Microsoft says Xbox 'abuse' caused baby killing fire

Posted By: wraggster

via joystiq

Microsoft has finally responded to the lawsuit filed by an Illinois couple who lost their baby in a fire allegedly caused by an Xbox. Microsoft, in court papers filed last Friday, says, "Losses and damages, if any, resulted from misuse or abuse of the Xbox console at issue." Microsoft is asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit.

Microsoft did have to replace power cords on the original Xbox back in 2005 due to fire concerns. These cord fire stories even make the rounds at local news stations years after the original incident occurred. Details are still weak as to what's going on here. We know that an original Xbox cord can burn down your house, but we don't really know what the family of the dead infant did to cause the fire like Microsoft claims. Microsoft tried blaming consumers for RROD incidents for the last two years and we know how that ended up.

1 comments - Last Comment By Elven6

Team Xecuter closes its doors but opens for other products

Posted By: bandit

We were sad to discover that many stores were raided yesterday in the USA for selling modchips. Due to all the recent uprise of hacks-out-of-the-box like Wii mods and Pre flashed Xbox mods and pre-flashed 360 consoles we feared this would probably happen.

We feel our mods are shipped in a legal format with Linux pre loaded and any other products we make contain no copyrighted code and no circumvention of copy protection.

However, due to these crazy times we have taken the decision not to supply any linux based modchips (X2 and X3) to any USA stores in future and we will be concentrating on non-modchip products that will benefit and add enjoyment to gaming in general.

Source: Team Xecuter

0 comments - Last Comment By bandit

DidntXSpectrum FUSE Spectrum Emulator port for XBox v1

Posted By: wraggster

New emulator for the Xbox from Xport, heres the details:

DidntXSpectrum FUSE Spectrum Emulator port for XBox v1

http://xport.xbox-scene.com

http://fuse-emulator.sourceforge.net/

Features :

- Emulates the Spectrum 16/48/128/Plus2/Plus2a/Plus3/Plus3e/TC2048/
TC2068/TS2068/Pentagon/Scorpion/SE

- Excellent compatibility - ported from FUSE

- ZIP/Relax/SMB support

- Save states

- Rewind/Slowmotion

- All the other standard XPort features


Notes
-----

Put games in the \SPECGAMES directory

Didn't expect this one, did you?

0 comments - Last Comment By wraggster

WonderSwanX WonderSwan Emulator port for XBox v3

Posted By: wraggster

New release for the Xbox from Xport, heres the details:

WonderSwanX WonderSwan Emulator port for XBox v3

http://xport.xbox-scene.com

What's new:

- Updated to most recent core UI
(rewind, slomo, garbage directory, video fixes, etc, etc, etc)

- Added controls for the 2nd directional pad
(Up-Y, Down-Y, Left-Y, Right-Y)

- Added button mapping to rotate screen during gameplay
(Rotate-screen)

- Updated to oswan073b6 core



Stella, Gnuboy, SMSPlus, FCEUltra, HUGO, NeoPop, DGen, Bochs, HUGO-CD,
FMSXBox, Bliss, WinSTon, Gens, Z26X, StepmaniaX, PCSXBox, XBoyAdvance,
DOSXBox, AtariXLBox, MirrorMagicX, KoboX, MaelstromX, MarblesX, Vice64X,
Vice20X, VicePETX, KegsX, XPired, AdamX, WonderSwanX, BeatsOfRageX,
PowermangaX, LynxBox, BlueMSXBox, GladiatorX, AmphetamineX, StarfighterX,
PachiX, BlobWarsX, OdysseyX, ArnoldX, X68000X, WinUAEX, MekaX,
MednafenX-NES, MednafenX-PCE, MednafenX-Lynx, AbuseX, PokemonMiniX,
Classic99X, SoftVMUX, VirtualBoyX, SuperVisionX, Chip8X, Atari7800X
What's next?

Enjoy!

0 comments - Last Comment By wraggster

Apple iPhone and iPod News Launched

Posted By: wraggster

We today announce the relaunch and new direction for our former Apple site that covered all things Apple. Today we go back to our Console Scene roots and with the emergence of whats going to be a very strong Homebrew scene for the Apple iPhone we will be covering every bit of news and releases for the Apple Iphone.

In the last week we have seen releases of a Nes emulator and also of a port of Doom to the Iphone, even better today it emerged that a MAME Arcade emulator is being worked on for the Iphone.

