Another version of Quake for the Nintendo Wii has been released by Piko. The new release of Quake Wii Piko GX, which is based on homebrew coder Eluan's QuakeGX port, now supports USB keyboard and corrected the previous OSK keyboard delay problem.


Download: Quake Wii Piko GX v0.08

If you enjoy playing improbably shooter-type games, then this one should be right up your alley. Entitled "Gas Price Busters", this homebrew shooter for the Xbox 360 pits you and several others in a pitched space fight against floating gas pumps. Sounds interesting? Check out the details in our full article.

Download: Gas Price Busters

Homebrew coder Slayer537 recently released a new space shooter developed specifically for the Xbox 360. Entitled "Fuel Depot 360", it features a five level demo full of 3D arcade action. As homebrew space shooters go, this one is definitely on the high end compared to the others. Find out more about it in our full article after the jump.

Download: Fuel Depot 360

Sonic fans of the homebrew communities (plural), here's a project you might want to take a look at. Several homebrew developers have gotten together to bring the classic Sonic the Hedgehog 2 game into the world of hi-definition. Details in the full article.

 

 
For the guys with an inkling for something far more retro in their 360's lineup, you may want to see this. Up ahead is the aptly named DotRetro v0.3 app, which is an emulator that allows your Xbox 360 to play some of the old classics we all remember and love, like Space Invaders. The emulator sports NES emulation capability, though it's stated to be limited at the moment.

According to author kp73 , the emulator's based on the .NET/XNA Game Studio Express by Microsoft">XNA frameworks, which may remind some of the guys here of the other NES-based project in the works. We'll leave it up to you to see which you may prefer - with this brew being free. Enjoy the download, which should also work with All 32-bit MS Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP). Make sure to read the GPL text included in the bundle before uploading the brew.

Download:[DotRetro v.03]

You gotta love the way Microsoft is approaching homebrew. With the release of XNA Game Studio Express, it has opened the floodgate of independent programming talent. And boy, the good results have been overflowing.

The latest XNA 'brew to come our way is a port of ScummVM for Xbox 360. For the uninitiated, ScummVM is a multi-platform program that allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games (i.e. LucasArts releases from past years). We've already witnessed releases of such kind making its way to the PS3, PSP, and even the DS, so it's just right that our green and mean machine got its own dose of ScummVM fun.

The release notes for ScummVM XNA v0.30:

• Telex fixed (ADD A AbstractFilesystemNode into the fslist)
• Fixed for warpmouse (mouse emergency supported on xbox360 whoops!)
• Root path for file system is now "." by default
• DO emergency CHANGE drawArea in about dialogue constructor!
• Browser dialogue implemented and it almost works!
• handleScreenChanged is NO more longer virtual in GUIObject
• fixed for kLineHeight emergency being right for the current font
• Message dialogue implemented (untested)
• LINE COUNT: 54,809/411,667(ScummVM 0.9.1) = 13,31% rewritten
  

We came across it in a post made by kallez from a German website. We're guessing he's the creator of this cool 'brew, so to you our German friend, we tip our hats.

Download: [ScummVM XNA v0.30]

The results are finally in for Xbox360 Homebrew's XNA Developer's Contest, which has the unique distinction of actually being a way for the contestants to teach the whole Xbox 360 community about homebrew games development using XNA. Each contestant was asked to write about their progress, describe how they planned their games and how they were able to overcome obstacles that they faced. While only seven people saw the contest through to the end, Xbox360 Homebrew has decided to also give awards to a few other contestants.

Here's the list of winners:

1. Alex, Wildboarders
2. CatalinZima
3. Johnnylightbulb
4. LonelyGnome
5. Gambit_Sunob
6. Aki pl
7. max-studio.net
8. Machaira
9. Darkside

The 1st place winner gets to go home with TorqueX Pro, TorqueX Game Builder Toolset, and a 12-month subscription to the Creator's Club while those who came in 2nd and 3rd place get TorqueX Pro and a 4-month subscription to the Creator's Club. Those in 4th, 5th, and 6th place get a US$ 50 Gift Card/Cash from TrayGames and 4-month subscription to the Creator's Club. Finally, those in 7th, 8th, and 9th place get a free 4-month subscription to the Creators Club courtesy of Microsoft.

Congratulations to all of the winners and participants. Four of the games (Hack-1, Schism 2, Turnip Drop, and WildBoarders) are available via our download site - just click the link below. For the remaining games, click here.

Download: [XNA Developer's Contest winners]

And we all thought that only the PSP and NDS would have a booming homebrew community. Now if there's one thing we know about Microsoft, its that they're keeping their friends close, and their enemies closer. Their homebrew scene is definitely looking like a force to be reckoned with, bound to shake the foundations of Sony and Nintendo.

Game development in the XNA area is clearly underway. Lots of you have probably already experienced some of them. Here we've got a couple of XNA games in the works as a jam packed montage to make you guys go wii wee (how ironic) in excitement. Some of the titles here have been seen before, while some of them are new and are still under development. Let's take a look, shall we?

In order, we've got Particle Wars, Blobbit Dash, Sharky's Air Legends, Culture, Pocket Jongg, Pickture, Marble Blast Ultra, Tank Buster, Spacewar, and XNA Racer. You've got pic-up-and-play casual games, to Mahjong-type games, what seems to be a photo application, even to a racing game that doesn't look the least bit homebrew'd. Here's to more XNA games and apps in the future!

When Microsoft announced the XNA Studio for enthusiasts, it was welcomed with open arms by the community. This was partly because it was a noble idea, and partly because it meant that homebrew received a lot of audience as it was officially recognized and even supported to an extent.

And it didn't take long for developers and enthusiasts to lap up the opportunity and start making stuff just for the heck of it. And today, Isaac Nicoaly, or rather, Saq has released a 2D tile engine for the XNA Game Studio Express by Microsoft">XNA framework. It is an open source 2D tiling game engine written in C# using the XNA Studio Express Beta. Here's a screenshot of it:

Attached below is the source code, so if you feel like you can contribute something to the upcoming X360 homebrew scene, go ahead and download it. You will still require XNA Game Studio Express Beta to compile code written in Visual C# Express (free), and finally, Microsoft .NET 2.0 Runtimes.

Download: [Saq2d]

Riccardo Ceccato releases his first XNA/C# development test -- a 'brew that's a basic puzzle game most of us are already familiar with. The goal of the game is pretty simple: to keep clean as much as possible the diamond blocks grid.

You move the colored particle emitter using your mouse. If you click a group of diamond blocks of the same color as that of the particle emitter, these diamond blocks will be grayed and cleared out from the grid. Then another bunch of falling blocks will appear and you do the same again, kinda like a Tetris game. Beware as this game can get addictive!

If you'd like to make comments on Ricardo Ceccato's ongoing XNA/C# development test, you can contact him at r.ceccato@newtonsrl.it.

Download: [Puzzle Diamonds]