Hexen: Beyond Heretic first haunted gamers back in 1995. It was an FPS game that features mythology-derived creatures and a trio-demon brothers known as the Serpent Riders. Actually, it was first ported to the DS August of last year. Rather in time for Halloween, developers Rich Whitehouse and Sektor update this hair-raising homebrew to v0.25.7z.

According to Sektor's site, much of the hard work was done by Rich and his participation includes adding support for more devices and modified the controls. While sound and touchscreen functions are now supported, the save game option still doesn't work. Saves are written to /data/hexen/ and trying to load them will result to error that reads: "Corrupt save game: Segment [108] failed alignment check."

Sektor added that the game needs the retail of hexen.wad and that it uses Chishm's libfat to read it. Accordingly, libfat is compatible with MK2/3, GBAMPCF, M3CF, M3SD, SCCF, SCSD and NinjaDS. Those who own a G6, EZ4Lite or a 256mbit flashcart will be needing the GBFS version (requires the .wad file to be attached to the .nds).

Another new feature is the special DS menu that allows for changing the gamma and other things such as level warp and cheat codes. Controls of HexenDS v0.25.7z are as follows:

• dpad to turn and move
• touch screen to look around
• A button fires
• Y button jumps
• L button cycles through inventory
• R button cycles through weapons
• X button uses objects (doors, switches)
• X button + dpad to strafe
• B button uses the selected inventory item
• Select brings up the menu and exits out of it (acts as escape)
• Start selects menu items, or toggles the automap when not in a menu
• X+Up/Down on dpad flies up/down while in fly mode

Download: [HexenDS v0.25.7z]

Rumor has it that Nintendo sent out gyro-sensor cartridges for the Nintendo DS to "certain developers" to try out. According to the rumor, you put the accessory in the GBA cartridge slot, and the nifty gyro-sensor in the cartridge detects the direction you tilt your DS.

This isn't that new an idea. A while back, Intelligent Systems made the Wario Ware: Twisted for the Game Boy Advance, and that was a cool game cartridge with the motion-sensitive gadgetry already built-in. So the rumored gyro-sensor for Nintendo DS games is really just an evolution of the same idea.

How would a gyro-sensor affect future DS games? After all, the DS already features a touch-screen, and game developers have not exhausted all the exciting possibilities of such a newfangled leading edge feature. With a gyro-sensor, DS games should become even more action-packed and innovative. For example, the email distributing the rumor mentioned games like Tony Hawk Downhill Jam (pictured right) where you would tilt your DS to steer your character. We recently wrote about Star Trek: Tactical Assault; imagine if games like that allow you to plot courses, make evasive maneuvers, and jump to warp speed by simply tilting the DS.

Sounds too good to be true? What if this is all a sick, cruel lie meant to mess with the brains and hearts of DS addicts? Well, a gyro cartridge is still a great idea worth exploring, and who knows, it may only be a matter of time until Nintendo or a developer releases a really good one.

Now if only there was a DS cartridge to improve our game-crazy social lives.