Homebrew developer Lordus released a new update to the jEnesisDS, an award winning Genesis/Megadrive emulator for the Nintendo DS. Alongside the many bug fixes released for jEnesis version 0.7, the coder also released a preview to another emulator also for the dual screen handheld. ApprenticeMinusDS v0.2.6 is a Sega Master System portable/Game Gear emulator, though as it's an early version, it has its share of issues that must be sorted out. Get all that at the full story.



Download: jEnesisDS v0.7 with ApprenticeMinusDS v0.2.6 preview

The classic console-emulating crowd should enjoy this entry from AlekMaul for the Neo Summer Coding Compo 2007. This is the latest update of DSMasterPlus - the Sega Master System and Game Gear emulator for the DS.

Version 1.3 is enhanced with DS Motion Card support as well as a brand-new interface and Pro Action Replay code support. For the complete list of new features, check out AlekMaul's changelog:

• New interface (thanks again Lobo)
• New graphic engine for backgrounds
• Code optimization everywhere
• Pro Action Replay codes support !!!
• No more German translation (some sentences are missing).
• DS motion card support

Since there's now support for the motion card, it's best to try and take advantage of the new feature with games that work best with motion-sensitive controls, such as Marble Madness.

Also, please take note that you need to patch DSMasterPlus v1.3 with the DLDI patchers using the correct drivers or else, it will not run properly on your DS. For more information, please browse through the Readme file included in the download package.

Download: DSMasterPlus v1.3

International market research and market data company Research and Markets just announced that it has added "The Market for Portable Video Games" in its huge roster of studies. If you are not familiar with this company, you can actually think of it as a one-stop shop for market research reports and industry newsletters.

Anyway, like we said, a new report has been published that tackles the market for portable game systems. The study itself contains a detailed five-year forecast for each platform. Aside from that, the study also discusses the potential impact of yet-to-be released gadgets.

Aside from the above mentioned, a sub-report has been attached to the study that concerns the mobile game market and you can get a lot of insights from it given the round table discussion with leading players and visionaries in the mobile game space. The companies included in the study are:

• Atari (Atari Lynx)
• Bandai (Bandai Wonderswan)
• NEC (NEC Turboexpress)
• Nintendo (Game Boy, Virtual Boy, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo Ds)
• Nokia (Nokia N-Gage)
• Sega (Sega Game Gear and Sega Nomad)
• SNK (SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color)
• Sony (Sony PSP)
• Tiger (Tiger Gamecom and Tiger Telematics Gizmondo)

Quite interestingly, the study also gives a detailed history of the portable game market as well as an overview of failed systems. Video game genres were also discussed aside from complete business models for third-party software sales broken down by platform.

Refer to the Read link below for more details and how you can get the study.

We've come across what looks like a scan of Ninja Gaiden for the Nintendo DS. There have been rumors, but there are no announcements about such a project for the platform. Still, it's pretty exciting to think (and "see") that there might be one on the way.

 

Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black were big hits in the original Xbox, following the franchise's rich tradition spanning the NES, SNES, Game Boy and Game Gear eras. To date, the only official project announced to the public by Japanese developer Tecmo is Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PlayStation 3.

Anyhow, it looks as if the DS version of Ninja Gaiden, as purported in the scan, will have the DS being played on its side. We'll keep you updated if we find fire beneath this smoke cloud. In the meantime, check out the scan in question. Just click on the thumbnail to get a better view.

If there aren't any yet, expect to see this as a bumper sticker soon: "Got Pink?" Why? Well, it seems like everyone is going that way lately. Pink this, pink that and now - a pink M3 lite. This image came from M3 Team themselves, who are soon to release the newest incarnation of the M3 Nintendo DS slot 2 mod.

The Lite version, aside from using microSD media cards for storage, is built to set flush in the DS Lite without sticking out at all. The unit comes as well, with a built-in emulators for legacy systems like Gameboy Mono, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Nintendo and Turbografx16.

This unit is also a multimedia player, picture viewer, full functioning PDA and digital book viewer. M3 Lite really stands out beyond the other mods that are out today. And most importantly, it comes in pink!