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It looks like Nintendo Wii owners will have to wait just a bit more for the final version of the Opera browser. According to GameSpot, Nintendo has announced that the browser, initially scheduled to be finalized in March, has been pushed back a few weeks to an April release. Nintendo claims that the extra time will be used to implement a number of changes including:
improved zoning and scrolling, a better zoomed font, quicker start-up times, faster access to favourites, the ability to erase the toolbar, and pre-set buttons for phrases like www and .com.
A toggle-able toolbar would help for viewing full-screen video and playing Flash-based games on the Wii, and the improvements to scrolling will help as well. With this announcement, it also looks like USB keyboard and mouse support is off the table; with the Wii-remote, this isn’t actually a huge deal, but would help with long input forms.
Read More 
| GameSpot
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“Understanding Games” Blows Our Minds
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Culture, Internet, Music, Strategy,
Those have you that read Scott McCloud’s tome Understanding Comics should know exactly what to expect from Understanding Games. Like Understanding Comics, Games teaches readers about videogames as a form of media, using the media itself to spread the message. Much like Understanding Comics used the power of comics to explain the rules, history, and theories behind comics, Understanding Games is a web-based flash animation / game that uses gaming to teach you about game design, game theory, and user expectations. And like any good videogame, it teaches you the rules as you “play” it, demonstrating that whoever the soon-to-be-famous creator is, they have a firm handle on how to make a great game… oh yeah, and the music is pretty great too.
Click below for Episodes 1, 2, and 3 in Understanding Games. We can only hope this tome continues to grow more over time!
Read More 
| Episode 1
Read More | Episode 2
Read More | Episode 3
Final Fintasy XIII Exclusivity “Under Discussion”
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: PlayStation 3, Rumors, Square Enix, Xbox 360,
Do you hear that? That muffled, banging sound? Yep, that’s the sound of yet another nail being driven into the PS3’s coffin. With Devil May Cry 4, Ace Combat, Grand Theft Auto, and Assassin’s Creed now non-exclusive (am I missing any more??!), and with the fairly lackluster launch of the PS3 in Europe, the 360 must be looking pretty good as a platform of choice for next-gen developers. Sony appears to be in such a pickle that even SCEE Vice President Georges Fornay has said that the exclusivity of system-seller Final Fantasy XIII is now up in the air.
Roughly translated by Google, a Jeux-France article quotes Fornay:
(Lastly, for Final Fantasy XIII, I can say to you that exclusiveness is under discussion).
My guess is that Microsoft has found itself in a good bargaining position and has been pressing their argument for non-exclusivity on game developers. And with next-gen development costs soaring, going multi-platform must be sounding like a progressively better idea to publishers and developers alike. We’ll wait for the Metal Gear Solid non-exclusivity announcement, and then I’m going to count the PS3 as officially dead.
Read More | Jeux-France
PS3 Firmware 1.60 Now Available
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
Early this morning, Sony officially made the 1.60 firmware update available for the PlayStation 3. This update includes a ton of enhancements for the console; honestly, some of the improvements should have shipped with the machine, like background downloading. A full list of the improvements and how to utilize the new features is available on Sony’s website now, but from a high level, users with 1.60 can look forward to:
- Internet Browser usability changes, including a new auto-zoom feature, a full-size virtual keyboard, flicker-fixer, and a resolution adjustment setting.
- Support for Sony’s Folding@home client for distributed protein folding research.
- Remote Play via access point, allowing Remote Play functionality for all PlayStation 3 consoles, not just the 60GB edition.
- Users can now toggle disc auto-start on the PS3
- Bluetooth keyboard and mouse support
- The ability to restore PS3 backup data onto another PS3.
A deeper look into some of the new features continues after the jump.
Click to continue reading PS3 Firmware 1.60 Now Available
Read More | Playstation.com
Gaming site Kikizo recently scored an interview with the Virtua Fighter 5 arcade lead and the designer of the PlayStation 3 version of the game, and they were able to discuss a lot about the console adaptation, the future of the franchise, and some of the reasoning behind the design decisions made for the home version of the game. Unfortunately, the two were unable to give any insight into the upcoming Xbox 360 version of the game, but they were able to talk at length about the series. The team doesn’t appear to be considering future downloadable content or microtransactions, but the team seemed open to the possibility of older versions and variants of the Virtua Fighter series becoming available, including Virtua Fighter Kids.
