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News Archive: August 2002

Saturday, August 31, 2002

Page updates Posted by CyRUS64 @ 13:50
I've now created a new Homebrew games page which will contain any (playable) games. The User tools page will contain any user applications / tools / utilities. There is also a seperate Demos page for non-interactive samples. Some recent releases haven't been added to these pages yet, and we could still do with several self-booting images, so please feel free to create and/or submit those. The developer tools page will now be exactly what it's name suggests, and also provide links to the various opensource releases available.

Simon Bugfix! Posted by Hollywood Hasney @ 9:09
burner0 has updated his addictive Dreamcast game Simon with the following changes:

First of all I got all of the extra data, ogg/wav into the bin. So now there's only one file, the simon.bin.

Trimmed out all the extra crud in order to get the bin down to 1.0mb.

Only decent change is the button sticking issue described earlier should be resolved.
The latest version is so far only available in a .sbi file located here

Friday, August 30, 2002

Dreamcast intro Posted by quarn @ 13:22
Flare strikes back and this time on the dreamcast! (with a little help from me ;))

It's a little intro called "Sinus Experiment".

Download now!

discjuggler images coming soon, until then, check out Flares homepage

Wednesday, August 28, 2002

More news on the BBA Posted by Hollywood Hasney @ 10:39
NCSX are taking pre-orders on the unit priced at $49. Cheapest shipping to the UK is $9.88 so we may get a great deal on them.

Tuesday, August 27, 2002

Getting started guide Posted by CyRUS64 @ 1:08
One of the things Boob! has somewhat lacked in the past is 'Newbie-friendliness', so I have eventually gotten around to writing up a quick tutorial which points to the various tutorials/sites around and gives a brief rundown of how to get started with dc dev'ing. This can be found here.

Also, a quick thanks to TheGypsy for all his work here, and especially for his kind hosting, without which Boob! probably wouldn't have survived the 2.5 years till now.

Update: Added instructions on setting up and using dcload-ip.

Monday, August 26, 2002

Goodbye -- sort of... Posted by TheGypsy @ 13:57
I would like to announce that I am "parting" from B00B today. I was never "officially" a B00B Member, for various personal reasons, so I guess I cannot technically be "leaving B00B" -- but, the meaning is still the same. I simply will not be around much any more -- and certainly not in any administrative capacity when I am around.

Note that I have no hard feelings for B00B, CyRUS, Stalin, or anything else involved here. I simply have become too busy with many other things and therefore need to move on. I wish B00B and all involved the very best for all things to come!

GypPlay was released just over 2 years ago and has had over 105,000 downloads from B00B alone since February, 2001. It has been amazing for me to see the vast number of people using my player -- many thanks to those of you that sent praise and suggestions over the years. Due to time constraints, I do not expect a new version of GypPlay anytime soon -- if ever. Of course, if things change and I am able to get another release out, I will certainly let people know so that it can be announced here. GypPlay isn't officially dead, but it is, at least, on a long-term vacation.

Of course, I'll still be floating around now and then. You can still email me if you need me -- and likely catch me on EFNet (check for "Gypsy-NpM" or "TheGypsy" if you want me). I'll still read the forums when I can -- and answer any questions related to GypPlay when I have time.

Thanks again to everyone that I've interacted with!

- John...

Simon Posted by Hollywood Hasney @ 12:27
burnerO has created a clone of the "light memory" game Simple Simon. It is VERY addictive, has a quality soundtrack and even has a dancing bannana.

Downloads:

Plain Files (Unscrambled)
Discjuggler Image
Nero Image
Selfboot Inducer File

Tetris Posted by Hollywood Hasney @ 11:59
An un-named Tetris clone has been shown to me by Zephod, which is currently in alpha stage. It is a public alpha though and the downloads are here.

This clone currently supports 4-players but the feature that will set it out from the crowd is it's interactive music elemnet ala Rez. Unfortunatly, this feature is not in this alpha.

You can grab the alpha in .elf format here

Sunday, August 25, 2002

BBA Production Re-run Posted by ss_teven @ 11:32
CSI, the Japanese manufacturer of the Broadband Adaptor, may re-run production if they recieve 1,000 pre-orders according to this story at Slashdot, but be quick, as the reservation deadline is 9th September, and payment seems to be around December.

Personally seems like a good deal, I may even order one for my gaming pleasures if the price is right (with my newly aquired DC :). Thanks goes out to Slashdot for the story.

Friday, August 23, 2002

DC-Tool r1 Posted by CyRUS64 @ 15:12
NickK has released a modified version of AndrewK's DC Tool v1.0.3. Most notable changes are:
1.) It's now a native Win32 application (no more Cygwin DLLs required/used)
2.) Fixed certain lock ups during transmission.

