<!-- News -- © 2005-2006 AraKaraath halfDragon / A Maus

addNews("consoles", new Date(2006, 8,12),"wii","","http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/14/more-wii-details-japan-gets-it-december-2nd/","Article on Engadget","Nintendo announces Wii launch date and price","Nintendo has finally announced that the Wii will be launched in America on November 19th and will sell for $250 USD. Japan gets it two weeks later on December 2nd. There will be at least 25 launch title games as well a bunch of NES, SNES and N64 virtual console titles as well as access the internet via the WiiConnect24 network service. No mention of when it will be released Down Under or in Europe but we can probably expect it in early March 2007 and probably cost about $400 AUD or &#0163;160 GBP.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2006, 8,12),"gamepark,handheld","","http://www.gamepark.com/","Official GamePark Site","GamePark's got new consoles","GamePark has cranked into overdrive, revamped their website and produced some sexy new XGP (eXtrmeme Game Player) range of consoles: the XGP, the XGP Mini and XGP Kids. The <a href='http://www.gamepark.com/xgp.htm'>XGP</a> is the well-endowed big brother of the GamePark range. Seemingly geared for true 3D gaming, rather than just multi-media. It's larger, sleeker and beefier than the GP32, boasting a bigger processor, more RAM, built-in 2D/3D graphic accelerator and all the usual extras like a 4 inch screen, WiFi, USB 2.0 and a SD card slot. It also has an antenna which insinuates it can pull in TV (backed up by a flush-folding stand). The <a href='http://www.gamepark.com/xgpmini.htm'>XGP Mini</a> is like a tiny GPX2, closely akin to the GB mini. Its bristling with buttons, besides the D-pad, four control and two shoulder buttons, which seems to imply it can double as a nifty little MP3 player. Has all the usual GP features like USB 2.0, SD card slot, and they even managed to cram a 2D/3D graphic accelerator into this thing. The <a href='http://www.gamepark.com/xgpkids.htm'>XGP Kids</a> is a baby versions of the original handheld. Its slightly bigger a GB mini and XGP mini, runs on two AA batteries, has a USB port and a SD card slot. And unlike the GB mini, its are fitted with a thumbstick as well as four control buttons and two shoulder buttons. All are powered by Linux and the XGP has an option for WinCE! There may be compatability between the units but they seem to be independant of each other (which means the games arn't interchangable across the consoles). No prices yet and probably only available in Korea but hopefully these will be finding their way into the Western countries soon.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2006, 8,12),"nds,mod,handheld","","http://gonintendo.com/?p=5476","Article on GoNintendo","Clear NDSLite case mod","This is coom. Someone's making replacement cases for the NDSLite out of transperant plastic. Much like the clear Gameboys these NDSs are completely see through, showing you all the naked wires and circuitboards underneath. Course, doing this voids your warrenty but it looks cool. Basicly, the clear Shock cases replace the white (or black) panneling on your NDSLite, making the whole unit transperant. Cool!");
addNews("consoles gadgetnews", new Date(2006, 8,12),"snes,ps1,ps2,mod,handheld","","http://www.palmps2.com/palmps2/index.html","Offical PalmPS2 site","PalmPS2 - Cool Portable PS2","This has to be one of the coolest homebuilt portable mods around. Brian Gardiner has put alot of effort and skill into the case design, producting a portable unit only slightly smaller than the PS2 Slim, yet looking at if it rolled out of a manufacturing plant. Brian is also the creator of the PalmPS and the SuperNES2Go, both of which are just as cool. Now with all these great modder out there, it would be nice of they got together, pooled their skills and resources and produced the ultimate portable consoles, probably do it cheap enough to sell to the public even. I'm sure there is a demand for that sort of thing.");
addNews("consoles gadgetnews", new Date(2006, 8,11),"360,laptop,mod,handheld","","http://benheck.com/Games/Xbox360/x360_page_5.htm","Ben Heck's Offical site","Xbox 360 Laptop","Benjamin Heckendorn has done it again, this time he's been commissioned to create a portable Xbox 360 laptop! The thing not only has its own screen and keyboard and built in wireless but is also water cooled, allowing for it to be smaller than the original case. Nonetheless it still weighs in at 14 pounds and took three months to machine out of aluminium. Unbelievable what people do with too much time on their hands (or when they pay people with too much time on their hands).");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2006, 8, 7),"sony,ps3,psp,bluray","","","","Has SONY lost the plot?","SONY has just announced that PAL countries will not be recieving their PS3s until March 2007, this is because they are having toruble manufacturing enough BluRay diodes and decide to focus their releases on Japan and the US only, hoping they can suck them into yet another rubbish proprietry format. SONY seems to have a long list of failed formats and you would think they would have given up by now and concentrate on providing something the consumers actually want. First was MiniDiscs which failed to catch on, then their memory sticks which you were forced to use if you had a SONY device, then the UMD for the PSP which was practically ignored. Each of these failed mainly because they were overpriced and only competition to an already existing standard format. Now SONY is trying to push BluRay onto us. And what does BluRay do? Nothing much other than slightly clearer HD picture. As I've never actually seen a comparison so even this is speculation. Now Why can't they just produce the PS3 without BluRay and all the other rubbishy gimics and just give us a console that is cheaper, more reliable, useable, plentiful? (I don't actually want a PS3, I'm waiting for the PS3 because I want hte Xbox 360 prices to drop!)");
