Die-and-retry

Former homebrew NES title Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril is making a stop on t??he Nintendo Switch on May 19, 2023. This follows a release on Xbox consoles in April 2022 and on NES in 201??0.

Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril is one of the more beloved homebrew titles for Nintendo’s classic console. Developed by Sivak Games and drawing inspiration from Mega Man and I Wanna Be The Guy, Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril is a die-and-retry gauntlet.

//youtu.be/4vvMLR-17Jo

I actually own a copy of the NES title from its initial run with RetroUSB. Personally, I didn’t really love the game. However, I do recognize it as a quality homebrew project. I’ve played quite a bit of homebrew, and they’re extremely hit-and-miss, with the majority landing in the miss category. Often, they’re first-time projects for programmers, and I can really appreciate the passion behind them, even if I own a few that I can’t stand. I’m not naming any names. It’s mostly just that I rarely enjoy the die-and-retry genre, with Hotline Miami being one of the few I really love.

Still, I don’t regret having that transparent green NES cartridge on my shelf. Homebrew has come a long way in the last decade. More and more companies have been getting into production. It warms my dusty, old heart.

In any case, I’m happy to see that Battle Kid: The Fortress of Peril isn’t staying locked on the hardware. The title ?is especially a good fit for the Switch, as it’s a console with a very pick-up-and-play mentality.

If you’re not into the Switch version or don’t want to wait, Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, or via ROM from itch.io.

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'Exciting new project' in the works

Media Molecule has announced that it is winding down support for its excellent development software Dreams. As of September 1, 2023, the game creation too?l will no longer receive any further updates or support, though users will still be able to use the software to build and share their imaginative content.

"We’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue live support for Dreams after September 1, 2023, to shift our focus to an exciting new project," said Media Molecule in a statement. "You’ll continue to be able to play, create and share Dreams with others after September, but we won’t be releasing any more updates to the game or [limited] events. We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done in developing Dreams [...] and we are en??dlessly grate??ful to the community for their belief and continuous contributions since launch."

//twitter.com/mediam?olecule/status/1645728970661306370?s=20

"We know this won't be an easy message for everyone to hear, and it's certainly not been an easy decision �Dreams has been a special project for Media Molecule and helping this burgeoning community of game developers, tinkerers, creatives, collaborators and dreamers grow and express themselves remains one of the best things we've ever done. Thank y?ou for being part of it with us �we look forward to you joining us on our next adventure."

Media Molecule also notes that it will be migrating Dreams to a new server in May, which will result in a new storage space limitation for all users. All users will only be afforded a total of 5GB to share their creations. This does NOT include any current creations, and only applies to any Dreams items made after ?the server migration??. You can check out the full details pertaining to both the server migration and the ending of developer support on the official Dreams website.

Released for PS4 in February 2020, Dreams fast became an exciting, relatively easy-to-use tool for many looking to make their own games, characters, worlds, and other digital assets, and has enjoyed just over three years of usage, within which thousands of fun and intriguing homebrew projects have been designed. The community can take heart in the fact that, while support may be ending, the software necessary to create and share their wonderful catalog of ideas will remain in operati??on for the foreseeable future.

The post Media Molecu?le ?is ending support for Dreams in September appeared first on Destructoid.

Whip it Good

id Software's Doom does not only hold the title of being one of the single most influential video games of all-time, but it also seems to be the go-to for a whole bevy of fun fan projects, from efforts to get the shooter running on every platform under the sun, to a host of amusing in-game mods and re-designs.

This particular hit in this long line of fan projects comes from modder Andrea Gori, who has used the Doom engine as the basis for their wicked first-person take on Konami's gothic classic, Castlevania. As you can see from the video below, the GZDoom mod - titled Castlevania: Simon's Destiny - sees the whip-cracki??ng Belmont storm Dracula's castle in first-person form, taking on all of the series' original villains and perils from a whole new perspective.

The gang's all here, from fire-spewing gargoyles and pesky bats, to boss characters such as Frankenstein's Monster and Dracula himself. Health pickups and power-ups are rare, but Simon's trusty whip and projectiles are present and correct, as are the iconic candelabras and hidden bonuses. From this video, it appears that Castlevania-as-Doom works surprisingly well. Kudos to the talented Gori for this great ?take on one of gaming's classic franchises.

Castlevania: Simon's Destiny [Free Game Planet Twitter]

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Lester Knight presses play on tape

Another World, one of the most ported video games of all-time, could soon have another format to add to its ever-growing list of platforms. Homebrew programmer Eric Majikeyric has released in-progress footage showing the semin??al fantasy adventure running on the humble Commodore 64.

The video features the entire intro from the 1991 Amiga clas?si??c, scaled down to fit the C64's ultra-humble 8-bit processor. We then see various moments from the adventure replicated in Commodore form, including Lester Chaykin Knight's arrival in the strange new dimension, his first meeting with "friend," as well as a glimpse at the game's somewhat bleak finale.

The unofficial port has caught the attention of Another World's original creator, Eric Chahi, who took to Twitter to voice how impressed he was with the footage. Majik?eyric is expected to continue working on the project, but with an undertaking this enormous, who know??s when the final version will finally see the light of day. Regardless, this is very impressive work.

