Dear visitors,

with the past month, we have broken another news record in the almost 10 year history of PDRoms, this time 488 news items and...

... the seventh coding competition organized by PDRoms has finished - The compo itself was just an average success considering the amount of seven entries only, but hey - seventh compo, seven entries - let's hope there will be more than 7 entries the next time :)

Hopefully the main page with all funky new features will be back online soon - The archive (currently still unaccessable) holds already 600 programs, and before we fully re-open everything should be back to around 2000 homebrew games and applications for various systems - including the iPhone.

Our coder celeth should return by upcomming week and continue his work to bring PDRoms back to it's old glory.

All things are moving slow, but the main thing is, they are moving!

-Kojote

I just wrote an email to the guys at Epitech Game Development Labaratory, read on, it will be self explaining:

Dear Ladies, Dear Gentlemen

I am very addicted to homebrew software, like the ones located on your page ( http://labconsole.epitech.net/index.php ). Due to research I know you had some GBA homebrew's like

Bibibobo (Alpha) (GBA Game), or
Bomber Royale (GBA Game) on your page (both from 2002).

While checking your page, I can't localize them anymore - I wonder if there are more "projects" for consoles or handhelds which have disappered from your page or actually never made it to the page itself.

I also recognized there are quite few "Dreamcast" games, which were never released but mentioned as "project"

Could you please assist me in finding such lost treasures, in case they can be made freely available to the public, made by your students?

You would do the homebrew scene a big favor! Thanks a lot and waiting for answer :)

Regards
Shahzad Sahaib
Kojote/pdroms.de

The page also contains a hand full of GBA games which I have never seen before, considering I follow the GBA scene since it's beginning in 2001, it's pretty crazy :)

You can discuss about this in the PDRoms webboard.

NeoPop PSP is a NeoGeo Pocket and Pocket Color emulator for Playstation Portable.

Changes:

Fixed a serious crash caused by having many long filenames in the same directory

ApolloIM is a libpurple based IM client which brings AIM, MSN, .Mac, and ICQ to the iPhone.

Changes:

.Mac support is easier to use. DELETE your .Mac accounts and add them again!
Mysterious double size buddies fixes.
MSN login problems fixed to the best of our testing.
Conversation with hidden buddies and buddies not on buddy list.
Login time improvements.
Fixed a handful of crashes.

fMSX PSP is a MSX emulator for PlayStation Portable.

Changes:

fMSX upgraded to version 3.4
Changes include fixes to the Z80 CPU emulation

NES.app lets you play Nintendo games on your iPhone. It is a fully functional, feature-rich Nintendo emulator.

NES.app uses an emulator core we call NESCore, which we've forked from pNESx and InfoNES and re-engineered as a highly-portable and high-performance Nintendo emulator core.

In order to use NES.app, you will need ROM images of Nintendo games. ROM images are files containing the dumped instruction code from a physical cartridge. In many cases, you are legally entitled to posess a ROM imageof any game that you presently own. ROM images for NES are widely available online, or with the appropriate hardware, you can dump them yourself directly from the cartridge.

NES.app started as a fork of iPhoneNES v0.01, but has been completely rewritten to run very fast, and with many additional features including sound, multitouch support, full-screen, landscape mode, game genie codes, saved games and much more. It now contains zero code from the original iPhoneNES project.

Changes:

[nervegas] Fixed white noise channel frequencies
[nervegas] Fixed PCM DMA
[jordan] Added PAL support, use filename (E) unless marked in header (Many are not marked in the header)

ApolloIM is a libpurple based IM client which brings AIM, MSN, .Mac, and ICQ to the iPhone.

Changes:

Unicode Support

Customize is a suite of customization tools for the iPhone.

Taskbar Notifier is an iPhone application which adds a small envelope icon in the taskbar when you have an unread email message and a speech bubble when you have an unread SMS.

Here is a new version of PSPMSX the MSX series Emulator for PSP.

Changes:

- New render fast mode (original msx size but faster)
- Option to prevent the blue led to be displayed when
L or R are pressed
- Remove .png file when removing state file
- Bug fix: random pixels colors on screen borders
- IR keyboard works now also with in the keyboard
settings/mapping menu

doud is working on a NDS game, based upon a flash game called "Memory Me".

Woopsi has been updated...

Thanks to http://www.dev-fr.org for the news.

EunHye DS is a jigsaw puzzle game by beodeulpiri.

Thanks to http://www.dev-fr.org for the news.

Asterz is a space shooter like game for PSP.

Thanks to http://www.dcemu.co.uk for the news.

PSP System Checker is an application which outputs information about your PSP on it's display.

PSPenguin is a shell application for PSP.

Give feedback via: http://forums.qj.net/f-psp-development-forum-11/t-releasealpha-its-time-people-time-to-see-the-work-it-is-time-for-pspenguin-alpha-123016.html

The title says it all...

Give feedback via: http://forums.qj.net/f-psp-development-forum-11/t-releasesonic-catch-those-rings-123041.html

GP2X-MSX is a port on GP2X of the version 2.7.0.40 of fMSX-SDL from Vincent van Dam that ZX-81 had previously ported to PSP.

