After overcoming some real-time saving bugs, Team Cyclops has released a new firmware update for CycloDS Evolution. If this beta 3 version proves to be bug-free, they're going to be release it as the final v1.4. So... Just in case it does happen to be free of errors, you might want to download it now for an early treat.

Download: CycloDS Evoution firmware v1.4 BETA 3

Martin's No$gba finally received an update that adds 3D rendering software to the nifty emulator. Running Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance games on PC should now be easier with proper 3D capabilities included in No$gba version 2.6. Head over to the full article for details.





Download: No$gba v2.6

In a recent interview by GameDaily.biz, George Harrison talks about the Game Boy and WiiWare. GameDaily.biz hasn't published the whole interview yet though so there's still some more coming.

But one thing to note in the interview is mention of the Game Boy's "retirement." Harrison commented in an interview during E3 that "this year [...] you really won't see much push against Game Boy itself [...] It's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark." With the DS so popular, attention was slowly diverted away from the Game Boy and gamers aren't really clamoring for new games on the handheld so there isn't much call for it to make a comeback.

The DS can be seen as a natural evolution of the Game Boy, and in many ways it is. Part of the reason that the DS wasn't given the same name was that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata wanted to reach a new audience with the DS's new approach to handheld gaming. Harrison puts it to us in this way:

It was a big risk for us to actually pass on it and call the new product the Nintendo DS, but it was part of Mr. Iwata's philosophy that if we're going to make a radical difference and try to reach a new audience, then we have to change the name... We had to make a break even though we had one of the greatest trademarks in the history of the industry.

And it really is one of the gaming industry's prodigies. The Gameboy Color released in 1998 it had already sold 49 million units by the end 2004 and the Gameboy Advance released in 2001 sold 75 million by June of 2006. The very first Game Boy sold 70 million units worldwide.

But really, it's not the Game Boy that's retiring, just its name. You have the DS anyway, why settle for one screen when you can have two? Besides, there's always emulators. Always look forward.

On a completely unrelated note but from the same interview, Harrison said that Nintendo's WiiWare might still make it to the market before the end of 2007. He furthers that it all really depends on the game developers. Since they recently just released the technology, some developers haven't even started.

 

GameStop is offering more deals on some of the products they're carrying. If you plan on making a purchase any time soon it might be in your best interest to check this out.

First up, we've got some big news for you: Halo 3 Zune. Yup you can pre-order said Zune from GameStop outlets now. And don't expect to get this from any other place as they've said that its a GameStop exclusive. They also have a new promo where you can trade in your Gameboy Advance or old DS for a brand new one. Of course, you will have to add some cash but if you feel like upgrading and think your old unit will just be taking up space then it might be worth the trade-in.

If you plan on taking advantage of their promo, you'll have to download their PDF file from their site, print it out, then cut out the coupons. For more information on the other offerings, you can go to GameStop via our read link.

The NPD group has finally released their much-awaited videogame hardware sales data that's been the subject of much speculation these days, and the results are indeed telling. We're here to sift through all the numbers and figures to give you the skinny on who's leading and who's lagging.

At the head of the pack is Nintendo's Dual Screen handheld, reaching 471,000 units sold in April. Following closely behind is yet another Ninty machine of videogame happiness, the Nintendo Wii, with 360,000 units purchased. Well, what do you know, ol' Pachter was actually right on the money!

From the leaders, we move on to the rest. Despite the prevalent next-gen fever, the Sony PlayStation 2's actually doing pretty well, with 194,000 units sold. The Playstation Portable also did quite well, with 182,000 units - just a smidge in front of Microsoft's Xbox360, who came away with 174,000 purchased.

Finally, we come to the tail-end of the race - and disappointingly, it's Sony's PlayStation 3, coming up with a mere 82,000 units going home to their new owners. It's to note that the figures for Sony's console were much, much less than all analyst estimates, and that's saying something. Come on, PS3! Catch up! We know you can!

As for software, Nintendo's still burning rubber - having released the top four best-selling releases this month with Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl for the DS, and Super Paper Mario and Wii Play for the Wii. Honorable mentions include Guitar Hero II, Spider-Man 3, and God of War II.

For your reading pleasure, here are the sales figures in full:

• Nintendo DS: 471,000
• Wii: 360,000
• PlayStation 2: 194,000
• PlayStation Portable: 183,000
• Xbox 360: 174,000
• GameBoy Advance: 84,000
• PlayStation 3: 82,000
• GameCube: 13,000

Well, what do you think? From the figures, it's obvious Sony has a lot of catching up to do. But let's not forget that these are all figures from April - who knows how things could turn out in the following months? We'll keep you posted, so keep it locked right here for any and all updates!

 

Activision has already launched Spiderman 3 in North America for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance and Wii in North America. The launch was held in conjunction with Sony Entertainment and GameStop Corp at Studio 450 in New York last May 3. In addition to this, GameStop also held a midnight launch of the game on May 4 in about 300 of its outlets in conjunction with the movie release.

The different releases each offers its own spin on the much awaited film which shares the same name.The Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC versions of the game offers free-roaming with multiple movie- and comic-based storyline. City missions are said to be fully integrated into the games as well as stat upgrades which includes additional combat moves, increased agility, and improved speed.

The game is said to have a new combat system that includes suit-specific attacks and an expanded repertoire of air and ground attacks, finishing moves, and dynamic webbing. (We're not sure what dynamic webbing means but it sound cool.) You'll probably be needing all those new moves because there will be boss battles against villains from both the movie and comic versions.

The DS and Wii installments of the game includes free-roaming gameplay as well. Both versions of Spiderman 3 is said to have its own twist on the red and black suited Spiderman combat as well as two exclusive storylines with Shriek and Morbius.