Another World is available now on now on PC, Amiga, Atari ST, Sega Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, Panasonic 3DO, Atari Jaguar, Sega Mega CD, iOS, PS3, PS4, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Mac, PlayStation Vita, Windows Mobile, Apple IGS and Symbian compatible devices. An unofficial sequel, Heart of the Alien, is available on Mega CD.

Another World is coming to C64 [IndieRetroNews]

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If you go right, turn to page 34

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a storyteller, then you might want to take a look at Degica Games' RPG Maker MZ. The powerful advent?ure-building software will be launching on PC vi??a Steam at the end of August, adding a host of new features and enhancements to its previous edition.

RPG Maker MZ, developed by Kadokawa Corporation, will once again offer a huge plethora of tools and resources with which to conceive, create, and cultivate your own deep and engaging role-playing-games. RPG Maker MZ allows for the creation of layered maps and environments, finely detailed character sprites and portraits,?? and intricate battle systems.

You can schedule events and surprises, even design animations for movement and attacks. This new edition features support for various plug-ins, and even its own open-source particle creator for spectacular effects. But if you feel you might not quite have the skills to build your own quest from scratch, the package comes with a catalogue of pre-created scenarios to help y??ou find your ??footing.

RPG Maker MZ looks to be a very deep and complex package, but offers enough pre-made resources to get users up-and-running, encouraging experimentation and allowing indie devs to efficiently build toward the launch of their own amazing fantasy adventures. RPG Maker MZ ain't cheap - the Steam edition will retail for around $80 - but if you've ever fancied taking a stab at creating your own Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy-style adventure, thi?s could prove a?? great place to start.

...Just don't actually make a Legend of Zelda adventure. Nintendo tends to frown on that.

RPG Maker MZ launches August 30 on PC via Steam and RPG Maker Web.

The post RPG Maker MZ will let you create your own ?adventure on August 20 appeared first on Destructoid.

Show Me Heaven

A team of dedicated video game historians has uncovered and reconstructed an unreleased NES game based on 1990 indycar movie Days of Thunder, some 30 years after it was abandone??d b??y publisher Mindscape

Days of Thunder was discovered by The Video Game History Foundation among a huge catalogue of materials that belonged to game designer Chris Oberth, who sadly passed in 2012. As the foundation picked their way through Oberth's discs, hard-drives and notes, the team came across a 21-floppy disc backup of a single HDD, which contained the code for what would have been the NES edition of Days of Thunder - entirely different from th??e Beam Software-developed release edition.

In a lengthy and meticulous undertaking, The VGHF then picked their way through each of the 21 discs, utilising a '90s era PC in order to accurately piece the scattered code back together. VGHF's Richard Whitehouse steadfastly combed through piles and piles of old data to find small-but-integral files, aided by the tools and software of the period. After recovering a particularly concealed tile file, Days of Thunder was ready to take to the raceway once again, three decades years after it was ??pu?t in the pits for good.

The VGHF intends to upload the tools used to reconstruct Days of Thunder to Github, in hopes that other archivists may be able to reconstruct the lost and abandoned code of their own discoveries. In a wonderful coda, a run of working Days of Thunder NES cartridges are being produced, with the proceeds of all sales going to Chris Oberth's family. (As of this writing the store link appears to be blank, suggesting that the run has already sold ??out)

The rediscovery of lost games (and films) are some of my favourite stories within the industry. The idea that something that people put days and even months of their lives into, seemingly vanished into the ether, but rescued and immortalised?? in the annals of gaming history. Kudos to The Video Game History Foundation for their hard work in firing up the engines on this humble, for?gotten release.

For the full story, in all of its fascinating detail, visit the official VGHF blog right here.

30 years? later, a lost Days of Thunder N?ES game has been recovered [Ars Technica]

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A world of pure imagination

During this morning's Sony State of Play presentation, Media Molecule and Sony Interactive Entertainment have announced that their game creation title Dreams will launch on PS4 in February.

Having been in early access since April of this year, the full release of Dreams will allow players to use its engine and assets - including music, artwork, 3D models and textures - to devise their own homemade content, which can then be shared among the community, realising the game's mantra of "Play, Create, and Share". If your content is good enough, you might even find yourself winning an "Impy".

Dreams launches on PS4 February 14, at a price of around $40. Current early access users will be automatically updated to the full version of Dreams at no additional cost.

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Software to allow exporting to Nintendo console

YoYo Games, developers of video game creation software GameMaker Studio 2, have announced that a "Switch Export" option is to be impleme?nted into the package this summer. This will allow budding creators to get started on their own adve?ntures for Nintendo's hybrid-console.

"We’re thrilled to be entering into a relationship with Nintendo, with the opportunities this will bring to our game development community, and most importantly, the players themselves," said YoYo Games General Manager, James Cox. "Nintendo has been hugely supportive of bringing independent releases to the Nintendo Switch console, and this partnership will ?mean even more wonderful games are released on the platform."

