Since time immemorial, man has always been known to have this compulsion to just mark something as his own by customizing it according to his needs and preferences. That carries over until now, especially in this modern age when we have all these nifty, shiny toys to play with. Hence, mods were born.

Anyway, our featured mod today is one that was mailed in to us by Grandpasmurf. Using a tutorial that he found over at AcidMods, he placed blue LED in the buttons of his DS Lite, and replaced the buttons themselves with more transparent ones. We have to admit that the effect's VERY interesting.

He put together a short clip to show that the mod works perfectly, so take a look and see if it inspires you to make something like it. Do tell us if you do!

UK's first major trade show event since 2004, the London Games Festival, started the week-long celebration of interactive entertainment. It includes a variety of events that will surely delight gamers.

First is GDC London, an annual gathering of video game developers which comprise an expo and a variety of tutorials, lectures and roundtables by industry professionals on game-related topics covering programming, design, audio, production, business, legal issues, and art. Next is the London Games Summit which provides the most hard-hitting business content specifically developed for the industry. This is where top industry executives and key government ministers provide honest insights on the gaming business today.

Gamers will be in paradise as London Games Festival features other events which may interest them like the HMV's Games Showcases which feature a handful of playable games like Pro Stroke Golf, PDC World Championship Darts, Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 and Rockstar Games' Table Tennis, to name a few. It'll also feature The Game/Play and the Artful Gaming Exhibition.

The festival does not only cater to the gamers audience as it also provides diverse events that cater to parents who need advice on games or people who want to learn more about games and where the future of entertainment is currently heading. So its a festival that caters to almost everyone, not only to the gamers. And this also reflects that gaming is serious business. The festival aims to add learning to fun. Families can attend this celebration and take part in the activities. Check out the schedule of events here.

The last time we heard about doublec, it was in January and he had released version 4.10 of DSEmu, which was originally the work of Imran Nazar. After a rather long time without updates on his website, the homebrewer has just come up with an update.

It's simple really. If you've ever visited doublec's website, then you'll know that he also offers a tutorial on homebrewing for the DS. He's here to tell folks that he'll be updating his tutorials to match with the latest DevkitPro versions soon, so newcomers to homebrewing on the DS should really check that site out.

Doublec's tutorials cover everything from setting up the environment of the game or app you're creating all the way up to learning how to detect and respond to key presses and putting in hardware scrolling and scaling for your game.

It's a useful site, even if you're not planning on coding anything, if only to read up on how homebrew developers have to go through a painstaking process to get the job done in making their game. Don't hesitate to check it out, ok?

Early registration to the Game Developers Conference and the London Games Summit, which will follow GDC in London this year, has been extended from September 15th to September 22nd. The two gaming meetings will begin on  October 2nd and carry on through to the 4th for GDC London and branch out to October 4th through 5th for the following Games Summit.

Both the GDC and the Games Summit in London will take place at the world-famous BAFTA Headquarters (Yes, the same place that gives out the TV awards) at 195 Piccadilly. You can register for the fee of £75, versus the £100 charge for registration through October 2nd so get your registration in early if you wish to attend!

GDC London focuses heavily on techniques for game development, so unless you are a game developer then joining the conference probably won't be that beneficial to you. However, if you plan to go into game development or programming it could be worth a try if you can cough up the cash. The registration fee includes two days of tutorials sponsored by IBM and NVIDIA, with the IBM tutorial covering Cell Broadband Engine application processing and the NVIDIA tutorial covering DirectX10 programming.

Visit: [London Games Summit Website]

Painting your DS Lite is a good way to show your individuality, but it's just so easy to mess up. That's why replacement cases are really popular these days. You can just pick out a design or color that you like, and if you have the money, you're pretty much good to go. The only hard thing about it is the actual case replacement part. Not all of us are good with their hands, and sometimes the sheer thought of taking a screwdriver to your DS Lite and taking it apart when you're not a Nintendo-certified DS Lite tech is enough to make some people break down with fear and guilt.

Alright, we're exaggerating. Maybe. Who knows, there really might be people like that out there in the wide blue yonder.

Right. Going back to the topic, we're here to talk about replacement cases. Project SHOCK!, in case you haven't read our earlier report, is a full replacement DS Lite case project that, according to their website, aims to "provide gamers with an alternative to the original colors, as well as function as a repair part for destroyed DS Lite cases." In order to make their customers' lives easier they have also made an installation tutorial for their replacement cases. The tutorial is chock-full of photos (actually, it's pretty much made up of nothing BUT photos) to make it easier to understand.

Click on the 'read' link below to check out the full tutorial.

After waiting several months for this homebrew game, a demo is finally available from Lupi. Lupi made and released this demo for Z3 (A Zelda-fan expo) as he was asked if he could. Now, this demo is much further along then many PSP homebrew demos/betas, so I was very impressed by its overall quality. The level design was perfect from what I played of it, taking advantage of both the Zelda strategy/puzzles and adding some new things not found in Zelda games before (jump mushrooms).

Overall, this is a great homebrew game, and I can't wait for the full release! So, you can download the demo below and go through a full tutorial and 3 sublevels with a boss. I love the side-scrolling action for this title, something of which we haven't seen in many Zelda games for quite some time. Lupi also uploaded a gameplay video of the entire demo on Youtube which can be viewed below!

