John Drury

There are few great emulator options for OS X, but that is set to change in the near future as multi-source system emulator OpenEmu prepares for an official launch.

Open Emu is an open source project to bring game emulation to OS X as a first class citizen, leveraging modern OS X technologies such as Cocoa, Core Animation and Quartz, and 3rd party libraries like Sparkle for auto-updating. Open Emu is based on a modular architecture, allowing for game-engine plugins, this means Open Emu can support a host of different emulation engines and back-ends while retaining a familiar OS X native front-end.

OpenEmu, which has been in beta for quite some time, is able to emulate the hardware of several different consoles. Version 1.0 of the software will include support for several 16-bit systems, including the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear, NeoGeo Pocket, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo, among others.

Support for additional systems like the Nintendo 64, the Nintendo DS, and the Sony PlayStation will be added in the future.


The emulator features a slick iTunes-style design, displaying downloaded ROMs in a menu organized by system. Designed from the ground up for OS X, it offers up a native OS X interface.

With full save state support, the software allows for multiple ROMs to be played at once and it also provides OpenGL scaling, multithreaded playback, and gamepad support.

At this point in time the team behind OpenEmu is working on polishing the app and adding final artwork, but the release is "close."


OpenEmu was previously available as a beta download and the beta version of the application can still be acquired by downloading and compiling the source code via Xcode. A full set of instructions is available here.

Not that its impending arrival was much of a secret, but Final Fantasy V arrived on the App Store today and is available now for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad devices for $15.99.

As this trailer neatly shows, this version is based on the 2006 Game Boy Advance release, and so includes the additional Sealed Temple dungeon and optional Enuo boss. It also features new character designs and graphical tweaks, courtesy of veteran FF sprite artist Kazuko Shibuya.

An Android version comes to Japan this summer. Going by recent history, that indicates it'll arrive in western territories around the same time.

PSA: Final Fantasy 5 out now on iOS, priced $15.99 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Capcom is bringing back DuckTales in a new game developed by WayForward Technologies. This is one of the two new games teased by Capcom ahead of the "World of Capcom" panel, along with Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara.

The new DuckTales, of course, is inspired by the NES classic, a Mega Man-esque game in which Scrooge McDuck used his cane as both a golf club and a pogo stick. The new version has new hand-drawn sprites, and features original voice work. It's coming to Wii U, PSN, and XBLA for $15.

Update: DuckTales Remastered is actually a full remake of the NES game, with new features including a museum and "A MONEY BIN YOU CAN ACTUALLY SWIM IN!" So we've now solved that mystery, and rewritten history to reflect it.

Capcom reveals DuckTales Remastered, developed by WayForward [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Supergiant made me happy and sad with Bastion, but the only thing that would truly make me sad is if their next game failed to arrive on my PC, your PC and everybody else’s PC. We now know that the game is called Transistor and there’s a trailer below but the release platforms haven’t been confirmed yet. It’ll be playable at PAX East and here’s how the story begins:

…players assume the role of a young woman who gains control of a powerful weapon after a mysterious group of assailants nearly kills her with it.

Studio co-founder Amir Rao recently said that the team felt they could ‘do anything’ and judging by the trailer, they’re doing something not a million miles removed from Bastion, which is no bad thing.

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BioShock Infinite weaves a complicated and intricate plot around ever-changing variables. Not only is it an evolving story that sees protagonist Booker DeWitt and the mysterious Elizabeth grow closer, but Irrational's latest deals with the hubris of a society built above the clouds, its ideals inflated with so much of the same hot air that propels it above the world below.

Though it touches on topics revolving around racism, religion, rebellion and revenge, these themes take a backseat to BioShock Infinite's primary topic: Love. Whether it be a society in love with its own patented brand of American Exceptionalism, a leader in love with his own self-appointed immortal image, or a pair of people that come together to care for one another, BioShock Infinite is a love story.

And it's an easy story to fall in love with.

Gallery: BioShock Infinite (03/25/2013)

Continue reading BioShock Infinite review: Of lions, lambs and liars

BioShock Infinite review: Of lions, lambs and liars originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PixelJunk Inc. - the official moniker of the codenamed PixelJunk 1-6 - is coming to Steam later this year. The 2D game follows budding soup makers looking to strike it rich in the gregarious game of goulash. Essentially, it's a 2D platformer where you use a laser to deconstruct matter in the environment, which you then use to build up your interstellar soup empire. Simple.

In addition to the name and narrowed launch window, developer Q Games has announced Mac and Linux versions of PixelJunk Inc. will follow the PC launch on Steam. PixelJunk 1-6 was announced late last year, specifically for the PC - an uncharacteristic first for the series that traditionally debuts to Sony platforms. Witness the future of soup in the first footage of PixelJunk Inc. above, offered up with a side dish of fresh screens in our gallery below.

Gallery: PixelJunk Inc. (Steam)

Continue reading PixelJunk Inc. is 'PixelJunk 1-6,' on Steam later this year

PixelJunk Inc. is 'PixelJunk 1-6,' on Steam later this year originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo is bringing a handful of Wii U and Nintendo 3DS titles to PAX East 2013, including major upcoming games such as Pikmin 3 and Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the company announced today.

Nintendo's PAX East slate features seven Wii U titles and nine 3DS games, as well as the Wii Street U app. The lineup contains a mix of unreleased titles and games that are already available. Here's the full list:

Wii U:

• Pikmin 3
• The Wonderful 101
• Lego City Undercover
• Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
• Need for Speed Most Wanted U
• New Super Mario Bros. U
• Nintendo Land
• Wii Street U

3DS:

• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf (guided demonstration)
• Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
• H...

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Server issues aside, SimCity players have noticed some other problems with Maxis' latest simulation game. One of the more obvious ones involves SimCity's traffic, as vehicles tend to take the shortest possible route between destinations. As a result, shorter roads wind up with traffic jams, even if there are wider roads available.

Maxis' is working on a patch to solve this problem, as detailed by lead designer Stone Librande on the SimCity blog. The patch will essentially force cars to choose different routes as other routes become more clogged, which should help cities to run more smoothly. Furthermore, multiple service vehicles (fire trucks, etc) will no longer crowd around a given event, addressing one of the complaints from our review.

Finally, Librande noted that many SimCity features - recently disabled to lighten the server load - are "slowly" returning. Regional achievements have been reactivated on "a select number of servers," and leaderboards are now active on the Test server. Librande asks willing players to join the Test server in order to "expedite the timeframe in which [leaderboards are] brought back to the rest of our servers."

Upcoming SimCity patch to resolve traffic jams, features returning originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This kinda seems to be happening a bit too soon – don’t open world games take years and years and years to make? – but I suppose Volition wouldn’t want to sit on their hands after their recent dice with death. And heck, this is probably Saints Row: The Third with bits on (EDIT – oh, yeah, I forgot, it is one-time SR3 DLC expanded into a full game. That makes sense), but when those bits include making the player a superhero I’m not complaining. Offering godlike, reality-bending powers is an entirely logical outcome for a series which started life snipping at GTA’s unconcerned heels then increasingly (d)evolved into out and out AAAARGH WOOOO YEAH WHATEVS ANYTHING EVERYTHING LOOK AT MEEEE POO BUM WILLY HAHAHAHAAHHA happy-madness.

Part IV goes further still, and is somehow out in August. Take a look below.
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