Friday, November 28th 2003 - Last updated @ 03:37 EST
Lord of the Rings pinball reviews - Stern's upcoming pinball The Lord of the Rings is starting to show up at various locations.. Four machines were present at a trade show in Orlando last week, the test machine in Chicago is out and games have been shipped to the United Kingdom and other countries. In addition to Stern's new site linked above, two other comprehensive reviews are now online. The first is by TheKorn, Wolffy and Yancy and can be found here. The second review is over at Pinball News, as they review a British version of the machine. Both reviews are very positive, and I know for a fact the first crew (Korn et al) can be quite harsh if they feel the game isn't up to snuff. Definitly looks like this machine will be a winner! Look for it on location near you in the coming weeks.
- metallik
Nuon Emulator Updated - Nuance, the Nuon emulator has been updated to v0.1.0. Many, many bugs have been fixed and improvements made, with the end result being this release will play some commercial games! Tempest 3000, Merlin Racing and Space Invaders XL all run "perfectly," but obviously very slowly. Tetris runs with graphical glitches. Check this site for all the details and downloads.
- metallik
Thursday, November 27th 2003 - Last updated @ 11:37 EST
MameAnalog+ Updated - MameAnalog+ ver 0.77.1 has been released, this is the version of mame with all sorts of additions involving mice and analog joysticks
- sixtoe
Various MAME Updates - Catching up, several of the MAME devs have updated their personal WIP pages in the past week or so, showing what they're working on at the moment and with little updates here and there -
Haze - Mobile Suit Gundam EX Revue
Aaron Giles - CHD format update (and good news!)
Bryan McPhail - Tatsumi Hardware (among others)
- sixtoe
AdvanceMAME 0.77.0 Released - AdvanceMAME 0.77.0 was released about a week ago, completely forgot to mention it, one of the main things is the addition of ACT Labs gun support in Linux now. Also AdvanceMENU has been updated to v2.2.14 and AdvanceCOMP has been updated to v1.9, but if you have a cab you've probably updated already :)
- sixtoe
Spectrum 128k Updated - Spectrum 128k has been released as a test version of the MESS Spectrum 128k emulator, more games are now working and details can be found on the site
- sixtoe
GEST Updated - GEST, an open source emulator for Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Super Game Boy has been updated to v0.82, making some more games and demos work now, thanks to TheInformer
- sixtoe
KEGS Updated - KEGS, An open source Apple //gs emulator for Mac OS X, Win32, Linux, and Unix/X11 has been updated to v0.84, as always, bugs have been fixed and features added, thanks to TheInformer
- sixtoe
eSMS updated - eSMS has been updated to v1.03, with lots of fixes and additons, and drops the usage of the SDL library now, thanks to TheInformer
- sixtoe
InfoGB Released - InfoGB, an open source Gameboy emulator has been released as InfoGB v0.5j (link ran through translator), thanks to TheInformer
- sixtoe
KiGB Updated - KiGB, the free portable emulator for Gameboy, Gameboy Color and Super Gameboy has been updated to v1.54. Lots of fixes and additions, thanks to TheInformer
- sixtoe
Wednesday, November 26th 2003 - Last updated @ 05:22 EST
Sega 3D Ages western bound - The Sega 3D Ages series for the PS2 has picked up a publisher for the western world and are going to be released in 2004, the budget series includes remixed/remade versions of at least Fantasy Zone, Golden Axe, Monaco GP (not "super"), Phantasy Star I/II/Generation 1, Space Harrier, Virtua Racing, Gain Ground, Bonanza Brothers / Tant-R Puzzle & Action, Columns, Afterburner, Alex Kidd, Outrunners, Last Bronx and Streets Of Rage.
Personally I'm looking forward to what is supposed to be an almost perfect direct conversion of Virtua Racing :)
- sixtoe
Tuesday, November 25th 2003 - Last updated @ 00:01 EST
BeebEm/DC Developer Release was released a few days ago. It's an emulator for the Acorn Model B BBC Microcomputer on the Dreamcast (yes, I still have a Dreamcast, and I still love it). I haven't had a chance to try this out, I think I'm gonna nab it and burn it off after I get done typing this. You can click here to read up on what's new and/or changed, and click right here if you just wanna leech. Thanks to wraggster over at DCEmulation for the news.
- dhalamar
Saturday, November 22nd 2003 - Last updated @ 12:06 EST
SainT Update - Saint, the Atari ST emulator, has been updated to Saint v1.50 fixing lots of bugs, its also now the first emulator that can run Hardware 4bits SyncScroller. Thanks to TheInformer for the headsup.