addNews("consoles gadgetnews", new Date(2006, 8, 4),"nds,mp3","","http://www.ds-x2.com/index.php?id=5676","Article on DS-x2","MP3 Player for the NDS","First Nintendo released Opera for their NDS, then there was a TV tuner in the works. Now they are releasing an MP3 player. The unit fits into the GBA slot and reads SD cards, supporting up to 2Gb, has swappable skins and its own headphone port. Reports say its very similar to the Play-Yan mediaplayer (found on lik-sang.com) which does not bode much for its originality. There is little said about what media types it plays other then MP3s so the big question is, why would you bother when you can get homebrew to do this already, including movies? Apparently it was originally meant for the NMicro, which would have been a neat little gadget. But on the NDS, its nothing particularly inovative.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2006, 7,17),"360,xbox,controller","","http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/microsoft-designing-supplemental-xbox-360-controller-for-fps-games-194752.php","Article on Gizmodo","New Xbox 360 controllers for FPS","At the Seattle Gamefest, Microsoft Hardware manager Robert S. Walker said they were looking at modifying 'the right analog stick on the controller to make it more conducive to the precise movements used in shooters and various other genres.' Why didn't they just do that from the start like they did with the Originla Xbox controllers (the big clunky ones). They were spot on with their thumbsticks - both were perfectly fluid with minimal deadzone. My first impression of the 360 controller was that it was rather stiff and unresponsive and totally useless for playing <em>Halo 2</em>. Microsoft, lift your game! You had the perfect controller in the Original Xbox, then you stuffed it up for the 360.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2006, 7, 2),"nds,emulation,homebrew","","http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/","Nintendo DS Emulation","Expanding your NDSLite","Once upon a time, hacking your console to play homebrew and bootleg games involved taking it apart, soldering parts and voiding the warrenty. Not anymore! With your Nintendo DS, its easy to run homebrew games, applications, music, movies and more. All you need is a NDS PassMe card and a GBA or NDS compatable Flashcard reader. The PassMe card goes in the NDS cart slot and the cardreader goes in the GBA cart slot. Basicly, the PassMe card tells the NDS to boot from the GBA slot, allowing you to run programs and roms from the flash memory. GBA cardreaders come in most formats (SD/MinSD/MicroSD/MMC/CF/etc). I ordered mine from BambooGaming.com but there are plenty of other stores around offering such devices. Load your card with movies, music, homebrew game and application roms and you're good to go, turning your NDS into a multi-media centre. You can even get NES and SNES emulators for it. You can also get chat programs like MSN, which when coupled with WiFi, allows you to chat anywhere, anytime. And all of this can be found within 10 minutes of typing in some choice keywords into Google. Brilliant! More to come when I receive my PassMe card and NDSL cardreader.");
addNews("consoles gadgetnews", new Date(2006, 6,28),"gizmondo,eye toy","","http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/gizmondo-eye-toy","Article on Tech-Gadget","Gizmondo Eye Toy","This is pretty cool. I've seen augmented reality devices before, but not one that fits into a handheld console like the Gizmondo. Stuff like this could be useful in everything from virtual Pop-up ebooks to virtual chessboards. Imagine playing a game of Warhammer with a real playing field and virtual figures or play with virtual building blocks. The only limitation is the icon must be in the unit's field of view in order for it to work, but I'm sure there are ways around that. Nonetheless, this is a very impressive demo showing alot of potential.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2006, 5,10),"nds","","","","A Dragon and his DS Lite","Myer is selling DS Lites for $188AUD and 20% off all games, so I decided to upgrade my GBA to a DS Lite. I got there just in time as I gone one of the last four in stock. My first impression is that its a wide GBA SP. But unlike the SP, it feels solid and durable. The buttons feel good and the case has a nice weight to it. The screens are sharp and bright and the touchscreen is very acurate and responsive. While it has a rechargable battery, its rated for thousands of gamehours and charges in only three hours. So far, I've been playing it for hours and its still showing a full bar of power. Wireless capabilities are fun, allowing you to play some games over the internet, though you may have to configure it a bit to work (and there are plenty of settings to fiddle with). Its great playing GBA games as well as DS games, but it won't play good old GB games. So my GBA is still useful for something at least.