butt of jokes of the animal kingdom.

Download: [Lesson 2: Squirrels are Nuts]
                  [Lesson 3: Forest Animals Rule!]

Buy: [Open Season for PSP]
Buy: [Open Season for NDS]
Buy: [Open Season for Xbox 360]
Buy: [Open Season for Wii]

Still can't let go of your now considered relics, but precious SNES games collection? Thinking of ways on how you can take them with you? Then you've come to the right place. You don't even have to break a sweat trying to figure out how you can play games like Gradius 3, Super Turrican and Wing Commander again.

Archeide's SNES emulator, SNEmulDS' is the solution you've been looking for. All you need is your trusty Nintendo DS and you're all set. You'd be basking in SNES glory in no time at all. You're getting all these improvements in v0.2.

Changelog:

• Support for ROMs bigger than 2 Mo (size of ROM is not limited)
• Speed improvement (+30-40%)
• Load / Save states (*). You can save up to 8 states by game. Games are stored in SNEmul file format (SML) in the SNES directory, along with the SNES ROM.
• Fixed most scrolling bugs
• Load / Save SNES SRAM (*). SRAM is read from a "XXXX.SRM" file put in the SNES directory, along with the SNES ROM. SRAM has to be saved manually using the "Save SRAM" option in the main menu.
• New "No Vblank" mode which is by default enabled. This mode allow much faster emulation speed, and can fix some graphical problems, but can also bring other issues.
• Fixed initial crashes due to "strange" file names in SNES directory.
• Fixed many other bugs, improved memory consumption.
• Saving is experimental due to the limitations of the FAT libraries.
• Like the initial release (0.1), ROMs are loaded from the SNES directory in your card
• Sources will be updated soon.

If this is your first time to venture into the 2D wild side, better check out the Read Me first. It contains a brief history of the emulator, installation guidelines and an FAQ.

Download: [SNEmulDS 0.2]

Neil Millstone and the rest of the ScummVM team, aims for perfection through the tedious but result yielding process of trial and error. Just a few days after making the announcement that ScummVM DS v0.9.1beta1 is open for testing, he's following it up with beta number two.

Just like everyone else, the developers are also hoping for less bugs this time around.

Changelog:

• Max Media Dock Support
• Fix to Zip file reader
• Replaced SCSD driver with original version
• Re-added MP3 support

We'll all arrive at the perfect emulator that can play Lucasarts' back catalog of point and click adventure games on modern computers, by being involved in the project. So, after trying their creation out, let them know what you think through the comments section.

Download: [ScummVM DS v0.9.1beta2 Binary]

If you're having a Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, or J. Jonah Jameson moment like you know something's up but you're not quite sure, then these new assets for Spider-Man: Battle for New York will definitely make your spider sense tingle.

We present you with the game's character models and cut scene art, that'll literally be like unmasking the game's superhero and his archnemeses - behind the scenes style. See how they make the characters you'll be able to take on once the game becomes available this October.

Thanks a bunch to Wiebke Hess.

The rest of the images await after the jump!

After a significant long period of time of laying dormant, the ScummVM team has released DS v0.9.1beta1 for this interpreter that allows you to play Lucasarts' back catalog of point and click adventure games on modern computers up for testing.

M3 and SD devices got a driver's update, so no need to worry about compatibility anymore. A NinjaSD support has also been added. We'll have to wait until the next beta for Max Media Dock and G6 support to be present. If you're having some problems with this, please go back to using v0.61 instead.

Changelog:

• New Games Supported: Simon the Sorcerer 2 and Legend of Kyrandia
• Made the DS turn off when you quit a game
• Updated flash device drivers
• Added a 200% scale option for the zoomed view
• Change zoom range for the zoomed view so you can zoom right out
• Speed increase!
• Fixed crashing when saving in Beneath a Steel Sky
• Fixed inventory not appearing in Beneath a Steel Sky
• Fixed incorrect colours in frontend
• Made frontend more responsive

Look out for v0.9.1 after a month.

Download: [ScummVM DS v0.9.1beta1]