- sixtoe
Thursday, November 20th 2003 - Last updated @ 19:00 EST
FBA Released...And Again FBA v0.2.94.56 was released tonight, then taken down again almost right away because the DAT generation was borked. The less dodgy FBA v0.2.94.96 is now available from the downloads section, if you got the first one its probably worth grabbing the new updated one.
Also, be sure to follow the instructions when updating.
- sixtoe
Wednesday, November 19th 2003 - Last updated @ 13:56 EST
xmame/xmess 0.77 - Less than a month and there's already a new MAME and MESS to catch up with; the result is xmame/xmess-0.77.1.Changes:
Everything from MAME 0.77 and MESS 0.77.
Ported two more effects from AdvanceMAME: hq2x and lq2x. (Pieter Hulshoff)
Adjusted and cleaned up some YUV code. (Alastair Robinson)
The SDL video mode search now stops if it finds the exact resolution requested. (Thomas Jarosch)
Improved the Superboard II emulation in xmess. For details, see here (Claudio Nieder)
Added support for the Solaris joystick driver available from here (Philip Brown)
Virtual GameBoy Advance 2.1 - VGBA is a portable emulator of the Nintendo's GameBoy Advance handheld videogame consoles. Changes:
* Save (.SAV) file format has changed due to addition of >64kB FlashROMs.
* State (.STA) file format has changed due to addition of RTC and >64kB FlashROMs.
* The old -flash has been changed to -flashid.
* The new -flash sets the number of FlashROM address bits (>=16).
* Added RTC support (clock in Pokemon series).
* Added support for >64kB FlashROMs (Pokemon series, etc.).
* Added MIDIKey2Freq() to the BIOS emulation (thanks to Aaron Oneal).
* Fixed a bug in the ArcTan2() emulation (Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow).
* Fixed possible memory corruption in EEPROM emulation (Lord Of The Rings).
* Fixed SMULL/SMLAL opcodes.
* VBlank interrupt now occurs with HBlank in line 160 (Robot Wars).
* Now recomputing sprites every time screen mode changes (Ice Age).
* Now setting unused KEYSTAT bits to zeroes (Defender Of The Crown).
* Now updating C flag when immediate value is rotated in an ALU operation (Desert Strike).
- chris
Some AtariAge News - If you haven't read AtariAge recently, they've posted quite a few interesting items. Here's a few highlights:
CaSTaway/Palm - Here's a bit of handheld emulation news some people might enjoy... Jeff Mitchell recently ported CaSTaway, an Atari St emulator, to the Palm OS platform! The result is CaSTaway/Palm, which works well on devices like Palm T|T3, T|C, Sony UX60, 70, 80 and UX series! And once Jeff receives his Tapwave Zodiac (check out ZodiacGamer) he plans to tweak the emu even more for that device. Because Jeff tends to work very fast on his emulators, keep an eye on his CaSTaway/Palm forum for the latest updates.
- prophet
ClrMAME Pro 3.08 - Roman Scherzer updated his famous ROM auditing and rebuilding utility, ClrMAME Pro! It supports the upcoming new CHD format in MAME.
added: support for the new chd format
fixed: tooltip for "available sets" button is wrong
Tuesday, November 18th 2003 - Last updated @ 20:46 EST
WineX 3.2 - TransGaming's release of WineX 3.2 allows you to play more of the hottest, high-demand games than ever before on your favorite Linux distribution. Enjoy Max Payne 2, WarCraft [R] III: The Frozen Throne [TM], HomeWorld 2 and many others with WineX 3.2. In addition to this, the under-the-hood features include many new sound, graphics and speed improvements; an update to OpenGL 1.4; improved game play and enhancements to favorites like Battlefield 1942 and Diablo II; and a greatly reduced memory requirement for many games. Read more about these features here.
- chris
MESS 0.77 - The MESS team has released an update of the Multi-System emulator. This release features many new improvements to the Atari 7800 driver, a rewrite to the cassette handling routines, and more improvements to the Coleco driver. You can read the full changelog here. Enjoy!
- chris
Monday, November 17th 2003 - Last updated @ 19:33 EST
FakeNES WIP November 16 - A work-in-progress build has also been released for the NES emulator, FakeNES. Here's what's new:
- Unified individual blitter size checks using a macro. [stainlessKnight]
- Added 32-bit support. [stainlessKnight]
- Increased chat message buffer size from 4 to 10 lines. [stainlessKnight]
- Input 'Start' and 'Select' buttons configuration reversed fix. [stainlessKnight]
- MetaFox
Virtual Jaguar 0.8 WIP - A work-in-progress version of Virtual Jaguar, the Atari Jaguar emulator for Windows, has been released.