Check out the site here --> http://apple.dcemu.co.uk/

9 comments - Last Comment By Smokerman

Fusex V0.6 Spectrum Emulator

Posted By: wraggster

via xbox scene

FuseX is a Xbox port of FUSE, the Free Unix Spectrum Emulator, and will allow you to play ZX Spectrum software on your Xbox games console.
What's new/fixed:
* NEW: Zip support.
* NEW: Enabled graphics filters.
* NEW: Emulator settings loading/saving.
* NEW: Settings now saved per game (joystick setting and joypad config).
* NEW: Tape fast-fwd loading option.
* NEW: Tape control menu.
* NEW: Subdirectory browsing in file list menu.
* NEW: Re-Mappable buttons for emulator actions.
* NEW: Nice splashscreen and dashboard icon. [Thanks Antiriad!]
* NEW: Savestate slots now have an info panel to tell you what is in each slot.
* NEW: Snaps can be stored anywhere on the HD instead of just within FuseX dir.
* NEW: Wrote some proper documentation.
* NEW: Added more user-tweakable settings for RZX demo mode.
* CHANGED: UI is a bit nicer and more user friendly.
* CHANGED: Virtual keyboard looks nicer and can be moved with the analog stick.
* CHANGED: General optimizations. Should be less sluggish now.
* CHANGED: Joypad mappings menu is more user-friendly.
* FIXED: RZX loading _much_ faster.
* FIXED: RZX memory leak.
* FIXED: Big RZX files should now load.
* FIXED: RZX compatibility improved.
* FIXED: Sound stuttering (note: fix only works on PAL compatible boxes).
* FIXED: Vertical and horizontal line running through centre of the screen.
* FIXED: Lots of bugs.

Official Site: http://fusex.sourceforge.net/

0 comments - Last Comment By wraggster

The State of the Homebrew Scene August 2007

Posted By: wraggster

Its now mid August 2007 and time for a new State of the Homebrew Scene for the latter of this year.

Because we are the only dedicated Homebrew Network on the web covering just about all scenes (and if not then we will ) I feel its a good time to give a low down on each scene.

First off though lets remind all that Homebrew is not the same as warez. (Please Read Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft)

Also I would like to point out that each scene owes its life to the many hardware and software hackers who discover the exploits we come to enjoy so much today, they are then followed by the many worldwide coders who make the Homebrew scene a free and enjoyable place to hang out and make friends etc.

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Lets take a look at each scene.

Apple iPhone

Apples new touch screen mobile phone has in the last week or two exploded onto the homebrew scene with multiple releases each day. Already we have had Nes Emulators and ports of Doom and projects such as the Arcade emulator MAME will bring masses to this new homebrew Scene. The Phone isnt on a worldwide release yet but the possibilities of a mainstream homebrew scene are staring at us . Short term future looks very interesting.

Xbox360

The Xbox360 still only relies on Microsofts XNA (Basically an Official Homebrew Dev from MS). The only downer to XNA is that its not a mainstream solution. We have seen some games and emulators for it but with Microsoft pulling the strings you will be limited as to what you will see. Hacking on the Xbox seems to be limited to just the firmware and sadly the ability to play backed up games. As of writing there's no news of the killer Homebrew breakthrough we all want and the recent modchip raids will make it harder still for an exploit to be found. The best way to move on is for a softmod exploit for Homebrew to be released. In the short term the only Homebrew your going to see for the 360 is XNA.

PS3

Sony played a blinder by giving the ability to install Linux onto the PS3, sadly though Linux is really only used by coders and the more hardcore user, we have already had some games that use linux to boot but because of size limitations its not feasible in the long run, a 50MB release for a small game certainly isn't what we all want. Only last week a new exploit was found on the latest PS3 firmware but we are going to have to wait to see if Homebrew will eventually arise from it. In the short term it looks like your stuck with linux.

Nintendo Wii

Nintendos Wii console is already an emulation fans dream, the ability to play N64, Snes, Nes, Gamecube, Megadrive and PC Engine on this console make it a killer buy and recently Neogeo and MSX games have been announced to be arriving soon on the Virtual Console.

Now that's all very well but Nintendo last week in one firmware update killed the ability to load the Freeloader and SD Media Launcher. The only chance you have of playing Gamecube Homebrew on the Wii now is via a Modchip and with the raids on modchip suppliers last week this is a very dodgy area. Nintendo with every firmware update are closing the doors to exploits and that in turn closes the door to Homebrew. The short term future for Wii only Homebrew is that if you want emulators your going to have to use the Virtual Console or have a Modchip installed and wait for an exploit. Sadly it looks like a long wait.

