Enjoyed Lino's homebrew emulator, iDeaS much, didn't you? Then you should like to continue reading on to the full article to check out the new stuff he's added in to v1.0.2.5. Go on, hit that "read more" button.


Download: iDeaS v1.0.2.5

Dominic Ludlam and company have released a new version of DSVideo, the Nintendo DS video player. DSVideo v1.01 is a bug fix release, so you can expect more videos to work with the application now.

Learn more about the changes in DSVideo v1.01 after the jump!

Remember iDeaS, the Nintendo DS emulator for the PC from homebrew developer Lino? Linux users now have a chance to get in on the action as the program's author has released the updated Linux version of the application. More info in the full article.

Download: iDeaS v1.0.2.1 (Linux)

Coder Jeff Lait has "half-released" a newer version of POWDER, a homebrew game for the Nintendo DS. With custom-made, extended tile sets, a revamped tutorial mode, and a couple more bug fixes and typo-corrections, homebrew game POWDER Release 089 also comes with a new artpack in addition to the classic look and feel.

Not familiar with Roguelikes? Rogue was an all-time classic that took role-play and hack-and-slash and combined them together into an addictive adventure. No doubt Rogue was an arrangement of ASCII characters on screen, but the hack-and-slash dungeon crawl inspired much imagination and spawned tons of similar games, known as Roguelikes (think Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja, for instance).

Aside from correcting typos and sorting out graphics issues (monsters actually looking like floor tiles, for instance), gameplay mechanic bugs were sorted out. Soul Suckers (nasty spellcasters) no longer utter spells if they don't know you're nearby, and Jeff Lait has also added new critters to sink your blades into: gold beetles. But between you and me, cave spider training is still a good idea, though.

Head to the full article for the full change list from Release 088.

Download: POWDER Release 089 for Nintendo DS

Developer devkitPro is sending out word that the latest build for devkitARM is now available for download. For those asking, DevkitARM is a toolchain for programming homebrew software for Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. There are two versions available for use: One for Windows, and one for Linux OS. Here are the latest changes for devkitARM since version 19b:

• Upgraded to gcc 4.1.2
• Added gdb by popular request
• Now including libraries for ARM big-endian devices - this relates to a request from the winARM maintainers, not DS related.
• Newlib patches extended to allow time() to work on the DS
• argv has been added - this will require support from the homebrew launcher menu on various cards
• ndstool now uses the default arm7 core distributed with libnds in preference to an embedded one
• Now working on Vista/Vista64 - users who were impatient and modified paths should now remove those changes
  

Keep note that devkitARM will require libnds 20071023 to run properly. libnds 20071023 carries these latest changes:

• some freeBSD fixes to makefiles
• added RTC setup and sound initialisation to arm7 core
• corrected glViewport for openGL consistency ( old spelling was glViewPort) , correct angle for gluPerspective and corrected glFrustum matrix
• IRQ nesting now works properly
• other more general fixes detailed in the changelog on SF
• DS examples updated for latest libnds

Downloads for both software will be provided for here, although we strongly advise readers to visit the devkitPro website for further information regarding this developer's tool.

Download: DevkitARM v21 (Windows)
Download: DevkitARM v21 (Linux)
Download: libnds 20071023

If you haven't heard of the handheld gaming platform called the GP2X, we'll tell you a bit about it. The GP2X is a Linux-based machine that allows you to play games with hardware quality coming close to the Nintendo DS. It recently released a new version called the F-200 and it has a touch-screen function much like its popular counterpart.

There are very few commercial developers for this gadget but it does have a strong backing from a homebrew community that creates emulators and small games frequently. With the new touch screen, can a DS emulator finally be created?

This is something certainly worth monitoring as it could be big in the alternative gaming scene. We'll keep you posted for more updates so keep it right here.

 

Noda and his perpetually updated Warcraft: Tower Defense homebrew game for the Nintendo DS is back; this time around as a submission to the NeoFlash Spring Coding Competition. Take note that there are two versions in this release: one in PAFS that works only on slot-2 GBA flashcards, and a DLDI FAT version for any flashcard (including those who use slot-1 cards).