"We’re working hard to ensure the Nintendo Switch version of GameMaker Studio 2 retains the already excellent functionality of the engine, and we are commi?tted to supporting developers and studios who are keen to make the jump to Nintendo’s record-breaking console."

It also appears that this is the very reason we saw an Undertale announcement yesterday, as creator Toby Fox has already stated that he is "excited to use GameMaker Studio 2 to put Undertale on Nintendo Switch" before adding that he "hopes Mario pla??ys his game."

GameMaker Studio 2 is available now on PC.

Nintendo Switch export coming soon to GameMaker Studio 2!#GameMaker #NintendoSwitch @Nintendo
Read More: //t.co/ZpgU35FGJ8 pic.twitter.com/yEXyIGri7D

— YoYo Games (@YoYoGames) March 9, 2018

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Make your own Mouse-Man adventures

Developers Lizardcube have released and internal edit/debug mode for the PC release of 8-bit re-release Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. Ti??nkere?rs and modders are now able to poke around at the game's internal components for fun 'n' games.

The Edit mode is very easy to access, as Lizardcube announced today on Twitter. Within the game's Windows folder, you will find the "Settings.cfg" file. Simply change "Editor = false" to "Editor = true" and save. Once you boot the game, hit the "F" key to open up a whole world of adventure and baffling code.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is one of my absolute favourite releases of the year, I'm looking forward to see what comes of people's in-game fiddl?ing. In related news, the Switch release of the game has sold over 100,000 units, more copies than the?? other platforms combined.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap internal edit mode [Twitter]

FYI hackers, tinkerers: all our internal edit/debug tools are available in the Steam/GOG build of WONDER BOY: THE DRAGON'S TRAP. Edit the Settings.cfg file, find the line with "Editor=false" and change it to "true", then press F in-game to access tools. //t.co/Z5ljTRpEqD pic.twitter.com/KLDUBkgG16

— Lizardcube (@lizardcube) November 27, 2017

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Press "A" to make saving throw

A few months ago, my friends and wife and I got together for a game of old school Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I’ve played every ed?ition to come out since, but there has always been something appealing about the more chaotic, unorganized nature of the early iteration of the game. It feels more raw, less reliant on a strict adherence to a clean, ??perfected ruleset. It was a blast; I rolled the dice freely on the table for everyone to see, and death was permanent creating a ton of tension you don't normally get while hiding behind a DM screen. The entire party managed to survive the first couple of sessions more or less unscathed, though badly beaten down, but we haven’t had the time to pick up where we left off since. And I have forgotten where I was leading them, being fairly bad at keeping good notes, and what the point of the whole adventure actually was in the first place.

The problem with the tabletop experience, especially when roleplaying, is that you really do need to be consistent. Getting a group together and having a game ready, even if you improvise a lot is generally a lot of work, and my wife and I are pretty busy people. So when I was perusing homebrew NES games and discovered Expedition by Mega Cat Studios, I was stoked.

Does anyone remember Nightmare? A board game with a narrative VHS tape, Nightmare was one of the first pieces of crossover interactive media I encountered as a kid. Later games like Dragon Strike would do the same thing, and thes??e days tons of tabletop games have a companion app to help organize game play in s??ome way.

Expedition is among them. Originally a Kickstarter project based on a free game, Expedition is a simplified tabletop RPG using cards to speed up player creation so that a game can very quickly be organized. Along with this, Expedition has a companion app that dictates the pace of encounters and the math involved, also introducing a real-time element to combat and other situations? where the players have to work together and respond in a short amount of time to keep the pace of the game going; no sitting around for an hour discussing who should attempt to jump the gorge first, who should attack that snarling vampire rat.

A great idea. Too many adventures in too many?? systems tend to slow to a grinding halt when there is any kind of critical decision making process. D&D 4th edition was an arduous grind in this way; fu??n for long sessions perhaps, over an extended period of play, but not for a quick night.

So what does all of this have to do with NES homebrew? Well boy howdy I’m so glad you asked. Because Mega Cat, a company dedicated to NES and other indie titles has recently put out an Expedition package of their own. But instead of relying on an app to handle the busywork, the $75 collection comes with an NES cartridge which does the work of the app, features beautiful 8-bit graphics, sound and music, and according to Jame??s Deighan of the Mega Cat team, has more content available than the app, and some elements completely unique to the NES version.

So instead of players gathering around a phone or tablet, you sit around the NES and the proverbial one-eyed television god while you play the game. Which sounds like a lot of fun to me. Even when people are over I don’t h?ave to leave the warm, loving glow of the TV and my NES.

Projects like these really interest me because they aren’t just another arcade port or platformer. One of my favourite NES carts is Taboo: The Sixth Sense. Frankly, it’s an utter piece of crap and complete waste of time. And whether or not it was made as a blatant cash grab is uncertain, but the fact that it tried to do something different besides just being another video game was interesting, at the very least. There is also Super Russian Roulette on the NES where a group of people pass around an NES Zapper and pretend to shoot themselves in the head. A dark but fun idea that again, tries to be anything else other than another Mario clone (though those are always welcome, don’t get ?me wrong.)

