Late Night Consoling

An IGN staffer has spent some time with the DS interface for Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, the free online service launching in November for DS and eventually for Revolution. He connected using his Linksys router and posted his impressions. It's all in quoted forum posts, so I'll just go ahead and clean it up for you, adding in my own recently-acquired knowledge when applicable. You're welcome.

- The interface is quite clean and is set up very much like the DS launch menu. From it you can access a list of available wireless networks. There is also a button to automatically connect to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection USB Adapter.
- The DS will attempt to connect to any available networks. If additional settings are required, in the case of things like encrypted networks, they can be changed with the DS' touch screen keyboard.
- The interface will be a universal design for all online-enabled games. It is not present in the DS' firmware, it is contained on each game's cartridge.
- Games will store three network profiles, presumably networks to which you have successfully connected in the past, which can be deleted or changed if need be.

The service launches in North America on November 14, corresponding with the release of the first two online-enabled games: Nintendo's Mario Kart DS and Vicarious Visions' Tony Hawk's American Sk8land (DS).

Sony has released another firmware update for its PSP console, bringing the version number up to 2.50. The update--released quite soon after a homebrew-enabling exploit was found in 2.00, resulting in 2.01--does not bring quite as much functionality as the previous major release did, which makes sense given its shorter development cycle. This time around, most of the additions are to video. The primary feature is Digital Rights Management implementation, which gives the device support for copyright-protected video files from a memory stick. There is also support for Sony's LocationFree technology, which allows users to stream content from their home A/V devices (such as a TV or a DVD player) over the internet (and, with this patch, into a PSP). LocationFree functionality requires the use of a LocationFree Base Station, which retails for about $350.

The patch also fixes a few minor issues. The PSP web browser can now be set to Auto-Select or UTF-8 text encoding, and the browser can now save display mode and font size settings. It also adds WPA-PSK(AES) network security compatibility.

Dwayne Johnson, the thespian portraying the role of the spy-hunting Spy Hunter in the upcoming film "Spy Hunter" based on the classic video game Spy Hunter, has revealed some details regarding both the film adaptation as well as the franchise's next game, Spy Hunter 3. Regarding the game, Johnson had this to say:

"Before it was just about the Interceptor, the car. You'd drive or you'd fly or you'd be on the boat or things like that and you'd have all these amazing battles. But now, once the battles stop, the car stops. Now you've got to go find these people and you've got to go hunt them down. You've got to kill them." [emphasis added]

In other words, it is a video game.

The film is, somewhat surprisingly, being directed by John Woo and written by Stuart Beattie, who wrote the screenplays Michael Mann's Collateral as well as being one-sixth of the story team on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. In the film, Johnson explained, the car "is unbelievable. It jets off that mountain, turns into a boat when it hits the water, comes right back on the ground, turns into a motorcycle. It's really incredible." He also notes that the filmmakers are taking their time so that the subtle nuances and delicate universe of Spy Hunter are treated with the proper respect:

[There are] millions of dollars being spent, but it's one of those things where you don't want to rush it. You just don't want to make any type of movie. It's such a special movie, conceptually, and it's so cool with the cool. And you're the hunter of spies."

You are, truly, the hunter of spies. You'll also be the Hunter of Spies: The Movie when the film is released next year, and will most likely also be the Hunter of Spies 3 when the game ships around the same time.

GameSpot offers opinions on whether the mysterious Xbox 360 launch lineup is actually ready for launch.

1UP chats with GarageGames president and co-founder Mark Frohnmayer regarding the viability of Xbox Live Arcade as an indie platform. Good interview, but 1UP's Patrick reveals how much research he did when he asks "Why not develop on the PC?"