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Square Enix announced today it is bringing Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes Of Time to North America in Spring 2009, an interesting cross-platform multiplayer action-RPG that is playable on the Nintendo DS and the Wii.

Press Release: Wii and Nintendo DS Owners Unite! Square Enix Announces FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Echoes of Time for North America

The Latest in the Franchise Breaks Down the Walls between Handheld and Console Platforms

LOS ANGELES (December 1, 2008) – Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of Square Enix® interactive entertainment products in North America, announced today that FINAL FANTASY® CRYSTAL CHRONICLES®: Echoes of Time™ will be released for both Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ in Spring 2009.

Players can choose to play alone or with friends, whenever and however they like in FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Echoes of Time. Arriving simultaneously on both Wii and DS, this latest entry in the FINAL FA... More »  


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After being initially announced nearly a week ago, and then mysteriously vanishing three days ago, today PlayStation 3 Firmware Update 2.53 is officially available!

Download: PS3 Firmware Update 2.53 (US) / PS3 Firmware Update 2.53 (EU)

Changes per Eric Lempel of the PlayStation Blog:

Hi everyone, in the next PS3 firmware update (v2.53) we’re improving the way the Flash Player works with the Interne... More »  


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It's no secret that iPhone has turned the mobile phone industry on its head, sliding past its smartphone rivals with its sexy design. We know Apple has opened a new chapter in mobile technology, but the real story behind this is how the iPhone is quietly taking over pocket gaming.

Business Week has already pointed out what is clearly becoming a new player in the handheld market. Apple has set iPhone on the right track to contend with Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable as the definitive portable gaming platform new figures show. Sales of iPhone continue to increase with each passing month, not to mention downloads from the App Store.

Momentum behind iPhone can't be discredited either as developers both large and small are flocking to the system. It all points to the strong possibility that iPhone could become the leading device for handheld gaming in the coming years.

The argument isn't a new one, as we were one of the first to identify the pote... More »  


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Microsoft once had a near monopoly on Web browsers with Explorer, so it comes almost as a shock to find that the Web browser most used to access Bruceongames is Firefox 3 and that even the undermarketed Chrome has made a significant impact.

When it comes to search Google always had the majority of the market but MSN now seems to have slipped away to nearly nothing. It doesn’t bring many people here.

You can forgive the above because Microsoft, famously, misunderstood the internet so came to it late. Operating systems are different though, Microsoft have owned this sector since MSDOS. But even here there are massive cracks appearing. By far the fastest growing section of the PC industry is Netbooks.

And the Linux derived Ubuntu has become a great success. Microsoft have fought back by bringing XP from the grave. But they are imposing stupid maximum system specifications that attempt to defy Moore’s law.

And of course their worst ... More »  


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BBC staff member Jon (iPlayer Host) has stated on their forums (linked above) that they have fixed issues people were having using the BBC iPlayer on the PlayStation 3 console.

To quote: Kalel2008: As soon as I read on the Web site that you can play videos from the iplayer on the PS3, I was so excited untill I found that it was not true.

dosyman: You can, but it's an unofficial site. www.ps3iplayer.com

Steve9719: There's an even more official way to get the iPlayer working on the PS3. Simply visit the Wii version of the site: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/bigscreen/

Jon (iPlayer Host): We're putting in a fix soon that should make everything better (for the PS3 at least). Update: We've put the fix in and it should now work correctly.


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Empire: Total War, is the new installment in The Creative Assembly’s Total War RTS franchise and will maintain the series 3D battles, grand turn based campaign map and rich historical flavor; while for the first time introducing 3D naval combat into the series.

Below is an interview with one of the game's developers:

WP: Who has the honor to speak with us? State your name, rank, and occupation!

Kieran Brigden, studio communications manager for Creative Assembly.

WP: Empire Total War marks the first time that the Total War series has had really intricate naval battles. Why have them now?

KB: Well, it's a combination of factors. One, we've wanted to do it for a while but the technology was ready now. Two, it's the period that's right for it. When you add naval battles to the game, you have to do it when it's interesting, enjoyable, and fun. The 18th century was the absolute height of cool naval warfare. You had thi... More »  


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Courtesy of Sierradev comes update v0.2 of the Nintendo Wii Homebrew Disc Channel today. Using the Homebrew Disc Channel, you can load homebrew programs from regular ISO9660 DVDs. It supports (sub)directories.

Note: the name Homebrew Disc Channel is actually wrong; the program was intended as either an add-on to the Wii Disc Channel or a separate channel, but due to the fact that BootMii will need an SD card to load, turning this program into anything other than a regular homebrew program will be useless in a couple of months.

The name will be changed at the next release to Homebrew Disc Loader.

Download: Wii Homebrew Disc Channel v0.2

Usage
- Rename programs to boot.dol and put them in separate (sub)directories on the DVD.
- Burn as ISO9660 DVD.
- Put disc in console and start program.
- Follow on-screen instructions.
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Reports of the "Jasper" model of the Xbox 360 have been reported to have been in stores since as early as late September, and now a newer report gives us some better details on what to look for, particularly the output voltage on the power brick.

The Jasper chipset is, essentially, supposed to be better in every way, this including the amount of power it requires. So it seems, any 360 made after October 23, 2008 should have the chipset.

My only question is: why the heck wouldn't this be advertised and on the box? I guess if they did that a lot of unsuspecting customers would have suddenly been suspecting, meaning less sales since launch. Still!

VentureBeat reporter and "renowned Microsoft digger" Dean Takahashi has done a... More »  


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