So if you are looking for something a bit different, or trying to introduce your group to a new experience, Expedition might be worth a look.

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Works on latest firmware 3.60

If you've been hankering to run emulators, homebrew, and classic PC games?? on your PlayStation Vita, well, you're in luck, as the HENkaku hack now enables it, as well as allowing all Vita games to play on the PlayStation TV.

The hack currently only works on the latest firmware (3.60) and can be downloaded via the Vita's web browser. This will install an a?pp called Molecular Shell that acts as a file transfer protocol as well as a gate for homebrew. The hack must be run whenever the Vita is powered down or runs out of bat??tery, but, fortunately, it takes only a few seconds.

Currently, there are various emulators available for Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Neo Geo Pocket, Genesis, and SNES, as well as a couple homebrew games and ports of Quake and Doom. I tried everything that is available currently, and it is all in very early stages, with most of the emulators having some issues with sound or not running full speed. That is, aside from the RetroArch Genesis emulator, which seems near flawless. These classic games look so damned good on the original Vita's OLED screen, as the colors practically pop off the screen. Oooooh weeeee!

That said, there is now a way to install an app that launches VHBL, a PSP-b?ased homebrew menu where you can run more fully developed emulators for the time being. The process is a bit more involved, but is by no means difficult.

For those of us with a PSTV, there is a Whitelister app that quickly installs a hack to allow playing any Vita game on it, not just the ones specifically made available by developers -- meaning you'll be able to play games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and the Ratchet & Clank Collection on your television.

Thankfully, the hack doesn't enable piracy of Vita games, with t??he developers stating they made it difficult to do so:

"We are all developers by trade and we understand the problem of piracy that usually arises from breaking the security features of a device. The usual response from hackers is “no??t our problem” but we believe we can do better. We carefully designed HENkaku to be as permissive as possible for developers to write homebre?w supporting private APIs and the option to bypass sandboxes. However, we also made sure to make it as difficult as possible to repurpose our tools to enable piracy. While piracy is always inevitable, we will not make it easy."

Looks like the Vita finally has some games. Zing!

The post Playstati?on Vita hacked: Run emulators, homebrew, and more games on PSTV appeared first on Destructoid.

Hopefully they fix it soon

[Update: Atlus has provided the following statement to Destructoid: "Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to immediately remove Citizens of Earth from the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS. Both Atlus and Nintendo are working together to get Citizens of Earth back up on the eShop. We apologize for the inconvenience to anyone affected by this, and assure you that we're working to restore it as quickly as poss?ible."]

Talk about the worst time to ?uncover an exploit in a gam?e.

Following up on VVVVVV, Citizens of Earth has been pulled from the 3DS eShop due to a homebrew vulnerability being found, which wouldn't be as big of a deal if it wasn't featured in the newest Nintendo Humble Bundle offering. Folks can't find the game on the storefront, but Humble codes should still work.

As of right now, the bundle landing page also doesn't say anything about the situation with Citizens, so people are rightly confused. We've reach?ed out to Atlus to see what's going on.

Citizens Of Earth Pulled From 3DS eShop Following ??Explo?it Discovery [Nintendo Life]

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Why? Why not, that's why

Have you ever wanted to run Windows 95 on your New 3DS??? Me neither, but now we know we c??an.

YouTuber LarBob Doomer has released a video showing the OS loading up (very slowly) on the handheld through a workaround using DOSBox, a program that helps run old DOS programs.

Apparently the original 3DS simply wasn’t powerful enough to run it, but the New 3DS and? its improved processing power is strong enough to get it working. I doubt it's actually usable, but it opens up and runs without any problem, which is impressive.

I’m not entirely sure why you’d ever want t?o run an incredibly old OS on a handheld console, but sometimes ‘because we can&rsqu?o; is a good enough reason.

Next job is to make a 3DS emulator for Windows 95, so we can make Windows 95 emulate the 3DS emulating Windows 95 emulating?? the 3DS emulating Windows 95 emulating -- you get the idea.

Weirdness: Homebrew Enth?usiast Gets Windows 95 Working on the New Nint??endo 3DS [Nintendo Life]

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Download YouTube while you can!

Homebrew has become a bit of a Hydra for Nintendo recently. They pulled down IronFall due to an exploit which allowed non-approved software to be run on the 3DS, and in response almost ?the same exploit has now also been ?released for the YouTube app and the Cubic Ninja app.

Thanks to The Homebrew Launcher, 3DS owners can now bypass the annoying region-lock the console has, emulate SNES games (which is technically illegal in some countries, for the record), make custom home menu themes, and run homebrew software made specifically for it. There’s also a really neat free adaptation of Portal called Aperture Science 3D.

Installation is easier than something like rooting an Android phone, but not entirely uncomplicated. First, you have to make sure either the YouTube app, Ironfall, or Cubic Ninja are? installed on your 3DS. Then you’ll have to put two files availabl?e on the website onto your 3DS’ SD card.

The Homebrew Launcher uses the exact s?ame permissions as most other pieces of software for the 3DS, meaning there is little chance of it bricking your system. However, what Nintendo w??ill (or even can) do if it finds out you’re bypassing its restrictions is currently unknown.