- MetaFox
PGen 1.1 - PGen, a Sega Genesis emulator for the PS2, has been updated. Here's what's new:
-Just about all PS2 specific code re-written
-Started using gsLib for graphics
-Added scroll bar to romlist and Save Manager
-Added support for loading ROM's from the memory cards
-Added HDD support. Now possible to save/load states and options to the HDD, and load ROM's from the HDD
-CD refresh obsolete, removed
-Added support for zipped roms
-Filtering now available for rendering (hardware linear filtering)
-Saved states now use zlib for compression. Old saves are incompatible.
-Killed support for OLD JAP consoles (sorry )
-Fixed bug with FIFO empty (VDP control port) emulation. Fixes games such as Wonderboy 5 and Splatterhouse 2.
-Added multitap support for use in 4 player games
-No longer load modules from cdrom, making it possible to boot from a memory card via the PS2 Independence exploit
-Many other misc changes
www.aarongiles.com updated - Aaron has updated his site with details of the changes coming to the CHD (hard drive) format for the next mame release, there have been some alterations so that it can support CD Images and similar from now on.
There will be a new tool available called chdman, which replaces the current hdcomp, which will convert your existing dumps to the new format.
- sixtoe
Sunday, November 16th 2003 - Last updated @ 20:36 EST
Mac M1 Updated - Mac M1 v0.7.3 for Mac OS X has now been brought up to date and in line with the windows and linux versions, it also has, as Richard Bannister says, a funky new Brushed Metal UI, which does look kinda groovy :)
- sixtoe
BridgeM1 Updated - Fujix has released an update to BridgeM1, my frontend of choice for M1, fixing bugs, adding features and bringing it (almost) into line with the latest additions to M1 v0.73.
Get both the main program and the latest list pack (track listings) from his E2J site.
- sixtoe
M1 Updated - R Belmont has released an update to his excellent M1 arcade music and sound emulator for windows and linux. M1 v0.73 adds loads more games, features and fixes lots of bugs, far too many things to list here, so head along and download it :)
- sixtoe
Saturday, November 15th 2003 - Last updated @ 15:22 EST
Nebula Updates - Nebula was updated a couple of days ago, and the groovy Nebula Model 2 Version was updated today,
Nebula Model 2 v0.9b whatsnew:
------------------------------
-Fixed some 2B games sound that was broken in previous version.
-Fixed STCC sound.
-Fixed a bug in the DSP emulation that caused STCC stopwatch values wrong.
-Fixed the force feedback option in nebula.ini not being read by the driver (UseM2Force)
Nebula 2.23d whatsnew:
----------------------
NEOGEO CD
-Fixed Neogeo CD not working in previous version
-Fixed some protection issues in Soccer Brawl, It might fix the Disc I/O errors too
PGM
-Fixed PGM games not working in previous version
GENERAL
-Hopefully fixed the dat files errors
New Final Burn Alpha - FBA v0.2.94.56 has just been released, was told last night and apparently according to the author its a dodgy alpha ;)
What's New?
-----------
v0.2.94.56
This is an alpha release!
- Added a driver for Neogeo games;
- too many other improvements to name;
v0.2.94
- Added a driver for Cave games;
- Added a driver for Rainbow Islands;
- Added support for X-Arcade joystick;
- Improved compatibility of the Direct3D blitter, and added new options;
- re-added 3x macros for Street Fighter 2 style games;
- Added 4-point interpolation to the ADPCM sound cores;
English Outrun 2 site launched - Not retro, but if like me you loved Outrun, (and lets face it, who didnt?) you're probably as excited about the upcoming Outrun 2 as I am. Well, the English Outrun 2 site has just launched, and includes loads of information and some great downloads.
The games released at the end of this month in Japan, so expect to see it by the end of the year, and by all accounts its meant to be a cracking game.
- sixtoe
System 16 Updated - And what better way to start than pimping my own site!
Apart from the normal updates (and some nice new Sega games) I've added another little section which is just full of stuff I like or find weird, that'll probably grow a bit. Check out the site and help fill in the gaps if you can :)
- sixtoe
Say 'Hi' To Sixtoe - Please welcome Sixtoe (of System16.com) to the staff. Perhaps we'll get more than 5 updates/week now ;)
- atila
Friday, November 14th 2003 - Last updated @ 14:52 EST
Misc MAME Releases - Whilst I'm here I may as well add some news as there appears to be a few things missing.
- Oh and we have a $1000 Arcade Cabinet builders dream competition at MW too. IPac's, joysticks, buttons and cabinet plans in a name the MAME sample competition, all donated by Game Cabinets.