Download: [Homebrew Zelda Demo]

"Not another Snake game..."

That (or something like that) might be what's going through your mind at the moment. But you should give the developer credit. I'm telling you, he gave this game a great deal of thought, not to mention time and effort.

chatterbug89 has just provided the Pre-release version of his latest (and first C programming) project: Super Snake DS. There are seven (7) main levels, moving and static obstacles, boss levels and mini-games in Super Snake DS.

The object of the game is to finish all 5 the sub-levels of the 7 main levels of the game. This can be achieved by meeting the requirements of each sub-level before dying or getting a Game Over. After each main level, you'll get to play a mini-game (Trivia mini-games, Card Marching games, etc).

As mentioned, this is just a pre-release. After you're through with the final level (7th), you'll just return to the first level. The developer's still soliciting suggestions for mini-game, boss-level and gameplay ideas. He's also asking for players' comments regarding the game, including what bugs there are that need to be fixed (currently, chatterbug89 has seen a bug that causes the game to freeze, but as this happens "almost never," he can't identify and fix it yet).

Here's a list of what works in this pre-release of Super Snake DS:

• 7 levels with music;
• The Classic Snake Mode (This was something I did AFTER the initial snake game by the way... It wasn't what I started off with, if that's what you thought);
• Card Flipping Mini Game;
• Other Random Things.
  

Here's a list of what to expect with the final release of the game:

• High Score Saving;
• Possibly Game Saving (i'm debating on this...);
• More Levels;
• Boss Levels;
• More Mini Games;
• And more?;
• A short game tutorial.
  

Another bit of info that might be interesting to you: A 105 body limit for the snake is possible (for the lower levels probably) and those who break this limit might get a Point Bonus in the final edition.

So let chatterbug89 hear your comments and suggestion regarding his game, Super Snake DS.

Download: [Super Snake DS Pre-Release]

Everybody has their good days and bad days, right? Well, yesterday was a bad day - especially for our faithful forum family. Due to a series of unfortunate events that were enough to make us pull our hair out (yes, we're all bald now, even the ladies), the QJ.NET Forums have been down for the last 24 hours.  After a year of uninterrupted  service on our forums, it was bound to happen eventually. Despite the rumors, this was nothing more than miscommunication with our server hosts - nothing malicious or diabolical about it at all. Just a Grade-A snafu.

Nevertheless, the forums are now back online and everything is as it was. Just in case you've forgotten how to get there (a common withdrawal symptom), here's a direct link back to the QJ.NET Forums Directory where you'll find forum categories for each and every one of the QJ Blogs. And in case some of you have never visited the Forums, here's some highlights that you should check out - especially if you're a new 1.50 PSP user looking to get into homebrew!

PSP:

• FAQ's, Guides, and Tutorials - Your one stop shop for details on how to do just about anything with (or to) your PSP!
• PSP Homebrew and Hacks Help - If the Tutorial section doesn't answer your question, one of our many helpful and knowledgeable PSP experts will!
• PSP Development Forum - Find out what homebrew developers are up to - they're cranking out new stuff everyday!
• Official eLoader Forum - If you're sticking with 2.0 - 2.60 Firmware, this is the place to be!

Next-Gen:

• Xbox 360 Forums - Talk about all the latest that Microsoft is offering!
• PS3 Forums / Wii Forums - Plenty of rumors and excitement going on waiting for these two systems to be released!

Nintendo DS:

• NDS Homebrew - No reason the PSP should have all the fun!
• NDS WFC & Games - Join up with our community and play with your friends online! A great place to exchange friend codes!

Consumer:

• Apple Forums - One of our newer and fast growing forums, take a bite out of the Apple!
• Gadgets and Electronic Forums - Another new community here at QJ.NET but quickly on the rise! Get in on the fun!

QJ.NET:

• QJ.NET News and Help - This is where you'll find out about what's new with the QJ.NET Forums! If you've got a question, comment, problem, or suggestion about the site, this is where to go!

Plus so many more forums! Again, we sincerely apologize for the unscheduled downtime - if it happens again, we'll eat our hats... which we now need to keep our hairless heads warm!

The people behind the Nintendo DS app, FlashMe, has updated their creation to v7. If you aren't familiar with this one, it is an alternative firmware for your Nintendo DS and as of now, it is a hacked version of the original firmware.

You already knew all that by now. But this might be something new and interesting to you: This version of Flashme could also be used for the DS Lite. The tutorial below comes with a disclaimer! Lynx, the creator, said that "the use of PassMe/NoPass/FlashMe is at your own risk! This device does NOT allow you to run copyrighted applications. It is for homebrew development only! Natrium42, DarkFader, Lynx, Loopy, Costis and anyone else that helped make this available are not responsible for any damage it may cause to you, your Nintendo DS-Lite, or anything else it comes in contact with. What's this mean? If you fry your DS, NO ONE is going to buy you a new one. You have been warned. Again, use at your own risk!" Clear enough.

The first thing you do is download the installation file. Write it to your GBA Flash Cart or in Lynx's case, he wrote it to his GBA Movie Player. He also reminds you that, although you will be downloading FlashMe.nds, it does not require you to add a header. This .nds file will work just as it is on a GBA Flash Cart OR GBA MP, etc. The video of installing the FlashMe on the DS Lite is provided below, but if you want the step by step procedures you can go on to Lynx instructions here.