It's also worth pointing out github pages have been taken down by Nintendo in the ?past due to copyright infringement??. There's a pretty big chance the same will happen here.

Sidenote: the method using the Ironfall app is called “ironhax.” The fact it’s not ??called “ironbrew” is a god damn travesty. I can hear Sc?otland weeping from here.

The post The? Homebrew Launcher comes to 3DS, despite Nin?tendo trying to stop it appeared first on Destructoid.

Ironfall: Invasion removed from eShop

Ironfall: Invasion is a decent little shooter for Nintendo 3DS that you likely haven't hea?rd of; and now that you have, you can't play it, as Nintendo has removed the game from its online store.

IRONFALL Invasion is temporar??ily unavailable on Nintendo eShop. Apologies for the inconvenience. Stay tuned for mor?e information.

— Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) August 11, 2015

The move came mere days after coder Jordan "Smealum" Rabet showed the title being used to launch a homebrew app, something the 22-year-old also did last year with Ubisoft's Cubic Ninja.

Smealum hasn't yet distributed his "Ironhax" exploit, but began encouraging 3DS users to download the title late last month. Following the announcement, developer VDev saids Ironfall: Invasion (which is free-to-start) was downloaded several hundred thousand times prior to its removal.

More recently, Smealum has turned his attention to another ?free app (YouTube) in the hopes of helpi?ng others release homebrew software on 3DS. So maybe download that while you still can.

Nintendo pulls 3DS game as homebrew exploit looms [Eurogamer]

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Remade P.T. in Unity for PC

Konami may have pulled P.T. from PlayStation Network and canceled Silent Hills, but that hasn't stopped Farhan Qureshi from recreating the playable teaser in Unity for PC and releasing it for free. Qureshi is self-described as "an aspiring game developer living in Calgary, Alberta," and recreated P.T. to showc?ase it at ??a workshop he will be teaching.

PuniTy, as it is being called, was made in about a month by Qureshi and can be downloaded for free here. I haven't had a chance to play it myself, but judging by the Internet's rea?ction, people are pretty happy with the results even if it isn't a?? 100% recreation.

I?'d grab it now if you want to play. I can't imagine Konami will be too happy with the project, though it's not like the company is los?ing money. 

PuniTy – PT Hallway Recreation [The Outline]

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Star Versus the next big NES eSport? Nah

The Nintendo Entertainment System's last official??ly licensed title released in December of 1994 (name that game!), but that hasn't stopped chiptune?? artist and now homebrew NES game dev Dustin Long from releasing a new title.

Star Versus is a one-on-one multiplayer-focused competitive space shooter that has players trying to destroy each other with on?e of four ships and various power-ups; it sounds far more impressive than it looks in action. There is also a single-player campaign of some sort, but details are scarce. If you want to get a copy of the game, it is going to cost you $40 + shipping and comes with a real functioning cartridge and a paper manual. 

There has even been a competitive tournament for Star Versus, but I wouldn't count on it being the next (first?) big eSport for the NES anytime soon. You can find more information on Star Versus and buy a copy here.

A New NES Game Came O??ut This Year—And It's Fa?ntastic [Popular Mechanics]

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Emulators, homebrew, and custom themes!

3DS hacker Smealum has released his hack Ninjhax 2.0 for 3DS and New 3DS on the latest firmware (9.9), allowing for homebrew and even region-free functionality. It currently requires the game Cubic Ninja, which has spiked in price since the release of the original hack and currently sells for $54 new, $53 used on Amazon. 

Ninjhax allows you to run homebrew applications such as emulators for various consoles, including many Nintendo systems such as the NES, SNES, and GBA, as well as create custom home menu themes. One thing it does not enable thankfully is piracy, unless of course you don't own the ??games you play on emulators. 

Previously, there had been a different but similar exploit that used The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. Smealum has teased Ninjhax 2.0 for Ocarina, so that may be coming sooner or later for those of you who don't own Cubic Ninja.

If you've got a copy of Cubic Ninja and want to test out the mod, you can snag it here. 

The post Region-free and homebrew mod update??d for 3DS on current firmware appeared first on Destructoid.

The future is here

With over 1,000 puzzle pieces available for the Nintendo 3DS' StreetPass Puzzle Swap game, it takes a considerable amount of time to collect them all. Now one man has invented a robot to automate the process of p??ressing A multiple times, saving him tens of seconds per use and ??allowing him free time to "eat a sandwich." 

The future is here, and the future is scary. I wonder if this guy has a HomePass setup -- it's a homebrew application to get Str??eetPasses from the comfort of your own home. I used to but something changed recently and I need to go through the pro?cess again. 

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You didn't even know you wanted it, but now you're getting it

Ever wanted to play the original Leisure Suit Larry on an NES? Khan Games has been hard at work for quite some time so that you could do just that. At long last, Larry and the Long Look For A Luscious Lover is nearly ready for its official release. That's a mouthful. That's what she said. Oh, shut up, inne?r Larry. 

