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Homebrew coder RRRDGames has released a new version of NotePaint, a simple homebrew application that allows you to take notes and draw while on the go. Check out the new features after the break.
 
 
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Considering the extent to which Farmville has enraptured the hearts and minds of 95 percent of the Facebook-using populace, we’re not surprised that Natsume has decided to bring yet another installment in the Harvest Moon franchise to the States. According to Siliconera, American store shelves will play host to Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley for the PSP in April.

The game will task you with staving off the expansion of The Funland Corporation’s chain of amusement parks into your home town of Leaf Valley. You’ll do so in the most logical manner imaginable: By repeatedly performing various agricultural chores. Yeah, that’ll show ‘em!

Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley coming stateside in April originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We love Nobuo Uematsu’s work on the musical accompaniment for the Final Fantasy franchise, but we often find ourselves wishing those games’ scores were infused with a touch of Jay-Z. Maybe a light smattering of Outkast. The faintest hint of Ghostface Killah.

The mixologists from Team Teamwork (creators of the similarly-spliced Ocarina of Rhyme album) have once again worked their magic on a classic video game soundtrack. This time around, it’s the score from Final Fantasy VII, which has been mashed together with tracks from over a dozen hip-hop artists, as well as Tom Waits, which is just weird. You can pay whatever you want to download the cleverly-titled Vinyl Fantasy 7 — though we’re betting you’ll probably settle on zero dollars.

[Thanks, Mike!]

Vinyl Fantasy 7 is the freshest thing you’ll hear today originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We love Nobuo Uematsu’s work on the musical accompaniment for the Final Fantasy franchise, but we often find ourselves wishing those games’ scores were infused with a touch of Jay-Z. Maybe a light smattering of Outkast. The faintest hint of Ghostface Killah.

The mixologists from Team Teamwork (creators of the similarly-spliced Ocarina of Rhyme album) have once again worked their magic on a classic video game soundtrack. This time around, it’s the score from Final Fantasy VII, which has been mashed together with tracks from over a dozen hip-hop artists, as well as Tom Waits, which is just weird. You can pay whatever you want to download the cleverly-titled Vinyl Fantasy 7 — though we’re betting you’ll probably settle on zero dollars.

[Thanks, Mike!]

Vinyl Fantasy 7 is the freshest thing you’ll hear today originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Namco Bandai has announced that Dead to Rights: Retribution, the reboot of sorts for their canine-friendly action game series last seen in 2005, will release on April 13 (via Eurogamer).

Retribution was first announced back in February of 2009, and really, hasn’t been seen very much since. We know the game will once again star the unfortunately Flintstones-esque named Jack Slate, a canine officer who fights crime with his loyal dog Shadow. Retribution will also feature deeper hand-to-hand combat, and entire levels where the player controls Shadow directly.

We last got a look at Retribution way back in May of last year, so it’ll be interesting to see how this reboot shaped up. It’ll be released on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and evidently there will be pre-order bonuses including a “MadWorld-style” graphic filter called “noir mode,” and exclusive dog camouflage for Shadow.

Final Fantasy XIII has been a long time coming, and no doubt part of that is because it’s the first big PlayStation 3 game for Square Enix. But as it turns out, there’s another reason for the long wait: It started its development life on the PlayStation 2.

“Final Fantasy XIII was originally meant to be a PS2 title, but we had to switch systems due to the arrival of the PS3,” said producer Yoshinori Kitase to the Dutch version of Official PlayStation Magazine (as translated by FinalFantasy-XIII.net, via VG247). “That cost us about one and a half years and was constantly a case of trial and error.”

So what did this ill-fated PS2 version of Final Fantasy XIII look like? Thanks to a book covering all things FFXIII recently released in Japan called “Scenario and Battle Ultimania,” we can see for ourselves — it provided screenshots from what were apparently two different builds with wildly different graphical styles, and FinalFantasy-XIII.net again comes through with a few (very blurry) scans. Check out two shots below of the versions of FFXIII that were not to be.

We’ve been wondering why it’s taken Square Enix so long to churn out another installment in the core Final Fantasy franchise, seeing as how the last game came out approximately forever ago. The answer recently came in the latest Dutch issue of Official PlayStation Magazine, which contains a revealing interview with Squeenix’s Yoshinori Kitase. According to a fan translation of the interview, Kitase said “Final Fantasy XIII was originally meant to be a PS2 title, but we had to switch systems due to the arrival of the PS3. That cost us about one and a half years and was constantly a case of trial and error.”