- RocLobsta
MAME Dumping Project BuckFlood - Hi all, it's been a while! Anyhow I popped in to get a wider audience for the Dumping Project BuckFlood that's in progress.
Basically, NoRomsMoron came up with the idea that all emu/MAME fans donate at least a buck (1$ US) to the Dumping Project. Basically anyone can afford to donate, all amounts are equally welcomed.
See the news from yesterday (13th) at MAMEWorld for the lowdown.
$800 has been received in 24 hours so far, but it's all been allocated already. Gin in Japan has come across some rare 80's boards that we are now able to get our hands on. Funds are now required for the board rental idea (hire, dump, return), so please donate what you can. You know it'll be worth it :)
- RocLobsta
Tuesday, November 11th 2003 - Last updated @ 21:34 EST
Lord of the Rings playfield - The first playfield picture of Stern's upcoming Lord of the Rings has now been posted - check it out here. IMHO this looks VERY nice! If you want one of these, head over to Stern's website and look up a local distributor.
- metallik
MAME 0.77 Released - MAME has been updated again! Here's what's new. Tons of fixes, updates & additions, including Seattle Hardware emulation (courtesy Aaron Giles) supporting games like Mace - The Dark Age, Blitz '99, CarnEvil & Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey!
- prophet
Monday, November 10th 2003 - Last updated @ 00:51 EST
LOTR flyer - A kind individual on rec.games.pinball just posted this link to a copy of Stern's flyer for the upcoming Lord of the Rings pinball. The rumor mill has this shipping within the week, placing it on location in time for the release of The Return of the King.
- metallik
Friday, November 7th 2003 - Last updated @ 01:17 EST
Nestopia v1.09 - My favorite NES emulator Nestopia has seen another update today. Among a bunch of other changes, this version adds adds netplay (Kaillera).
- Griking
Thursday, November 6th 2003 - Last updated @ 09:13 EST
Diablo 2 v1.10 - In more late, off topic news, the long awaited Diablo 2 1.10 patch has finally been released after over a year of waiting. There have been tons of changes, some good, some not so good. Details of the patch can be read here.
- Griking
VisualBoy Advance v1.7b3 - This news is a few days old now but a new beta of VisualBoy Advance has been released. Changes really aren't noted except that "This fixes several of the problems reported with beta 2 and some new function."
- Griking
EmuLoader v4.1 - Emuloader, the Mame front end has been updated again. There seems to be a ton of changes which can be viewed here.
- Griking
Gest v.81a - Gest, the Windows based Gameboy emulator has seen an update and a quick bug fix today. Changes in the two releases are;
v.81a
-Trying to load zipped roms would crash the emulator, fixed.
v.81
Added gameboy link emulation
Added option to change joystick buttons config
Added GBC "washed out" LCD colors option
Fixed screen flashing in weird colors or black between screen changes in SGB games:
*Akazukin Cha-Cha (J)
*Kirby 2
*Zankurou Musouken (J)
*etc.
Fixed graphics problems in:
*Aero Star
*Ball (Bung)(PD)[C]
*Beach 'n Ball (E)(M5)[C][!]
*Fli-Plasma (PD)[C]
*Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal
*Ranma ½ - Part 2
*Senkai Imonroku Junteitaisen (J)[C][!]
Fixed emulator crashing when loading some games smaller than 32KB
-Kirby's Block Ball crashed the emulator if sound was on
-fixed screen flashed black sometimes when game resetted
Games that now work:
*Dragon Ball Z Goku 2 (J)[S][T-Chinese]
*Super Robot War 2G (J)[S]
*SQRXZ (PD)
*Cube Raider (PD)
*FreeArt Intro V2 (PD) and FreeArt Intro V3 (PD)
*Green Beret (PD)
Graphics problems (re)appear in:
*Interrupts Demo(PD)
*Legend of Zerd (J)
Monday, November 3rd 2003 - Last updated @ 20:16 EST
Back In Time - The latest episode of Back In Time is now available. For this epiosde, Mike Stulir interviews Cindy Morgan, one of the stars of the videogame cult-classic motion picture TRON.
- chris
Retrogaming Radio - Our biggest show ever! This month we interview the creator of Q-Bert, Joust 2, Us vs. Them and many other great titles and technology - Warren Davis. We review the PC version of Halo (just to set the record straight). We start our multi-segment in depth look at the Amiga computer (this month, the history of Amiga). Shane rants about people selling out their products; selling out the consumer at the same time. A HUGE Bits & Bytes segment, and of course tons more. Its a big show, so stream it if ya can!
- chris
Guru Dumps - The Guru has news of a ton of new stuff ariving! There is also an update on the Model 3 status page.
- chris