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2006, 5, 9),"nds","","","","Nintendo DS Lite","Wow, we get something before the Americans! The DS Lite has been available (for $199AUD) for a week now and the Americans will be getting it on the 11th. From what I've seen of them, the DS Lite is alot nicer than the Original DS. Its like a wider version of a GBA SP, only not as plastic looking. It is quite heavy and feels nice and solid. the buttons feel good when you press them. The casing is unusual. Its actually wrapped in a thick clear shell inlayed with porcelain white plastic, giving the casing an odd depth. Unfortunately it seems to attract fingerprints. Nintendo has gone all out on this model, improving the design and feautres across the board. Pity you can only get it in white here. one of these would be a great upgrade from the GBA.");
addNews("consoles gadgetnews", new Date(2006, 5, 7),"xbox,mod,handheld","","http://www.portablesystems.net/","Offiical site","At last, a portable Xbox .. sort of","From the guy who brought us the portable Dreamcast comes the portable Xbox. Its not much smaller than the real thing, but it has its own screen, built in controls, batteries, etc. Its not particularly pretty but it shows that it can be done. The step-by-step process in designing and vaccuum forming is facinating though. Some people have far too much time on their hands. I want to know how you change the disk.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2006, 4,25),"nds","","","","Nintendo DS Lite, available next week","I wasn't too keen on the original DS, mostly because it looked plastic, there wern't any decent game for ages and no real reason to get one. But next week Australia is getting the DS Lite which is smaller, lighter, sturdier, more durable than the original and with brighter screens and better battery life. Not to mention Metroid Prime Hunters is finally being released. Upon investigation I've found some other decent games for the DS including Mario Kart DS and Tetris DS. My workmate is talking about getting one and if we can convince our other workmates to buy them we might end up with some wireless DS gaming in the office during lunch breaks (or online via the office wireless net maaaybe?). We will see how much the DS costs and whether its worth snapping up a copy of Metroid. I'm might consider getting one to supercede my GBA so I have a better screen and a few other cool features. Interoffice chat, anyone?");
addNews("consoles gadgetnews", new Date(2006, 4,19),"dc,mod,handheld","http://images.google.com.au/images?q=tbn:tG2zUPUHGb_ohM:www.paul.aic.co.uk/blog/portabledreamcast.jpg","http://www.portablesystems.net/dreamcast.htm","Offiical site","Portable Dreamcast? Here it is!","I love Google - it knows Everything. David Kaplish is another console modder, building portable systems. Where he diffres from Ben Heckendorn is he has a vaccuum mold press, able to make shaped form cases for his creations. Not only has he built a portable Dreamcast but he's also working on portable Xbox and gamecubes too! A portable Xbox - now I'd pay money for that. Halo and Half-life in your back pocket (though it look a bit biiiiig)!");
addNews("consoles gadgetnews", new Date(2006, 4,19),"nes,snes,n64,ps1,ps2,mod,handheld","http://images.google.com.au/images?q=tbn:_jlJK23F1-sOPM:www.benheck.com/book/Atari2600_CNC_med.jpg","http://benheck.com/Homepage.htm","Ben Heck's Offical site","Portable Console Modsite","This guy is incredible. Benjamin Heckendorn is not content with having clunky consoles littering his place, he has modded them all to be portable, battery powered units. His range includes the NES, SNES, N64, NeoGeo PS1 and PS2, and various Atari systems and even a laptop. Totally awesome! Now we just need a portable Dreamcast.");
addNews("consoles gadgetnews", new Date(2006, 4,10),"360,handheld","http://www.furnation.com/arakaraath/gui/news/xbox360portable.jpg","http://mobilitytoday.com/news/006460/xbox_360_handheld","Article on Mobilitytoday","More Xbox Portable","Another article about the Xbox Portable, but this time with a different and better concept picture. This time it looks more like a PSP on steroids - 360 White and no smooth mirror finish anywhere, which means no visible fingerprints. Already its an improvement over the PSP. Now with the networking technology displayed by the Nintendo DS, anything is possible. Imagine playing Halo Lite with your friends wirelessly on the other side of the world, complete with access to Xbox Live. Give it some decent storage space, maybe an internal 20Gb harddrive, downloadable games via Xbox 360 or Xbox Live and make it Media ready capable of playing video and audio files - this baby would make the PSP look prehistoric. I'd definitely want one.");