The homebrew port could be available as early as next week, with a limited edition run of 23 copies via auction at the NintendoAge forums for lucky buyers. RetroUSB was tasked with distributing the title as well, so you'll be able to get your hands on it eventually eve??n if you miss o??ut on the auction.

I generally enjoy the Leisure Suit Larry games, even if they are pretty? heavy-handed, and this is an awesome project. Would you want to give it a try?

Exclusive: Official Trailer For Khan Games Homebrew 'Leisure Suit Larry?' Nintend??o NES Port [RetroCollect]

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Fan-made hack brings tons of new content to the Wii platformer

If you are a Wii U owner and possess a copy of New Super Mario Bros. U, you've probably downloaded New Super Luigi U from the eShop already. That, or you are waiting on the limited edition retail release in the coming months. But don't feel left out if you are still rocking the original Wii and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. We've got just the hotness for you too!

Back in 2011, we reported on a fan-made hack of the Wii platformer entitled Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii. After three years of development, it's finally available. As long as you have a copy of the original game, an SD card with around 570 MB of free space, and a homebrew-enabled Wii (or Wii U in Wii mode), you can get this baby up and running with no trouble whatsoever by following these simple steps.

The Newer team went miles farther with their alterations than Nintendo did with Luigi U. Newer contains 128 new levels, completely new world maps and environments, new music, new enemies and bosses, and even the return of the Hammer Suit from Super Mario Bros. 3. All for free!

Newer controls just as the original did, but now you have the option to use the Classic Controller or Classic Controller Pro. Oddly, the Newer team did not map the buttons exactly as they were in Super Mario World on the SNES. Instead, run ??/ fireball is m??apped to "b" (bottom button), jump to "a" (right), and spin jump to "x" (top).

Run / fireball is also mapped to "ZL" on the left shoulder and spin jump to "ZR.??" This scheme isn't as awkward as it sounds, and after playing for a minute, I deem it extremely efficient. It's great if you have a Pro with fat shoulder buttons, but the "Z?" buttons on the original Classic Controller are tiny little nubs, eliminating the benefits of the alternative scheme.

There's currently no way to remap the buttons, and the in-game button prompts still refer to "1" and "2" on the Wii Remote. Since this is a fan hack, however, I have no worri??es that the team won't address this problems and issue a patch do??wn the line.

The new music is a mix of original compositions and remixes of past tunes. Gone is the annoying "bwah bwah" chorus that has become the bane of every NSMB soundtrack, but unfortunately, the replacement tracks lack a lot of the trademark Mario series peppiness. Maybe they get better as the game progresses, but the early stages sou?nd very sleepy.

But I've gone on long?? eno??ugh about the downsides. What's the goodness?

When you launch a new file, you are greeted with a text box and jingle reminiscent of Super Mario World's intro. Then you are plopped onto a revamped Yoshi's Island -- you can even visit Yoshi's House, whi??????????????????????????ch holds many secrets as you activate the game's v??arious Switch Houses.

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that the Switch Houses are b?ack!

The first castle was not a castle at all but a giant tree with honeycombs that you climb like fences. At the top, you battle a giant Fuzzy by tossing blocks at it??. From the ?screenshots in the gallery, there's apparently a Thwomp boss later on, so that ought to be fun.

The Star Coins you collect in each level now serve as currency in Mushroom Shops, which are run Lakitus in various guises. For example, the first world Lakitu appears as he normally does, while?? the second world Lakitu wears a hat to keep the?? desert sun out of his eyes. Lovely little touches like this really show the attention to detail.

I could go on and on about all the minute changes and features in Newer Super Mario Bros., but you can experience it for yourself right this second. It's an i??mpressive endeavor, and I'm extremely glad that homebrew can be installed so easily on the Wii to make this possible.

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What's not to like?

There are many things that make me proud to be a gamer, and one of them is the homebrew/fangame community. To me, there's almost nothing better than a group of passionate fans getting together and creat??ing something in honor of their favorite franchises.

A homebrew Portal for the DS fits the bill perfectly in that respect, as smealum has been workin??????????????????????????g on a perfectly playable (although not complete) project that pays homage to Valve's amazing first-person-puzzler.

The developer states that it's all v??ery buggy and doesn't have sound at the moment, but it works, which is good enough for me!

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Stretch goal could mean Wii U version

2010's homebrew Sega Genesis RPG Pier Solar was one of those projects that was fun to watch from the sidelines, but I never? got to actually play it myself. That's what was great about development team WaterMelon turning to Kickstarter for a revamped take on the game due out on more easily accessible platforms (Xbox?? 360, PC, Mac, Linux, and ... Sega Dreamcast).

With six days left to go, Pier Solar HD has surpassed its funding goal of $139,000 and its first stretch goal of $145,000, which will result in a Japanese translation for all versions. Additional goals are focused on extras for the Dreamcast release like widescreen support and VMU integration; a director's cut of the game; Android and OUYA support; and perhaps most exciting of all, a Wii U version of Pier Solar HD. Yes, please.

When t??he Kickstarter was first launched, I was worried that even with passionate fans, there wouldn't be enough support to hit the not unsubstantial funding milestone. However, so?me 2,000 of you pitched in, making this a success. Funny how these things work out.

