Archive for December 9th, 2005

Nintendo DS Port of Dragon’s Lair

Friday, December 9th, 2005

Dirk the DaringAs many people who regularly read this site probably know that Dragon’s Lair is one of my favorite games of all time. I would really love to replay this game every so often, but good luck trying to find this game in your local arcade (yeah, right) and a PC or console version of the original has never been released. Of course you can buy the game as a DVD and play it on your DVD player or console system, but using a crappy DVD controller just doesn’t cut it in my opinion. Plus, your average DVD player responses aren’t nearly fast enough to simulate the arcade game.

I was recently thinking/hoping that someone would port Dragon’s Lair onto the PSP as the large screen and excellent controls would probably make for a near perfect port. I have yet to find a homebrew version of Dragon’s Lair for the PSP but I was moderately stunned to find that someone is working on a Nintendo DS port of Dragon’s Lair. I would have never even thought of porting this game onto the DS, but in retrospect there is no reason not to think that the DS could do as good of a job as the PSP.

So far they only have the first four levels complete and you’ll need to use Neoflash in order for it to work on your DS, but the concept is fantastic and I’d definitely go to any length to get a portable version of Dragon’s Lair. I just hope that they finish the entire game … now someone get working on Space Ace!

New Canadian Voice in Digital Rights Issues

Friday, December 9th, 2005

Online Rights Canada Launches with EFF, CIPPIC Support

Toronto - Online Rights Canada (ORC) launched in Canada Friday, giving Canadians a new voice in critical technology and information policy issues. The grassroots organization is jointly supported by the Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

“Canadians are realizing in ever-greater numbers that the online world offers tremendous opportunities for learning, communicating, and innovating, but that those opportunities are at risk as a result of corporate practices, government policies and legal regimes that hinder online privacy and free speech,” said Philippa Lawson, Executive Director and General Counsel of CIPPIC. “Online Rights Canada provides a home on the Internet for grassroots activism on digital issues that are important to ordinary Canadians.”

“With the Canadian government preparing for a January election, all of last year’s legislation is back on the drawing board. Canadians now have another chance to present a public interest perspective on issues like copyright reform and increased government surveillance,” said Ren Bucholz, EFF’s Policy Coordinator, Americas. “We are happy to be launching ORC at such a critical time.”

One of ORC’s first actions is a petition drive against unwarranted surveillance law. A bill proposed in Parliament last month would have allowed law enforcement agencies to obtain personal information without a warrant and forced communications providers to build surveillance backdoors into the hardware that routes phone calls and Internet traffic. The petition asks Canadian lawmakers to protect citizens’ privacy rights when the new government convenes in 2006. Other important issues for ORC will include copyright law, access to information, and freedom from censorship.

“Today, ORC focuses on digital copyright and lawful access. But there is no reason to restrict the site to those two issues,” said CIPPIC Staff Counsel David Fewer. “Our hope is that ORC will evolve into the first place to go for Canadians looking for opportunities to protect their online rights. Anyone can be an activist - Online Rights Canada will give you the tools you need.”

Online Rights Canada is the latest group to join the global fight for digital rights. Digital Rights Ireland launched earlier this week, and the Open Rights Group launched in the United Kingdom last month.

For Online Rights Canada:
http://www.onlinerights.ca

Contacts:

Ren Bucholz
Policy Coordinator, Americas
Electronic Frontier Foundation
ren@eff.org

Philippa Lawson
Executive Director
Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic
plawson@uottawa.ca