Fun & Games

Coding Duck writes “MANGA is a series of the network products of PePLink. I am now working as an software engineer in this company. Someday I realized that I have a lot of spared MANGAs under my table. Some of they are manufacturing phototypes, engineering samples or units with outlook defects. Therefore, I desired to get some (as much as) funs from our MANGAs. MANGA system is originally designed for networking, but we think it can be more. Lets record our ideas of “how to abuse your own products” Link.

Sydney small business owner Eddy Stevens has won a four-year legal battle against Sony, with the High Court ruling that modding of PlayStation consoles is legal. The decision has far-reaching implications for consumers and the manufacturers of computer games. Mod chips allow gamers to ignore manufacturers’ regional coding systems and run cheaper games – made for markets outside Australia – on their consoles. Link.

Xbox modification has come a long way in the past couple years. With the introduction of the TSOP mod, potential modders no longer had to shell out money for a modchip; rather just bridge two points on the Xbox motherboard. Now one doesn’t even have to open up his Xbox. Welcome to the world of soft modding. Using code exploits in certain games, a user is able to load a phony gamesave that will boot into a Linux based operating system and allow a user to mod his Xbox… in under ten minutes. Link.

The Atari brand has traded hands in the years since Pong hit the scene, but the new owners are still milking some mileage out of this game and 39 others with Atari Flashback 2. This $30 device offers a fun and affordable glimpse into the gaming’s past — one that, for better and worse, looks nothing like the present. Link. You can also make your own Atari PC DIY style…

Here’s another great app for your pre-2.0 PSP or your newly downgraded PSP. Team Xboxopensource has released the Apple II Portable emulator for PSP. Apple II Portable is a homebrew application which will emulate the Apple II on your PSP. Link.

With all the stuff going around with the PSP 2.0 firmware being cracked and Gizmondo now running unsigned code, it’s easy to forget about the other handheld that’s currently breaking blocks and opening new features to developers of homebrew. The DS. [via – via] Link.

Brian has a nice write up of GameTap, you can of course always roll your own too… “GameTap is Turner Broadcasting’s subscription-based gaming on demand service. The list of games is pretty impressive, but what really jumps out at me is the platforms represented: Dreamcast, Sega Master System, Intellivision, Genesis, Atari 2600, Arcade games, and more. It looks like they’ll have a decent selection of modern games, but retro games currently dominate the list”... Link.