addNews("consoles gadgetnews", new Date(2006, 4, 9),"360,handheld","","http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/08/author-claims-360-team-working-on-portable-xbox/","Article on Engadget","Xbox Portable?","Could this be for real? A Portable Xbox? This would be awesome. Some of the original Xbox development team and currently working hand-held version of the Xbox, imitating SONY with its PSP. Currently called the Xbox2Go, we may hear more rumbles about this in the following year or so.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2006, 1,18),"360","","","","Xbox 360 Finally Down Under","While at JB Hi-Fi I discovered they had a Xbox 360 kiosk - the first one I've ever seen. First impressions: it's white. The unit is still fairly big despite having the corners cut off and someone sit on it. The controllers, while being well designed, sleek and functional, feel a little too small. The games look lovely and crisp, and the dashboard promises to be a useful tool in turning your Xbox into a multimedia internet system. But fancy casing and graphics alone do not a console make. The real test will be in how good the games play, and how much enjoyment you get out of them. Judging by the launch title line-up, I think I'll stay with my good old original Xbox.");
addNews("consoles",	new Date(2005,11,28),"360","","","","Is the Xbox 360 backwards compatible?","I've heard alot of people bitching about how the Xbox 360 is not backwards compatible with the original Xbox while the PS3 is with the PS2. Well, it is! The Xbox 360 IS capable of playing original Xbox games but you require the harddrive to do it. This is because the original Xbox needs the harddrive to cache parts of the game to make them run faster (which is why the Xbox loads faster than the PS2). The new Xbox doesn't need this feature so the harddrive becomes optional, like with the PS2. Also the Xbox 360 wasn't originally going to support the original games because they are using a different graphic card supplier. The original Xbox is powered by Nvidia, the 360 by AVI, thus the games aren't directly compatible. Luckily the new 360 comes with emulation software which can play most of the old games. Patches will probably be made available on Xbox live after a while. Now, stop whining!");
addNews("consoles",	new Date(2005,11, 9),"360","","","","Is the Xbox 360 faulty?","Recently I've heard reports that the Xbox 360 has a design flaw that causes it to overheat and lock up. One man in Chicago is already suing Microsoft over it (why he can't just get it replaced like civil people, I don't know). Other gamers have had similar problems, saying the Xbox locks up in the middle of gameplay or while on Xbox live. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a flaw in the new Xbox, as the Xbox 360 is based on PC technology which does require alot of cooling. Its also typical of Microsoft to release hardware or software prematurely without thoroughly testing it first. All I can say is to all those foolish people who rushed out and lined up or camped out in the cold or paid phenomenal prices just to be one of the first to own an Xbox 360 - you idiots! You deserve everything you get. Firstly, you should always research what you're buying into (goes for any electronic device - you're paying hundreds of dollars for it, make sure its worth it). Secondly, you never by anything that's first generation - they are always bound to have flaws. Wait a while to get a more reliable version - not to mention the price may comes down too. Personally, I want to get an Xbox 360 but I can wait. I still got alot of good games on the Xbox to last me a long while before I feel the need to upgrade to an Xbox 360.");
addNews("consoles",	new Date(2005,11, 8),"wii","","","","Nintendo Revolution, cheaper than the rest","I've read that Nintendo's new Revolution console can be as cheap as $145USD, which keeps in character with Nintendo's past actions (ie, Game Cube, gameboy and more). In a way this doesn't bode well as it means the games will probably be 15% more expensive than other the consoles. Its also means there is probably precious little grunt under the hood, making the Revolution a glorified GC with a gimmicky controller. But the proof will be in the games when it finally comes out and we can see for ourselves how Nintendo excel at doing alot with so little, or demonstrate how miser and reliant of a loyal fan-base they are.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2005,10,10),"gpx2,gamepark,psp,handheld","","http://www.lik-sang.com/","Compare prices","GPX2 vs PSP","In looking for a media device that does everything I could want, play games, music and videos, view images and ebooks, I've come down the two choices: the GamePark GPX2-F100 and the SONY PSP. Both support a range of audio and video formats as well as play games. But how good are they? The PSP games come on their own carts while the GPX2 needs to read them in off a SD card. Neither have internal storage though you can get combined battery / memory packs for the PSP (at a price). The SONY's card media for the PSP is at $250 AUD for 1Gb while a standard 1Gb SD card for the GPX2 is only $100 AUD. The screen is larger on the GPX2 than the PSP and battery life is equivalent. And as far as I an see, the PSP doesn't view images. The major difference is the GPX2 is mostly designed for emulation while the PSP is a pure console. The ultimate deciding factor will be the cost. The PSP sells for around $400 to $450 AUD and you get alot of extras in the box while the GPX2 is $250 AUD and doesn't come with as much stuff. Price-wise, they are about the same, so its down to a choice of preference and in that case its all about emulation: I think I'd rather have the GPX2.