Release notes from Mairtrus:

Well, after taking a little break, I resumed the BEX developing, and I returned with a pleasant surprise for all (I think): an engine scroll completely written in BEX. Currently works with 64X64 blocks of pixels (8X8 tiles), because I followed the Devster’s idea, but, actually, works pretty slow. I am working to create a more fluid movement.

It works drawing each tile separately, reading it directly from a list. By using the command DrawTile instead of DrawTiles or DrawTilesInc, you can make, within the same block, that the tiles has different palettes, priorities or reflections.

I know what everyone is thinking while reading this message, and the answer is YES: it will be open source for anyone who intends to use it.Just let me improve it a bit to make it as accurate as possible, although I may take a while …

For now I leave with a small demo that shows part of the level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros for NES. You can scroll it with the D-Pad. Just 3 observations…
1) Only shows a small part of the level because I am too lazy to finish it just to release a demo.
2) When the ground moves vertically, may appear to the same drawing, but no. It is just a test to demonstrate both the ability to scroll horizontally and vertically.
3) The numbers listed top right are just of verification, and are nothing more than the number of horizontal interruptions that were executed during the drawing of the tiles.

http://devster.proboards22.com/index.cgi?board=basiegaxorz&action=display&thread=431

Dave ported his GP32 Spectrum emulator ZXGP32 over to the GP2x.

Release notes:

I ported my GP32 spectrum emulator across to the GP2X. I was a little disappointed with the results for the following reasons.

The GP32 could run 48K games full speed at 66Mhz, the GP2X needs 120Mhz (120 v 160 respectively for 128K games). Considering they are using exactly the same z80 core (just with some data tables moved around to comply with Linux’s more stringent assembly rules) I find this rather baffling, maybe it is because the GP32 is a simpler device.

The emulator pauses for a split second every now and again, I don’t think it is the code directly causing this (as again there were no issues with GP32) but I wonder if it is because I’m am using bad coding techniques under Linux.

Every now and again the emulator freezes completely, I suspect this and the point above are related but I have no idea what the specific cause is.

There are other issues I don’t understand, currently the emulator runs in a while (1) {} loop, but I wanted to add the option to quit back to gmenu, but something as simple as changing it to while (quit_emu==0) {} causes the emulator to crash.

TBH, I’ve got to the point where I’ve lost interest in it a bit but I thought I may as well post it into the file archives ( http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,72,2724 ) and include the source in case anyone with a lot more talent for coding than me fancied fixing it. If anyone does, please try your best to refrain from pointing out what a mess my code is!

Dave

http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=46233

Menu Patcher is an app inspired by Starfall, designed to permanently mod your System Menu. It is open source, and can easily be extended to include new patches.

System Menu patching is VERY DANGEROUS! Not only that, but this program does not check for a specific System Menu version, like Starfall does. This program also uses a guess ‘n check method for installing the patches, which makes it a little less safe to use – It will prompt you, however, if there is more than one possible patch.

This homebrew application will brick your Wii if you misuse it!

Thanks to http://www.tehskeen.com for the news.

http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Menu_Patcher

Snatcher has released a remake of the classic Atari 2600 game Seaquest for the Nintendo DS.

http://www.tehskeen.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=10299

Spinal Cord has released a revamped version of his multimedia based loading software for the Nintendo DS. DSision 2, like the highly popular DsKiosk application allows you to launch your homebrew from a customizable GUI. DSision takes it a step further with being able to customize the entire GUI, icons and box art for your games (as DsKiosk only supports homebrew).

Features:

Works on R4DS [so far]
Larger, higher resolution, higher color depth icons
Custom icons per file/folder
GBA support through EZ 3-in-1
[Potential] Commercial game support on some cards (TTDS, AceKard, R4DS)
EZ 3-in-1 RAM unlocking for OperaDS

Thanks to http://socoder.net/index.php?blogs=17111 & http://www.gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=92740 & http://forum.palib.info/index.php?topic=6470 & http://www.nintendomax.com/ & http://www.tehskeen.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=10301 for the news!

http://socoder.net/index.php?blogs=17111

SMS Plus PSP is a Sega Master System and Game Gear emulator for PlayStation Portable.

Release notes:

SMS Plus PSP now includes the Time Rewind feature I mentioned earlier. To enable it, map any button to ‘Special: Rewind’. The feature alone takes up 85% of PSP’s memory, and I’m unsure what ramifications this might have for certain configurations, but if you come across problems, let me know.

Approximately 20 seconds of recent gameplay is saved, and saving is done once every five frames.

Thanks to http://www.tehskeen.com for the news.

http://psp.akop.org/smsplus

Eugene Plotnikov has updated his SMS (Simple Media System) multimedia playing application for the Sony PS2. Using this program you can view multimedia files including DIVX, AVI, XVID, MPEG, MP3, etc … on your Sony Playstation 2 video gaming console.

Changes:

– refactored I/O code (got rid of iomanX/fileXio stuff). This is actually
a first step to the new I/O subsystem that I am planning to implement;
– fixed glitch in 1080i video mode;
– fixed power off problem;
– changed A/V synchronization code yet again in order to prevent application
lock-up for badly interleaved .avi files;
– added functionality to configure “reset” button action (power-off/exit) in
“SMS menu -> Browser settings”;

Thanks to http://www.tehskeen.com for the news.

http://home.casema.nl/eugene_plotnikov/

EP has released a new version of his Unofficial version of LaunchELF. uLaunchELF is a front end or operating system or sorts for the Sony Playstation 2 that allows you to browse and boot homebrew from various sources including memory cards, usb devices, hard drives and the built in dvd-rom drive.

Changes:

– Fixed ‘disc control’ bugs in FileBrowser and JpgViewer browser
– Improved recognition of disc types, displayed in main menu. ESR discs are shown as “ESR DVD (off)” if ESR driver needs to be activated to access disc contents, but as “ESR DVD (on)” if no driver activation is needed (if already running, or when used with a modchip)
– Upgraded USBHDFSD of uLE to SVN rev 1516 by radad, fixing a bug in FAT16 usage

Thanks to http://www.tehskeen.com for the news.

http://psx-scene.com/forums/official-ulaunchelf-forums/37242-unofficial-launchelf-v4-36-a.html

wFacebook is a new WinMo Facebook application.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=471972

MobilePad is a light, speedy text document editor that allows you to create quick notes or long journals for daily activities right on your Windows Mobile Phone. Version 1.0 contains most of the functionalities of the popular text editor Notepad for Windows that we all know.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=473197