The DS version incorporates the touchscreen in the gameplay for combat and maneuvering. Wireless multiplayer is also included in this version with multiple modes such as Target Practice,Brawler, Combat Challenge, and Hot Potato. The Wii game on the other hand utilizes the Wiimote and Nunchuk very well with both of them acting as webshooters in both travel and combat sequences.

Spiderman 3 for the Xbox 360 version is being sold for US$ 59.99, the Wii for US$ 49.99, the PlayStation 2 for US$ 39.99, and the Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance, and PC versions for US$ 29.99 each. The console and PC platform versions have been given a T rating by the ESRB with the Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance rated at E10+.

Buy: [Spider-Man 3 (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Spider-Man 3 (PS3)]
Buy: [Spider-Man 3 (Wii)]

When THQ unfortunately cancelled WWE Smackdown VS Raw 2007 for the PS3 back in July, the reason it gave was that it needed to concentrate resources on the versions for the other platforms (X360, PSP, PS2). Well, it has been months since the other versions were released. The publisher had an announcement regarding the matter that was quite unexpected.

Accordingly, THQ is now ready to pursue bringing WWE 2007 to other consoles but it isn't talking about the PlayStation 3 at all. In a recently concluded investor conference call, THQ confirmed plans to bring the game to Nintendo's platforms, Wii and DS. The company added that the release date should be expected sometime between April 2007 to March 2008.

That's one whole fiscal year and we wonder what will ever happen to the PS3 version. anyway, regarding the game's appearance on Nintendo platforms, we can't quite imagine how the game would play out with the Wiimote and the Stylus. Oh well, they're the devs and we're just writing about them. They probably know what they're doing as several WWE titles were previously released on GameCube and GameBoy Advance.

You'll get a lot of numbers in this post, but let's start with the ones that are related to this posts title. Let's talk about console sales. The numbers below are given by the Research firm, NPD Group.

The little dual screened juggernaut, the DS sold 918,000 units in November, bringing U.S. sales to a total of 8.1 million units. The old and yet still hot PS2 followed as the second-best with 664,000 units sold. It's sales probably boosted by Square Enix's FFXII that sold at 896,000 units and has a sales record of $49 million. Third place for systems is held by the never say die GameBoy Advance with 641,000 units.

Despite Gears of War being number one at the software sales charts having sold a million units and having earned around $61.5 million, Microsoft's Xbox 360 is at fourth this November with 511,000 units sold. However despite being fourth this November, overall the Xbox 360, has a life-to-date US sales number of 3.8 million units.

Despite having it's launch date mid November, The Wii sold 476,000 units for the month. The PSP follows the Wii, having sold around 412,000 units during November. Hopefully now that  MGS: Portable Ops is out, people will enjoy running around to check out WiFi spots. Honestly, that soldier recruitment thing that the new MGS has reminds us of the "old CD collection now has a use" effect that the PS1's Monster Rancher generated. So does this mean more PSP sales? We'll check the post holiday season numbers when the time comes.

So who needs to make shipments? The PS3 sold only 197,000 units this month, this despite Sony's promise to have 400,000 units available on launch day in the U.S.

Here's what NPD Analyst Anita Frazier has to say about the numbers: "It's just such overall good news that bodes very well for the health of this industry."

Why aren't we surprised at all? We did see this coming. And it's all good. While the past videogame incarnations of Harry Potter were forgettable, we're eager to see what the next-gen versions have to offer. We can already picture players swishing and flicking the Wiimote while uttering "Alohamora!"

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix videogame will be the first in the franchise to be developed for the next-gen consoles. EA and Warner Bros. promise an accurate representation of the events surrounding J.K. Rowlings' fifth book, which happens to be Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts.

The game will allow players to explore Hogwarts and take on missions presented in the book/movie.

Playable characters include Harry Potter (of course!), Dumbledore, and Sirius Black. Too bad, Ron and Hermione are non-playable. But we're pretty sure they'll get some exposure throughout the game.

The game is slated for a July 2007 release to coincide with the film. It'll also be released for the PSP, PS2, Gameboy Advance, and Windows PC.

The furry group of adventurers that are made up of Hammy, RJ, and Verne are coming to the PSP, DS and GBA as gaming legends Activision announce the shipping date their undisputed furry adventure title for the portable consoles, Over The Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts. You may well be thinking that the game itself is nuts, but it provides fun for the family and received a reasonable reception when we reported on this game last week.

Over The Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts actually begins shipping today for the GameBoy Advance, but won't come to the next generation portable consoles, with the Nintendo DS getting the game on October 24th and PSP owners having the chance to play the game in November this year. The PSP and DS version of the game will both have an RRP of $39.99 and like a true family game have been rated 'E' for everyone.

Over The Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts has been made to build on the success of the Over the Hedge film and Activision have worked with DreamWorks Animation to create an all-new movie-inspired adventure. If you own both a PSP and a DS you may be hard pushed in which version to buy because the game has a different tint for each platform.

In the Nintendo DS game, players set out on an adventure to help Hammy and their favorite woodland creatures explore neighborhood homes for items that will help them get revenge on 'Dwayne the Exterminator' (aka the bad guy). Over the Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts for the Nintendo DS features an enhanced dual-screen display and lets fans re-live moments from the game via a replay feature.

In the PSP version, fans get the chance to interact with new characters, explore 3D environments and experience a concept which goes by the name of "Hammy Time". This involves Hammy racing around and defeating opponents in the blink of an eye. Players will also experience wireless multiplayer gameplay, 3D and interactive environments and new characters in the PSP version.

Pre-order: [Over the Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts PSP]
Pre-order: [Over the Hedge Hammy Goes Nuts DS]