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2005,10, 4),"gbm,handheld","","","","Gameboy Micro Sighted!","The Gameboy Micro is finally being released down under. I've spotted it in a Big-W and a K-Mart catalogue and seen it at Toys R Us and JB Hi-Fi. It ranges from for $138 - $144 AUD, which is about as much as the Gameboy SP is worth at the moment. That's not bad for such the latest piece of kit, seeings the original GBA set us back $300 AUD and that was a year after its release.");
addNews("consoles", new Date(2005, 9,10),"gpx2,gamepark,handheld","","http://www.gpx2.com/","Official site","Gamepark GPX2-F100","Those of us who always wanted a GP32 and never got around to buying one before they stopped making them - there is hope! The new GPX2-F100 has been announced and its bigger and better than before. Still get all the emulator gaming goodness with alot of really cool new features. The GPX2-F100 features dual ARM9 processors, USB 2.0, a 3.5-inch colour LCD with 170k colours, media playback software including both audio and video formats with CD quality sound, and support for both native and emulated games. In addition to native games, the GPX2-F100's Linux environment enables it to run all our favourite game emulators, like MAME, SNES, Genesis, and PC Engine. The GPX2-F100 is powered by two AA batteries and has an apparent 12 hours of battery life - or 8 hours playing video and 14 hours with audio only with the screen turned off. I'm soooo saving up for one of these!");
addNews("consoles",	new Date(2005, 8,26),"gbm,handheld","","http://micro.gameboy.com/","Official site","Nintendo Gameboy Micro","This little beauty is finally making its appearance down under. This thing is so cute, so small, almost the size of a mobile phone or MP3 player. It has a small, but clear, backlit screen and interchangeable faceplates so you can customise your unit. Pity its not backwardly compatible with the gameboy but its still a nice little piece of kit, shove it into your pocket or carry it on a keyring, truly gaming on the go.");
addNews("consoles",	new Date(2005, 8,17),"360","","http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/hardware/xbox360/default.htm","Official site","XBox 360","At first I was a bit dismayed over the new XBox 360's squished design, but have warmed to the many innovative features incorporated into this box, not to mention some sexy games lined up for the release, including <em>The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion</em> and <em>Halo 3</em>.");
addNews("consoles",	new Date(2005, 8,16),"wii","","","","Nintendo's Revolution","Nintendo has revealed the controller for its new console - a one-handed, wireless device that looks alot like a remote control. long and slender, designed to be held in one hand you can use it to point fairly accurately around the screen. It seems to make use of infrared and inertia technology and seems highly responsive. Exactly how it works, I don't know but the possibilities are endless. Coupled with a second trigger/thumb stick controller for the other hand allows for even greater control and flexibility. At first I thought this seemed typically gimmicky of Nintendo, like the old robot controller and powerglove which never caught on, but I will need to have a play with one of these before I truly make up my mind. It can revolutionise how we play consoles, making gameplay more interactive and engaging, giving you a physical workout more than just sitting fiddling with a controller.");
addNews("consoles",	new Date(2005, 3,20),"psp,handheld","","http://www.us.playstation.com/psp.aspx","Official site","SONY PSP","Now this is a sexy unit - with the potential to be more than just a game machine but also a multi-media device, playing movies, music and more. Alas, the let down is its killer price tag, not to mention reports of buttons having a tenancy to stick. To top it off, its sexy, sleek and shiny exterior is a magnet for fingerprints. Also there is no internal storage so you have to use buy the overpriced SONY memory sticks. If they drop the price, fix the button problem, give it at least 5Gb of storage and bring it out in some nice matte finishes, I might consider looking further into getting one of these.");
addNews("consoles",	new Date(2005, 3, 1),"nds,handheld","","http://www.nintendo.com/systemsds/","Official site","Nintendo Gameboy DS","The DS is the usual standard sub-standard product you can expect from Nintendo. It's nice and shiny and looks like fun, with dual screens, touch screen features, voice activation and 30 meter wireless networking, but all the games are multiplayer - seemingly useless if you're the only one around with a DS. Its only backward compatible with GBA games (wireless link doesn't work for GBA games). And the touch screen seems flimsy despite reassurances you can bounce a cueball on it.");

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