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It was going to happen eventually

The PlayStation Vita has finally been cracke?d into like a big ol' nut, and homebrew is on the way. 

Usermode Vita Loader is currently in the works (via NeoGAF)&n??bsp;thanks to developer Yifan Lu. Based on a recently discovered exploit, only a few lines of code have been written so far, and further developers are being sought to get it done.  

One developer has already expressed fears that the PS Vita will now become a hotbed of piracy, but Yifan Lu promises his exploit can't be used to run "backups" of games. Nevertheless, news of such exploits are usually the beginning of nefarious activity which, to be honest, Sony has been inviting. 

Whether it opens the door for pirates or not, homebrew itself is in demand with savvy PS Vita users, whether it's for the purpose of bringing much-needed extra functionality to the sy??stem, or s?imply loading custom services that do things more efficiently than Sony's archaic proprietary nonsense.

Rather than try and guilt-trip the homebrew makers, industry folks would be better off examining why such people are deemed necessary in? the first place?.

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Being an indie game developer can be tough, so it's no surprise that few wish to add to their difficulties by developing homebrew software for legacy hardware. Sure, almost every other week, we hear of some dudes making a new Dreamcast shmup, but now and then, we hear about a new Atari 2600 or NES project. I still want to grab myself a copy of Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril and tear the f*ck out of it one of these days.

Here is another team, Gradual Games, with a fresh NES homebrew straight from the coffee pot. It's called Nomolos: Storming the Catsle (that isn't a typo), and it's a blend of Castlevania, Super Mario Bros., Ghosts'n Goblins, and quite possibly a bit of Cheetahmen. From the trailer, gameplay consists of dashin from left to right through waves of enemies while swinging a short sword. It looks easy, but hands-on previews insist that?? i?t is hard as balls.

I'm not totally sold on the game just yet from what little I've seen; I'm definitely not sold on the music. Still, I respect the challenge of muc??king about in NES Assembly, and I would like to give the finished game a spi??n.

First Impression??s: Nomolos: Stor?ming the Catsle (NES) (Yes, that NES) [RoboAwesome] (Thanks, Donnie!)

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This is a run-through of a demo for Super Bat Puncher, an entirely new homebr??ew game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. A platform game, you have to free the nature spirits guarding a dangerous planet and punch a lot of bats. As you obt?ain new abilities for yourself and the novelty boxing glove you wield, some very cool gameplay opens up as you'll see in the video.

Super Bat Puncher has been in development for the last year and still has a ways to go. Its developer Morphcat plans to take a break from the project but hopefully he won't sit on his duff for too long. This looks like too much fun to fall by the wayside. You can download the demo and play it with a NES emulator right now from the game's developmen?t bl?og.

Super Bat Puncher [Morphcat.de via GoNintendo]

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Etsy user Katy Creider has really gone above and beyond in creating these incredible personality core plush toys based on the ones from the climactic battle in Portal. Each of GlaDOS' cores are 26" in circumference and she curren?tly has the above Curiousity Core and the Anger Core available for $45 or you can order a full set of spheres for $150.

What makes these toys so cool are the built-in voiceboxes which, when activated with a?????????????????????????? poke as seen in the above video, they repeat their lines from the game. The Anger Core is absolutely terrifying but I'm sorely tempted to pick up that ad??orable Curiosity one. The Intelligence Core also features a voice box, leaving the Morality Core as silent as the grave.

Damn neat stuff. You should check out some of Creide??r's other gaming toys over at her Etsy store as well. There's an amazing King of All Cosmos pillow that I'm drooling over and a bunch of other neat stuff.

Portal - GlaDos Cores - Complete Set ver 1.0 [Penguinontic's Etsy Store via Tomopop]

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Watch this video. It's Max Payne for PC played using the Kinect sensor and a Wii Remote/nunchuk combination. Using FAAST, a tookit used to map gestures to keystrokes developed at USC ?for use with PrimeSense systems (Kinect's camera included), motions are used to control most aspects of gameplay. Bullet time is activated by leg motion while movement can be controlled wit??h leaning or the nunchuk's analog. 

The effect, as you can see, is a physical implementation of the bullet time mechanic used in Max Payne in a way that's natural and doesn't sacrifice much in the way of accuracy. This is exactly the sort of thing I have been trumpeting as the reason core gamers should get excited about Kinect. As you can see, it's certainly not perfect. But as developers start to consider the possibility of making games that are not either controller-based or Kinect-based, this is the kind of thing we c??an probably look forward to.

I need a bigger living room.

Max Payne on Kinect Hack (FAAST) ??using a Wiimote (G??lovePIE) [Youtube via VG247]

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Here is video of researcher Tobias Blum demonstrating an Augmented Reality ov?erlay which, using Kinect, shows a simulated "X-ray" image of a skeletal system underneath. Now, it isn't Tobias' skeleton but based on a dataset called Visible Korean Human. The researcher suggests that such a tool might be used to teach anatomy.