Downloads:
Binary
Source (VisualC 6)

Friday, August 16, 2002

SegaNet servers free for rest of 2002 Posted by TheGypsy @ 21:36
It appears that Sega announced on August 1st that they are discontinuing their Dreamcast subscription service and, until the end of 2002, the SegaNet servers will be available to all online gamers. I've never personally used it myself, but those of you that want to play online that missed this announcement may want to check it out. Basically, it is unlimited head-to-head online gameplay via SegaNet through the end of 2002.

After that, Sega will shift their online focus to other platforms -- and will start shutting down the DC servers...

- John...

P.S. Note that PSOv2 is stil pay-to-play. It is the exception.

Wednesday, August 14, 2002

VmuCrap Volume 2 Posted by CyRUS64 @ 1:58
VmuCrap Vol2 consists of 29 new vmu animations, all by Zane Read of AMAZE Productions, put together into a burnable package by burner0. Especially neat is that you don't even need batteries in the vmu to view the animations, unlike those at the planetweb vmu animation gallery.
More info and downloads here.

Monday, August 12, 2002

Iris sample Posted by CyRUS64 @ 17:53
Olivier Chatry emailed me with the good news that he is still going to be continuing with his work on Iris (the project was supposed to be passed on/cancelled around August time). He has also submitted a little sample that shows some of the new functionality in Iris such as precalculated lighting, and a triangle strip clipper.

'This sample demonstates some (very simple) physics and interaction between entities. The goal of the sample is to search for a ball in the world and return it to the starting point. You must not fall (:)) and can jump using the B button.
Left and right trigger are used to move the camera.
Analog paddle is for (camera relative:)) player movement.'

Great news also is that Epitech console laboratory will (very) soon release 4 games made with Iris.

Links:
Game sample

Update: Duckman2882 has posted some screenshots, a discjuggler image, and a divx movie on this cv thread.

Tuesday, August 6, 2002

DreamMp3 / DCGnuBoy Posted by CyRUS64 @ 20:46
A new dreamcast mp3 player, called DreamMp3, has recently been released by Ben Gerard. According to the author 'The GUI is based on dream68 gui. The mpeg audio decoder is xing engine from KOS distribution. The ID3 tag manipulation library is libid3tag by Robert Leslie.' It includes, a CD browser, Play list support, VMU LCD 'realtime scope analyzer', and ID3 tags.

Also the gameboy emulator DCGnuBoy has had version 1.0.3-0.6 released. Here's what's new:

  • New LCD emulation unit.
  • Refined sound emulation unit. (oracle of ages, oracle of seasons now work fine).
  • Small changes to memory IO emulation.
  • Zipped ROM support (committed by AGAWA Koji)
  • Change default frameskip to "no skip".
    Thanks to Wraggster for the news.

    Sunday, August 4, 2002

    PCSXDC released! Posted by sp00nz @ 5:01
    Heya pcsxdc for dc was released. Here's the news.

    the version is an alpha release (kinda prerelease), so it lacks many things from the linux and win32 versions, read the Readme.DC for more info.

    thanks to Skye and Asz for testing it, and of course to Mark for making it :).

    the source should be released in the next version of pcsx, the v1.4, that hopefully won't take too much time ;).

    linuzappz

    Great news eh?

    you can grab the files from their site here.
    Thanks to ragnarok2040 for the news!

    Thursday, August 1, 2002

    'The Trojan Console' Posted by CyRUS64 @ 19:06
    DCVision pointed out a somewhat interesting article at SecurityFocus on a project that uses the dreamcast as a hacking tool for gaining access to corporate networks from the inside!
    The project is called DCPhoneHome and the group plan to release their software publically soon... (note that the website seems to be down right now - thanks I expect to TheRegister's snatching of the article from SecurityFocus)

    Anyhow, here's a snippet:

    "They chose the Dreamcast for its small size, availability of an Ethernet adapter, and affordability -- the console was discontinued last year, and now sells used for under $100 on eBay. Loaded with custom Linux-based software and covertly plugged into a spare network port under a desk or above a ceiling, the harmless-looking toy becomes the enemy within, probing the company firewall for a way out to Internet.

    The box cycles through the ports used for common services like SSH, Web surfing, and e-mail, which tend to be permitted by firewall configurations. Failing that, it tries getting "ping" packets out to the Internet, and finally looks for proxy servers bridging the network to the outside world.

    Whatever it finds, it uses to establish a tunnel through the firewall to the intruder's home machine. "Most organizations focus on the perimeter," said Davis. "Once you get through the outside, there's a soft chewy center." "

    As Homer once stated 'Never trust the geeks bearing dreamcasts...'