Changes:

- New render fast mode (original msx size but faster)
- Option to prevent the blue led to be displayed when
L or R are pressed
- Remove .png file when removing state file

The game consists of recovering (our dear GP cleans the screen of the virus of colors) with a certain number of capsules, to do it we have to select a capsule of color, the point of beginning in the treatment always is the central low cell, which always will be of the last selected color, as we are treating our GP the virus become gray, when we select a capsule of color, all the virus that are touching to a gray cell will turn of gray color indicating that this cell has remained vaccinated.

ZGV2x is a picture viewer for GP2x by mat.

Use your NDS as phone.

Thanks to http://www.dev-fr.org for the news.

Fort Apocalypse has cleared up the code of his racing-game for A2600, otherwise there are no changes.

This is a deck of cards for the musically inclined. They can be used to solve problems with rather "oblique" answers.

This project was inspired by the Dashboard widget of the same name. This project was created in order to experiment with the coverflow style flip animation as well as device orientation. I had a hard time figuring this stuff out so I thought I would post the source code for others.

- Tap the card to flip over
- You can swipe thru cards at random by swiping the display only when the card back is showing.

Try swiping in every direction.

Just found those honest words from the author of FiveDice:

Hey Apple Inc.! I know your listening.
The Google Analytics account tied into this Google provided series of web-pages shows you're listening. This little slice of fun is getting several page views from Cupertino each day. So, here is my two-cents.

First, I do not participate or condone the SIM-Unlocking shenanigans of the iPhone. I fully understand and appreciate the unlocking communities arguments, and respect their efforts. I would be frustrated too if I lived in an area where I could not get AT&T service, and thus no access to the iPhone. In all honesty I would likely be very tempted to pursue the same solution they have. However, I also respect the amount of effort and money that has gone into not only developing a product like the iPhone, but also to the development and cultivation of the partnerships that have brought this technology to fruition.

Many complain that the iPhone should never have been limited to one carrier, or that a world-wide roll out should have been available at launch. I find this naive. This point of view shows no real understanding of reality, and what it takes to do what Apple has done. They have entered a space that is so crowded with well established players and deeply entrenched business models, and attempted to turn it all upside down if not cockeyed. I have never liked AT&T (Cingular) cell service. Several years ago I had their service, and it was awful. 2 years ago, I tried their service again. Still awful. But I chose to leave my Verizon Wireless service and switch to AT&T because I wanted an iPhone. As far as the service, and support of AT&T. Well, it has been much better than my past experiences. In Southern California, it has been at least as good as Verizon was for my needs. Apple made it very clear from the very beginning that this was a service locked deal. Take it or leave it. We all chose to take it. Many refused to believe it, and have now gotten rather upset with Apple because their expensive toy is now an expensive paperweight. I hope things work out for you in the end. I would be pissed too, but mostly at myself.

Now on to my real purpose here. 3rd-party applications. Yes, I know same deal as above. We all knew from early on that 3rd-part applications were not supported outside of Safari. So, why is it ok to bitch about this, but not about unlocking. Well, because this is my rant. No one is forcing you to read this.

The crux of the issue is this. Steve Jobs stood before a large audience at MacWorld 2007 and proclaimed the iPhone as "revolutionary" and something that "changes everything." He talked about OS X, Cocoa, Core Image, and Core Animation. What did he think would happen when a few months later he hands us this silly Web 2.0 thing as a software development solution. Not acceptable Steve-o. Not after what was just dangled in front of us. So, some very enterprising folks came up with a way of full-filling Steve's original promise. Yea it may not have been blessed by Steve, but it also did not bring down AT&T's "west coast network." Apple, look at the code to the released apps. Heck, click the Source button above and look at the code to this one. Do you see anything in there that would bring down AT&T's network? I didn't think so. Through the efforts of the 3rd-party community, the iPhone has become infinitely more usable to a core group of your customers. This is your Think Different legacy. You remember us don't you. "The Crazy Ones", "The Misfits", "The Trouble Makers", "The Round Pegs in the Square Holes", "The Ones Who See Things Differently". I am not proclaiming any one of us have as profound an impact as those depicted in your outstanding Think Different campaign, but you started this. You inspired us with those words so poetically delivered by Richard Dreyfuss. You created the anthem that holds true today. We are the users who infect those around us with our enthusiasm and interest in making the technology experience better for everyone.

Apple, you have created a great set of frameworks for Mac OS X development. The tools on the iPhone echo the care and ingenuity of their older brothers. UIKit has been fun to write with and explore. Many of the tools created by the community do nothing but showoff more of the iPhone capabilities.

Apple, bring back 3rd-party development. I am not expecting support, or warranty service for my 3rd-party infused iPhone. I just want to be able to continue to upgrade my firmware without fear of losing the great benefits the community has brought to my iPhone. Don't lock us out. Don't continue the cat-and-mouse cycle. Embrace it. Let your "Misfits" have their fun with the products they paid for. As a small developer, I want people to continue to be able to play my little game, or read an ebook on their new "revolutionary" device. I want people to stay excited about this technology experience.

I am leaving this uncommented, everyone should have his own thoughts about those lines.

For those who wonder how to port their homebrews to FW 3.xx and PSP-SLIM, you will find here a very simple "Hello World" homebrew, that can be compiled both for FW 1.5 and FW 3.xx. Have a look to the README file for details.

This is a very simple example part of the SDK, it's only for coders!!!