As you're reading this, Microsoft's pre-Tokyo Game Show press conference has already started, but here we are spilling the beans on the details everyone in attendance is just finding finding out about. How cool is that?

 

Right off, the US launch date. We've speculated Microsoft would aim for a Thanksgiving launch and we were right; Xbox 360 will arrive Tuesday, November 22, just two days ahead of the holiday. Surprisingly enough, the company's keeping on track with their worldwide roll out; the machine will hit Europe on December 2, Japan on December 11.

 

Microsoft's also announcing at the conference that right at this very moment, Xbox 360s are already in production to meet the worldwide demand during the holiday season. We still don't know what to expect in terms of launch numbers, but don't look for those specifics until closer to launch, maybe even at X05.

 

Even though they're deep in enemy territory, Microsoft remains amped about Xbox 360. "This holiday season, gamers in Japan, Europe and North America pining to experience jaw-dropping high-definition graphics, unmatched online play and compelling digital entertainment features of Xbox 360 will finally have the chance," says Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer at Microsoft.

 

Seeing as how it's Tokyo Game Show, though, the company's focusing on their overseas efforts. In addition to confirming a launch price of 37,900 YEN (almost $350 USD) for Xbox 360, Microsoft's predictably avoiding a dual SKU launch in the land of the rising sun. Japan will receive one version of Xbox 360 loaded with the removable 20GB HD, wireless controller, an media remote control, an headset, an ethernet cable, batteries and a component HD-AV cable.

 

Screw the hardware, though - what about the games? Microsoft's probably holding back some announcements to surprise folks at the conference, but over 40 publishers have already committed to supporting Xbox 360 in Japan, and we'll start seeing the fruits of that labor during the Tokyo Game Show in the form of this lineup:

 

    * (eM)-eNCHANT-arM (FromSoftware)

    * Bomberman - Act Zero (Hudson Soft)

    * Call of Duty 2 (Activision)

    * CHROMEHOUNDS (Sega)

    * Dead Rising (Capcom)

    * Dynasty Warriors 5 Special (Koei)

    * Everyparty (Microsoft Game Studios)

    * Far East of Eden - Ziria (Hudson Soft)

    * Final Fantasy XI (Square Enix)

    * Frame City Killer (Namco)

    * Gears of War (Microsoft Game Studios)

    * Kameo: Elements of Power (Microsoft Game Studios)

    * Mobile Suit Gundam (tentative title) (Bandai)

    * Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)

    * Ninety-Nine Nights (Microsoft Game Studios)

    * The Outfit (THQ)

    * Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft Game Studios)

    * Resident Evil 5 (Capcom)

    * Ridge Racer 6 (Namco)

    * Rumble Roses XX (tentative title) (Konami)

    * Shutoku Battle (tentative title) (Genki Co. Ltd.)

    * Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega)

    * Saint's Row (THQ)

    * Test Drive Unlimited (Atari Inc.)

    * Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft Entertainment)

    * World Air Force (tentative title) (Taito Corp.)

    * Wrestle Kingdom (Yukes)

 

That doesn't count some of the surprises we're sure to see on the show floor itself, but chances are most of Microsoft's aces will come out during the conference itself. 1UP has several editors in attendance, so stay tuned for the latest bombshells as they appear.

I'm broke

14 September 2005 v1.0.3.7

==========================

1) Corrected SID to return 255 for the X-Y game paddle positions. The game Lemmings will now work

in joystick mode.

»» Official Site

15 September 2005: DSEmu 0.4.7 is out with bug fixes, X/Y key support, GBA support, FIFO registers and computational accelerators.

30 August 2005: There is a problem with thumb emulation. On IRC GPFerror noted that one of his demos showed a black screen when compiled with '-mthumb' but worked with '-mthumb-interwork'. If your program black screens on DSEmu you might like to try this change. I'm currently working on the problem and hope to have it fixed before the 0.4.8 release.

New features in 0.4.7 are:

 

- Support for the X and Y keys have been added. This can be configured

  using the Options/Configuration menu option. The code for this was

  contributed by Normmatt.

- Many fixes to key handling. Anything but A and B keys were very

  buggy in previous builds. My 'keys' demo from my tutorials now works

  correctly and Space Invaders is now playable.

- Support for GBA games was re-added. It was removed when I first took

  up support of DSEmu until I understood the code better. It is now

  back in and will be maintained.

- The FIFO registers have been implemented. This is an important

  feature for DSLinux and a step towards support for the commercial

  downloadable demos.

- Various bug fixes in graphics code.

- The compuational accelerator registers have been implemented. Again,

  a steps towards support for the commerical downloadable

  demos. Contributed by Julien Hamaide.

- Workaround for 'console scramble'. There has been an issue since

  DevkitPro R14 which causes text output using the console output

  routines to be scrambled. I implemented a workaround in 0.4.6 but it

  didn't work for homebrew programs built with previous versions. I've

  been unable to fix the problem so far, so I added a 'Unscramble

  console text' option in the Options/Configuration menu option. If

  you run a game and the text appears scrambled, check or uncheck

  this, and it should correct the problem when you press 'Ok'. I hope

  to fix this in 0.4.8.

»» Official Site

»» Testing Thread

Xe is a multi system emulator for Linux that emulates many console and handheld video game systems of the past. Xe is an original emulator written from scratch by one person. It is not a port or collection of other emulators.

 

It currently supports the following systems:

SG-1000

Famicom / NES

Mark III / Master System

PC Engine & PC Engine CD-ROM2 / Turbo Grafx 16 & Turbo Grafx CD

Super Grafx

Mega Drive & Mega CD / Genesis & Sega CD

Super Famicom / SNES

Neo Geo

Neo Geo CD

Game Boy & Game Boy Color

Game Gear

Neo Geo Pocket & Neo Geo Pocket Color

Wonder Swan & Wonder Swan Color

Xe updates:

[Xe] CD TOC reading now using SCSI Command.

[Xe] Added Vertical Overscan support.

[Xe] Expand 4x3 minimum window / screen aspects.

[Mega Drive] Fixed YM2612 CH3 extra frequency.

[Neo Geo / Neo CD] Fixed YM2610 CH2 extra frequency.

[PC Engine] Implemented VCE dot clock emulation.

[super Grafx] Super Grafx support.

»» Official Site