Sony Playstation Portable

The PSP Homebrew Scene is still the biggest mainstream noticed Homebrew scene of any generation, we now have homebrew support up to 2 behind Sonys Latest firmware. Custom Firmwares now give you full speed PSX Emulation and the community continues to pump out game after game. Nintendo 64 emulation gets closer to that elusive full speed and even last week a Nintendo DS Emulator was released for the PSP. Recent highlights include PSPTube which enables those of you with an Homebrew PSP to watch Youtube Videos on your PSP direct from the Net. The release of the PSPSlim aka PSP2000 in September with the additional 32mb of ram could mean even better ports of games and emulators. The hacking scene of the PSP at this time is the best in the whole Homebrew scene. The short term and long term future of PSP Homebrew continues to look great.

GP2X - The Linux Based Homebrew Console

The GP2X is a console that was made for Homebrew fans and coders, it has a worldwide base of people coding Emulators and Games for it and with 2x200mhz cpu's and 64megs ram it sure can deliver the goods. Recent developments for the GP2X include excellent GBA and PSX Emulators, both emulators are showing what this linux based console can do.

Because the GP2X was made with Homebrew in mind its future is secured as long as its fanbase want to see it go on and with one of the most hardcore followers amongst them expect this console to be here in years to come.

The Nintendo DS

The worlds biggest selling console at this time and the console that gives the most varied amount of games and applications in the Homebrew Scene. Remember that all you need to run Homebrew on your DS is the is the Console itself (obviously), and a Flash Cart.

The amount of DS Homebrew games and apps released is staggering and so many push the system in new ways that its an exciting homebrew scene to watch. As with the PSP and GP2X the future of the DS for homebrew looks very solid, if you haven't tried homebrew yet then your missing out majorly. Also With the DS you can also play the many hundreds of excellent GBA Homebrew Releases.

Gamecube

To get Homebrew on the Gamecube you can use the SD Load Method, the Gamecube scene recently because of the ability to play on Wii also has seen updates of many emulators and new ports like Quake. Nintendos killing of support for the SD Load Method on the Wii will hurt this scene but the fact that the Gamecube is so powerful and with a console that doesn't require modding means you have a great future if coders work on the system, projects ongoing at the moment include a port of Cave Story and even a Nintendo 64 emulator for the Gamecube. Short Term future is the best for years for this console.

Dreamcast

The Dreamcast continues to live on as the only mainstream console that plays homebrew out of the box (apart from a few later consoles). The Homebrew scene continues to churn out releases and they are all quality releases too. More and More Commercial Homebrew is arriving on the console now and that's great news for new developers to show their tools on Sega's Last console. The future of the Dreamcast will continue to shine because of the hardcore fans and coders who support this console over the many years.

GP32

The GP32 is the younger brother of the GP2X, the GP32 has a homebrew scene is very stagnant these days with only a few releases this year, it does have a fantastic catalogue of releases for the system but the future looks to be bleak at best.

The GBA

The GBA has a console has very few games being released these days but for homebrew users there are still some excellent gems being released. The back catalogue has some of the very best commercial quality homebrew games ever created and those with a DS and a Slot 2 flashcart should try out the many excellent releases. Because you can play GBA Homebrew on the DS it means that the GBA scene will continue to attract massive interest in the years to come.

Gizmondo

The Gizmondo whilst being a commercial failure despite being a very powerful handheld had the makings of a great homebrew scene but the last 4 months have seen next to no new releases and the future looks very bleak apart from a few dedicated fans.

Xbox

The most powerful console for the last generation of consoles has a massive range of full speed emulators and ported games for it, The best way to get homebrew to run is with the fitting of a Xbox Modchip, the shame about the Xbox scene is that 99% of the homebrew released is made with the Official SDK, so that means no sites can legally host the releases, at one time there were multiple releases on a daily basis but now its slowed to a trickle, the Xbox really needs the creation of a Legal SDK so that it entices more coders to release projects on the powerful console. If your after full speed emulation then this is the homebrew console to get.

Nokia N-Gage

The homebrew scene for the Nokia seems to have died a death, most likely because Nokia killed the console but it has quite a few decent emulators for it but the long-term future looks very grim, emulation on mobile phones isnt very easy to understand even if you are a pro in the scene.

Tapwave Zodiac

Here's a console much like the Nintendo DS with its Touch Screen but its also a Pocket PC type device so you get the best of both worlds, the homebrew scene for this console has dried up massively since Tapwave gave up, it does boast some great emulators and games though so if your after a homebrew console and a pocket PC device then this is for you

.