Considering it took Square Enix roughly “one and a half years” to develop and release Final Fantasy IX, that’s a pretty substantial amount of time lost. Hopefully the developer will have an easier time when working on the next current-gen Fantasy.

[Via VG247]

FFXIII development started on PS2, delayed launch by a year and a half originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a recent interview with the New York Times, Dante’s Inferno executive producer Jonathan Knight responded curiously to a query about the possibility of upcoming adaptations of the other two installments in the Divine Comedy, Purgatorio and Paradiso. According to the Times, “Knight said his team was focused on the release of Dante’s Inferno as well as on additional downloadable content for that game,” though he later confessed “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about that.”

We think Visceral’s missing out on a great chance to kill two birds with one stone — why not make Purgatorio and Paradiso DLC packs for Inferno? For instance, a few months after the game comes out, release a patch that makes the game’s load times last for 49 days. Boom. Purgatorio in the bag.

Update: As awesome as that sounds, it’s more likely he was talking about the “Dark Forest” prequel DLC that will come bundled with the Limited Edition version of the game on PS3. We’re still going to hold out hope, though!

Visceral Games prepping DLC for Dante’s Inferno originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High-sci-fi MMORPG and high-fantasy JPRG join S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat expansion and Sims 3: High-End Loft Stuff add-on during light release week.

After a jam-packed January, gamers’ wallets get a respite at the beginning of 2010’s second month, which bears only a few major releases. That said, one of those titles may be the game of the decade for Star Trek fanatics with a taste for massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

Cryptic is making Star Trek Online so.

This week, Cryptic Studios is boldly going where no developer has gone before by launching a MMORPG set in the Star Trek universe, Star Trek Online. The Atari-owned studio behind last year’s Champions Online took over the project after initial developer Perpetual Entertainment closed down in 2008.

Since then, the San Francisco Bay-area shop has been hard at work revamping Star Trek Online, which entered open beta for preorderers last month. The game is rated T for Teen and retails for $50 a la carte or as part of an $80 special edition. Subscription plans start at $15 per month in the US and Australia, although cheaper deals for long-term subscribers can be found on the game’s official Web site.

Gamers who prefer RPGs to have a beginning, middle, and end can check out Sony’s Japanese import White Knight Chronicles. Developed by Level-5 (Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box), the third-person game was unveiled at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show and released in Japan in December 2008.

The International Edition of the game contains a fully localized version of the Japanese original, which publisher Sony claims has a potential 100 hours of gameplay. It also sports a number of extras, including 50 additional on-disc online quests, with still more quests becoming available as downloadable content.

White Knight, blue light.

White Knight Chronicles: International Edition will also include more in-game dialogue options than the original, online voice chat, and the new Georama mode. In said mode, players will be able to build an online village, from which gamers can invite friends to participate in quests as well as acquire unique items.

Rounding out the week is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, a standalone sequel to the 2007 post-apocalyptic action-RPG S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. This time, Ukrainian developer GSC Game World drops players into the role of special agent Alexander Degtyarev. As the undercover operative, players are tasked with locating several missing helicopters while also contending with rival scavenger factions and radioactive mutants. Environments presented in the game include a secret military base, an abandoned factory, and the titular city of Pripyat.

Last and arguably least is The Sims 3: High-End Loft Stuff. As advertised, the story-free add-on is filled with expensive items for Simlish materialists to load up on. Items in the pack include Sharper Image-like gadgets, designer furniture, haute couture fashions, and virtual video game systems, so players’ Sims can play simulated games within the actual game.

For further details on the week’s games, visit GameSpot’s New Releases page. The full list of downloadable games on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, and the Wii Shop Channel will be revealed later this week. Release dates are based on retailer listings and are subject to change.

FEBRUARY 1, 2010
Assassin’s Creed II–IP–Action–Ubisoft
Mystery 5 Collection–PC–Puzzle–Dreamcatcher

FEBRUARY 2, 2010
Family Party: 30 Great Games Winter Fun–WII–Sports–D3Publisher
Imagine: Reporter–DS–Puzzle–Ubisoft
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat–PC–Action–Viva Media
Star Trek Online–PC–Role-Playing–Atari
The Sims 3: High-End Loft Stuff–PC–Puzzle–Electronic Arts
White Knight Chronicles: International Edition–PS3–Role-Playing–SCEA

FEBRUARY 3, 2010
Chime–X360–Puzzle–Valcon Games

FEBRUARY 4, 2010
Armored Core: Silent Line Portable–PSP–Simulation–From Software

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While other retailers would consider digital content as a threat to their business, GameStop COO J. Paul Raines believes that DLC is critical to their survival. As such, he says that the next challenge for him and