Here's the full changelog for Warcraft: Tower Defense v0.4 beta:

• PAFS version was broken in the last release, now it's working again
• corrected the bug that prevented max towers bonus for first evolution to be applied at start
• corrected colors of selection circle, it looks better now
• fixed the animation bug when a monster is killed at spawn
• fixed sprite scrolling, now sprites are in phase with background while scrolling
• updated the map editor, see its changelog for details
• added a bunch of new features for maps, like small & transparent monsters, W3 damage style, choice for the colors used in the minimap for painting entities...

Check out the rest of the Changelog after the Full Article Jump!

Aside from the readme, included also in the game archive is a very helpful manual in pdf format. If you haven't been following the continuous updates and development notes of this homebrew game, you can check both of the documents in the zipped download.

Download: Warcraft: Tower Defense v0.4 beta

NDS has updated the DeSmuMe homebrew, a DS Emulator for the PC. What it does is boot DS homebrew apps and games (some of which are playable) on PCs.

Also, the app allows DS homebrew devs to test drive their apps and iron out the kinks in their PCs before loading them on their DS. No need to switch back and forth!

Originally a project of YopYop, DeSmuME v0.5.0 is now 100% C code, compiles and runs on 64-bit compilers, FAT/CompactFlash emulation, framebuffer emulation, sound emulation, backup memory emulation, and save states.

So far, early users reported a few bugs but NDS assures all he isn't finish with it yet.

Anyway, please refer to the readme.win file (for Windows port) and the readme.lin (for the Linux port) for a lot more details.

Download: [DeSmuME v0.5.0]

Ask any military tactician (or your local RTS buff), and they'll tell you that one major factor any fighting force needs is a good communications link - and lack of it will leave any group, no matter how well armed or well trained, dead in the water.

The same can be said for a strong company, and with that in mind, we're happy to report that Atari won the 2006 InfoWorld 100 Award, given to companies that make use of the latest in computer 'tech to expand their business goals.

Atari's bid for this awards is their IT outsourcing project, which improved total cost of ownership by outsourcing their Linux infrastructure. What's that mean?

Atari had allocated most of their key systems to Rackspace Managed Hosting, a global provider of managed hosting services, the electronics equivalent of a secretary/housekeeper...or media manager (for the PSP buffs asking).

By doing this, and building much of their in-house systems on the open-sourced Linux OS, Atari achieved much in the way of simplifying their overall spending and human resources - the space freed up by streamlining their system allowed their in-house IT teams to focus on more important tasks like game development.  

"We realized that hosting our backend applications internally was not strategic to our core business," said Jim O'Keefe, head of IT for Atari. "With Rackspace handling our entire IT infrastructure, we have now implemented systems that are more cost efficient."

SNEmulDS, an SNES emulator for DOS and linux partially based on SNEmul, has been updated by its developer to v0.3 alpha. According to Archeide this is only a preview release (and not the real release) although it has several very real, new features:

• Sound support using PocketSPC engine (thanks to gladius). The sound is not very good yet because of bad synchronising
• Improved stylus support
• Max Media support (use SNEmulDS_maxmedia)
• SPC jukebox lets you listen to your favorite music while playing another game with better sound quality than with the real sound emulation

To install and use SNEmulDS v0.3 alpha requires a card reader (like M3, Supercard, G6, etc.) and a passkey/passcard:

• Create a SNES directory in the root directory of your card
• Put all your SNES ROMs in this directory
• Launch the SNEmulDS.ds in your ROM launcher
• A list should appear displaying all the SNES ROMs
• Tap on the desired game and press START to launch the game

The download file includes a readme file which you should always read before installing any application, homebrew or otherwise.

Download: [SNEmulDS v0.3 alpha]

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UPDATE: Archeide has returned with a beta update for the preview SNEmulDS v0.3. What's important is that, while alpha's save feature wasn't working properly, archeide was able to restore a simpler save function in beta thatshould work for all devices that support saving. Other changes he implemented are larger items in all file selections and a back button in the Select ROM selection.

Download: [SNEmulDS v0.3 beta]