PS2

The PS2 Homebrew scene despite being a powerful console and the biggest selling non handheld console of recent years has never really thrived, it has around 30 releases for it similar to the Gamecube, but the long term prospects don't look great. A modchip is the best way to get homebrew working on this console.

Ipod

The worlds most popular music player in time could be a real contender for mini games and emulation of simple systems, so far it does have some homebrew for it but controls are never going to be easy for it, because of the constant changing of hardware its unlikely to have a strong homebrew following. Best to stick to music

Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn is another console for which youll need a modchip for, via a coder named Rockin-B the Saturn has a site with nearly 100 homebrew releases and although its never going to be a massive scene its great to see the console still getting some loving.

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Conclusion

I hope I haven't bored you too much but there's some opinions and facts about homebrew across the systems, if your looking for a killer handheld homebrew scene then PSP, Nintendo DS or GP2X should be your focus.

Those looking for a Console based scene then the Dreamcast or Xbox and also the Gamecube, Should be your port of call.

Of the next gen consoles only the 360 with the XNA enviroment is progressing at the moment.

Agree or disagree, please respond via comments

21 comments - Last Comment By koiulpoi

Name the Best of the Homebrew Releases

Posted By: wraggster

Within the next week or so im going to post an article detailing the very best releases so far in every scene and this is where the whole DCEmu Community comes in, i want to compile the very best releases for each scene.

It doesnt matter if the release is a Game, Emulator, Demo or application/hack. If you are submitting what you consider the best please post a mini review and any details such as homepage and release date/ screenshots.

With that in Mind please post your top 5 releases for the Xbox Scene.

8 comments - Last Comment By JKKDARK

CaveStoryX Cave Story/Doukutsu Monogatari port for XBox v1

Posted By: wraggster

New port for Xbox from Xport:

CaveStoryX Cave Story/Doukutsu Monogatari port for XBox v1

http://xport.xbox-scene.com
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA022293/
http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=cavestory
http://www.miraigamer.net/cavestory/


Features:

- Plays Cave Story/Doukutsu Monogatari

- Selectable English/Japanese language

- Selectable cheats - invincible, unlimited ammo

- Selectable text size/spacing

- Save states (seems to work, but not extensively tested)


Notes
-----

Many thanks to Pixel for providing the source code to this!


Do not try to load or save a state while in the game menu.
Only load/save states while playing the game.


CONTROLS
--------

D-PAD/LThumb - Movement, menu selection
A - Jump
X - Shoot
Y - Item
B - Map
Left Trigger - Previous Weapon
Right Trigger - Next Weapon
BACK - ESC key (brings up "Exit" menu, will exit game if you press again)
WHITE - F1 key - (continue playing from "Exit" menu)
BLACK - F2 key - (return to game menu from "Exit" menu)

These can be reconfigured in the usual way if you wish.


To start the game, go to "Select Game" and then select a profile.

0 comments - Last Comment By wraggster

CPS3 Emulator for Xbox WIP

Posted By: wraggster

Wesker posted this news :

Finally it has happened. ElSemi is carrying its emulator of CPS3 for Windows to Xbox. At the moment it does not have it release public and it will take a little in arriving… but I have had the honor to be able to prove a very premature version and is able to load stable the 60 games working to fps with sound.

Similar miracle has been possible thanks to the use of a VMS, since the 64 Mb of xbox remained short; and a series of optimizations made in the code. By all means not yet there is interface, neither options nor nothing… or I say to you that he is very green. I will be to You informing!

Lets hope someone ports Chankast to Xbox too

1 comments - Last Comment By ste

DCEmu The Homebrew Network Back For Good

Posted By: wraggster

Hi all, any of you who are regular visitors to the DCEmu Homebrew Network will have noticed a lot of downtime lately, starting off with a few hours here and there to 2 days offline then onto the near 7 days offline and since then several times of several hours of downtime including today with a near 8 hours offline.

Me and Martin have been pulling our hair out and were convinced of an hardware fault but the server techs said nothing was wrong but finally today they admitted that the Hard Drive which hosts DCEmu had a problem and its been replaced.

So finally after whats been a rough month or so with numerous downtimes i can finally say we are back and the server has been optimised as much as can be to ensure no more downtimes even in the event of mega amounts of visitors to DCEmu, the uploading system is fully working also.

This is a very important time for Homebrew with breakthroughs in all sectors and never before has homebrew been so mainstream and in the public eye and DCEmu will be there to bring you all the homebrew news and releases.