Read More | Kikizo
Castlevania Now Available On Live Marketplace
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
The classic PlayStation version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The game sells for 800 Microsoft Points and the demo clocks in at slightly less than 100 MB, which makes this the first Live Arcade title to break the previous 50 MB barrier. So far, the gameplay seems to be true to the older PlayStation version, but with added achievement support and various scaling modes to support HDTV resolutions. Some of the scaling modes seem to work better than others, but one should be able to find a decent match to whatever display device is in use. The original soundtrack for the game makes it to the Xbox 360 largely intact, but one can tell that music was fairly heavily compressed to get it into a reasonable file size for Live Marketplace. Beyond this and the mushy Xbox 360 D-Pad, the port is a good way for gamers to experience the title on the 10th anniversary of its release.
Read More | Gamerscoreblog
New Line Grabs Gears Of War Movie Rights
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Xbox 360,
Variety today announced that New Line studios won an auction for the feature rights to Microsoft’s Gears of War. The auction included a treatment by writer Stuart Beattie, who previously wrote Collateral and Derailed and has a writing credit for the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series. A rights purchase is pretty far from a done deal for a movie in Hollywood terms, so this may or may not hit the theaters any time soon, and Gears, while involving, didn’t really have a strong story. Its still early, but it doesn’t look like this will be the movie that transcends the video game to film stigma.
Read More | Variety
Yet Another Wiimote mod: The Glowing Nunchuk
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Mods/Hacks, Screenshots, Wii,
First there was the the totally sweet glowing A Button, then there was the the multi-color glowing A Button mod. And now, we bring you the glowing Nunchuk mod.
How much longer can it be until some enterprising hacker unveils the multi-color glowing A Button AND Nunchuk mod which will no doubt drain the poor batteries in seconds? I’ll lay money on about 3 weeks…
Read More | WiiCade Forums
Rumor: New $479 Xbox 360 SKU features 120GB HD, HDMI
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Release Dates, Rumors, Xbox 360,
The big news this morning comes to us courtesy of GameInformer magazine and a scan-happy reader, who points to a new article detailing the upgraded Xbox 360 that’s been rumored for so long. The major details so far? The new 360 will come in black (which our very own gearlive scooped right here), and it will feature built-in HDMI outputs, an HDMI cable (zing!), and an upgraded 120GB harddrive for holding all that new IPTV content. The system’s rumored to break in “late April”.
The $479 price tag is obviously meant to take another cheap shot at Sony, as MS’s most expensive SKU will still be cheaper than Sony’s cheapest PS3. Still, with all these upgrades to the console built in, it’s a wonder they forgot to include WiFi compatibility out of the box… no love for those of us with our routers in other rooms?!?
And for all of you wondering whether this is an April fool’s joke, the story appears to have been vetted by Kotaku:
Matt Helgeson, senior editor over at Game Informer, just dropped us a line to let us know that the story is in fact true. As a rule they don’t post fake news stories in their April mag. So go celebrate.
There you have it! See the scans after the jump.
Click to continue reading Rumor: New $479 Xbox 360 SKU features 120GB HD, HDMI
Read More | Kotaku.com
Europe PS3 Backward Compatibility Database Online
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3,
Sony’s backward compatibility database has gone online, and there is good news and bad news. The good news is that out of the door, Sony is listing 1,782 titles as compatible with the 1.60 firmware update. The bad news is that there are many high profile games not on the list, and many that are on the list are listed as having “noticeable issues.” God of War 2 is listed as having no known issues, along with most of the games in the Grand Theft Auto series. Unfortunately, San Andreas is listed as having noticeable issues, as are Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. Final Fantasy XII has minor issues, but Final Fantasy XI is nowhere to be found. Gran Turismo 4 Prologue is on the list, but the full game is not. The Metal Gear series looks to be compatible, though. And for those wondering, like the Xbox 360, Barbie Horse Adventures is fully compatible with the PlayStation 3. The full list is online here.
Read More | GamesIndustry.biz
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