I ??don't want to sound like a broken record about this Kinect stuff, so I'll just comment on how this is more than a little bit creepy to me. At first, everything is just kinda silly as he moves around and the skeleton moves in response. But when he started bending at the waist, I have to admit that I got a little case of the jibblies.

The post Kinect Magic Mirror shows that what is inside cou??nts appeared first on Destructoid.

Yesterday, a group of PS3 hackers united under the name 'fail0verflow' presented their method of circumventing the built-in security of Sony's machine at the 27th Chaos Communication Conference, or 27C3. Today, they announced that the code will be made public for anyo??ne to use.

In a nutshell, they found a way to calculate the so-called "keys" you need to "sign" a piece of software so the console accepts it as valid code and runs it. ??That means when the full implementations of this are out there, you can sign any piece of homebrew, or pirate games without needing a PS Jailbreak USB dongle.

For the full video of the conference session and some more insight into? what this me?ans for you, keep on reading.

27C3 PS3 Epic Fail [PSX-Scene via Joystiq] [Slides of the presentation available here]

In the last generation of consoles, it was pretty clear what console you wanted if you just wanted to mod the hell out of it: the Xbox. The GameCube had its mods to let you? play pirate copies if you wanted to, and so did the PlayStation 2, but when the original Xbox got cracked o??pen, it created a flood of homebrew far beyond simply being able to play pirated games.

After the initial 007: Nightfire exploit and the first modchips, the Xbox saw a booming homebrew development scene which produced the custom "dashboard," emulators, Xbox ports of Doom and Duke Nukem 3D and perhaps most importantly, the Xbox Media Center. It turned the Xbox from a games console -- with mostly mulitpl??atform games that looked a bit better than on the PS2 -- to a cheap solution for having a media center and all your old retro games in one box. A b??ox that was a bit smaller than most PCs that do exactly the same thing.

Whether you agree with the always-present piracy option that comes with such mods or not, the homebrew scene was fantastic during the Xbox age. You could switch from playing a game to watching a movie without getting off the couch, stream porn from your bed and turn off the co??nsole with one button on the remote, put the ?console in an arcade cabinet, and play your emulated games for the 15 minutes it takes before you get tired of them. It was a great time of wonder and enjoyment.

With the current generation of consoles, people started to get fully into the transition to HD. Of course, that meant there were high hopes for being able to do the same thing with an Xbox 360 or a PS3 as before, but now for the HD era. Sadly, the Xbox 360 did get its custom DVD drive firmware which lets you play pirate games, but no good way to run homebrew. If you have an older model, you can still go ?for a hardware solution (i.e., soldering) to run your own code, but to date it's way too much of a hassle. The Wii lets you easily mod it and run whatever you want, but it's not exactly a giant step up from the Xbo??x homebrew scene, if a step forward at all.

As the PS3 launched, a lot of people looked toward that as the next console to potentially use as they used their modded Xboxs. It comes with a Blu-Ray player, which is nice. The default ??HDMI and separate optical audio outputs are also nice, as the Xbox 360 initially didn't even have an HDMI output. And you can swap out hard drives with larger laptop models instead of going for a hardware modding solution on the Xbox 360, or paying for overpriced hard drives. The PS3 seemed like the go-to console for future hacks and homebrew, especially when it became clear that the Xbox 360 just wasn't as easy to crack open as the Xbox was.

But nothing practical ever came from the PS3 scene until recently. The hypervisor -- see it as a hardware security component -- proved to be a hassle to overcome. People could run Linux natively on the PS3 thanks to Sony's effort on that side, but you couldn't access both the Cell processor and the RSX videochip, which meant everything had to be coded for the Cell specifically. What was missing was a way to circum??vent all of that and have complete access to every hardware component. That is, until now.

Following newfound interest in the PS3 scene after Geohot's response to the lack of OtherOS in the PS3 Slim, the exploits he found as a result, and the PS Jailbreak USB dongles that hit the market shortly afterward, comes this insight into the PS3's method of signing private keys. With this new method of being able to sign your own software, in theory, you can sign your own PS3 games, homebrew, and even Blu-Ray discs to run on a retail PS3 wi?thout needing to buy a USB or hardware solution. When it comes to fruition, it means the PS3 will take its spot as the next Xbox for those of us who enjoy running homebrew -- like actually useful media centers on our consoles.

I, for one, can't wait to be able to run x264 content natively on a PS3. Lantus, who made the popular Xbox xSnes9x emulator as well as a few ports like DoomX and QuakeX, has apparently already said he's working on MPlayer for the PS3. I still haven't seen anything that worked as well as Xbox Media Center on any of this generation's consoles, so with luck, we'll have some great homebrew to look forward to in the near future. Especia??lly with today's amount of streaming content available, it could turn your PS3 into something magical.

As for the piracy that comes with any hack like this: I'm sure some more people will pick up a PS3 just for the free games. So yes, some games will be pirated a bit more than if this option didn't exist. But, you know, pirates gonna pirate, and if you want to, you already can do that on each of the three consoles. Besides, you probably all know at least one person who had ?a modded Xbox lying around. How much did they use it for actual games instead of homebrew? And if you had one yourself, are you looking forward to doing the same stuff with your PS3?

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