JoyStiq reports that apparently there will be NO rare titles on the nintendo Virtual console.

This is news that, if true, is going to break more than a few hearts. While at the GDC, IGN's Matt Casamassina chatted with some people from Rare and Microsoft and learned that all Rare-owned licenses will be absent from Nintendo's Virtual Console. Among others, that list includes:

The Banjo-Kazooie titles

Conker's Bad Fur Day (not as shocking, as it was rereleased on Microsoft's system)

Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark

Blast Corps

Jet Force Gemini

Killer Instinct

Fortunately, all Nintendo licenses (the Donkey Kong games) are safe, but the loss (or potential loss) of such classics as Goldeneye and Killer Instict is disappointment, discouraging, and dis unfortunate (especially Blast Corps, a little gem for the Nintendo 64 that was often overlooked by gamers).

 

Take a look at Rare's timeline of released games. Could you imagine Nintendo's history without many of these titles? Do you want to? We are labeling this as a rumor because (a) no official comment has been made and ( b ) we really hope it to be untrue.

 

[via Go Nintendo]

Joystiq reports that Sony and Nvidia have signed a new deal aimed at reinforcing their relationship and to launch a new joint project:

Nvidia and Sony are reinforcing their business relationship with the announcement of a new joint project. According to Nvidia CFO Marvin Burkett, the GPU maker has a new engineering contract with the electronics giant, but product details were not forthcoming. "I don't think I should discuss what the product is", he said.

 

However, Burkett did indicate that the contract would be worth more than the

$30 million Nvidia was paid for designing the PlayStation 3's GPU.

 

[via GamesIndustry.biz]

Apparently some people have managed to get the java based NESCafe emu running on the Xbox 360 through it's media center.

Xexter from xbox-scene.com explains the method:

I've attached a link to a version of NESCafe that works through Media Center on the Xbox 360. This is currently setup to run at 480p (Widescreen). You can edit the nes.htm file if it does not fit correctly on your screen. I haven't found a way to add a menu for the roms list so you will have to edit the nes.htm and change <param name="ROMFILE" value="/roms/whateverrom.zip" /> to whatever Nes rom you want to play. I've included a Public Domain rom for testing but have verified Zelda1-2, Excitebike, and TecmoBowl and all worked.

Please do not ask for ROMs as they are quite easy to find (Google - "Nes Roms"). 

 

DOWNLOAD RAR: http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=58730

 

 

INSTALL:

You will need to extract the rar into C:Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Media Center\Media Center Programs\ on your media center box. It took a bit for the icon to show up under More Programs but it finally will.

 

NOTES: Sound is not functioning, Media Center 2005 is required. If it locks up you will need to run something that warns you that it is a web page and check the box that says "Don’t show this again". Once you do that it should run fine. I created an MCL that just went to Google and then checked that box. I've also attached an image with the mapping of the Xbox Controller to the corresponding keyboard keys.

 

-X

Download Link

Video of it in Action

Controller Mapping

2006-03-28

 

* GPU:  Added support for the A3I5 and A5I3 texture formats 

* GPU:  Fixed some errors in color selection for paletted textures 

* MMU:  Upped the FAT limits to max 32768 files/directories with a total size of 256 MB 

* MMU:  Added support for long filenames in the FAT 

* GUI:  GBAMP emulation can be turned off (on memory tab, or in dualis.ini) 

* GUI:  Switched from WM_TIMER to a multimedia timer callback 

 

Note that the max number of directory entries at the root level still is 512, and that the max total number of files/directories will be lower than 32768 if there are files that uses long filenames.

>> Get it HERE.