Thanks as always to Martin for being there and kicking some German booty to ensure the server is working again. (pity the lads failed last night eh)

and remember DCEmu has its own Chatroom on efnet #dcemu where we hang about and talk about all manner of stuff :P.

17 comments - Last Comment By ish420ism

Classic Game Room

Posted By: wraggster

An Awesome DVD released today traces the history of gaming and is a must see for any fans of gaming, heres the details:



track listing
Duck Hunt for NES
X-Men for Sega Genesis
Joust for Playstation
Sega GT for Dreamcast
Yar's Revenge for Atari 2600
Frogger for Atari 2600
SeaMan for Dreamcast
Missile Command for Playstation
Perfect Dark for Nintendo N64
Alien for Atari 2600

description
"Classic Game Room" was the first classic video game review show on the Internet in 1999 and 2000. It returns as a feature-length comedy film about the triumphant story of online success, failure, obscurity, resurrection and success again!

The legendary show was produced in the early days of online video by Mark Bussler and David Crosson at an Internet startup with one camera, a green screen and $50 budgets. The show was objective, entertaining and obnoxious with beer-drinking, bottle-throwing, joystick-slinging, car-crashing classic game reviews. A cult following developed and the reviews kept coming, but how long could it last until the money ran out?

Features the original raucous reviews of Duck Hunt for NES, Alien for Atari 2600, X-Men for Sega Genesis, Sega GT for Dreamcast, Joust and Missile Command for Playstation, Frogger for Atari 2600, SeaMan for Dreamcast, Perfect Dark for Nintendo 64 and Yars' Revenge for Atari 2600.

Buy at Play Asia

3 comments - Last Comment By Thanatos 2.0

CPX3 - Capcom Play System III Emulator for Xbox v1.0

Posted By: wraggster

Elsemi has released the first public version of the Capcom Play System III Emulator for Xbox, heres the release details:

CPX3 - CPS3 emulator for XBOX
version 1.0

CPX3 is a Capcom Play System 3 emulator for XBOX.

CPS3 is a quite powerful system and the XBOX CPU is barely enough to emulate it so you can expect
some slowdowns in zoomed and graphics intensive scenes.
Also the XBOX RAM (64MB) is not enough to load the rom dumps and the rest of memory in the CPS3 hardware so the emulator uses a disk swap file to hold the uncompressed rom dumps and load from it as necessary. You'll notice some "hiccups" in the emulation in some scene changes, when the emulator needs to copy blocks of rom data from disk to memory (especially at the beginning of fights or when a super move is performed).

The Street Fighter 3 games run pretty well, with few slowdowns and frame drops. SF3 2nd impact would require twice the amount of ram to store the decrypted program roms due to having different encryption on program and data, so to make it fit in the XBOX RAM, the emulator decrypts the data plane on the fly (like the hardware does ) so in this
game slowdowns are more likely. Next to them are the jojo games, that sometimes need to copy big amounts of gfx data from disk to ram and have
some framerate drop (specials, stand enter/exit).
The game with more slowdowns is Warzard, due to the abuse of zoom out (that requires the emulator to render more visible area), huge sprites and complex background graphics.

The emulation of shadows is not accurate due to the way the original hardware works. Emulating it properly requires a lot of extra CPU power and the XBOX will not be capable of running the games at full framerate. They are currently just darkening the image under them, that is right for shadows but not for other effects, that's a price to pay for playability .

DIGG THIS NEWS



Download from the usual places as this was made using the official xbox devkit.

4 comments - Last Comment By pibs

CPX3 - Capcom Play System III Emulator for Xbox v1.0a

Posted By: wraggster

Elsemi has released a new version of the Capcom Play System III Emulator for Xbox, heres the whats new:





Version 1.0a

Fixed controls not being saved after configuration.
Fixed sound interpolation settings not being saved.
Fixed sprite/bg 1-pixel misalignment
Fixed autoframeskip code when using PAL50 screen modes. I've added an option in the Video settings
to select if you want to keep the PAL50 mode (and play at 50fps) or switch the xbox to PAL60 (not
supported in old TVs). You must reset the emulator for this option to take effect.
Rearranged the controls to a more standard layout:
Insert coin is now the BACK button, Service (credit) is white button, Test is black button,
GUI Enter/Exit is right thumbstick button.
The Virtual Memory cache was being stored in the Permament Title Storage, in the current partition. Now
it's stored in the Utility Partition, that is cleared when a new title is loaded.

5 comments - Last Comment By Maturion