Hate it or love it (just like the grumpy Dr. Pill), but the MSXdev'09 competition is now completely over. Months of hard work have now come to an end with the announcement of the winning entry: Dr. Pill. After receiving this news, the doctor himself just sent us a telegram with the words: "Muhahaha, epic! Now take some cyanide please!"

The organizers are certainly satisfied with the quality of all the games that have entered this edition. No matter the rank or the points of an entry, joining the contest is the right MSX-spirit, let's continue that wave of inspiration! Now, the ranking of MSXdev'09:

1. Dr.Pill, by Infinite
   
2. Menace, by The New Image
   
3. Stray Cat, by Imanok
   
4. British Bob, by Relevo Videogames
   
5. Retaliot, by Video Hazard
   
6. Cow Abductors, by Paxanga Software
   
7. X0rz, by Vampier & Hydragon
   
8. Castle Tomb, by AG Software
   
9. Plumber, by AG Software

Dr. Pill has been highlighted as the most original game for its clever and catchy concept, and as the game with the best music, due to its really nice soundtrack. Dr.Pill and Retaliot share the medal for the best graphics. Dr.Pill contains the best music and has the most original concept. Menace features the best gameplay and British Bob is the most polished game. There was also the new MSX1+ category, which awards bonus material compared to the MSXdev specifications, usually these include sound chips, video chips and such. This year's MSX1+ prize goes to Dr.Pill, based on music, MSX2 palette and 50/60Hz choice.

And with that, MSXdev'09 has come to an end. Long live MSXdev'10! But this time it will be without Jon Cortazar (viejo_archivero, RELEVO), who not only was one of the driving forces behind the MSXdev editions so far, but also a regular to join with an entry (in previous years as Karoshi Corp.). His MSX time has been drastically reduced and he wants to focus all his spare MSX time to develop games under his new brand RELEVO Videogames. So now it will be up to Benoît Delvaux (mars2000you) and Sjoerd Lammertsma (bodyhammer) to keep the MSXdev fire burning: stay tuned for news regarding MSXdev'10!

Relevant link: MSXdev'09

CheatMSX has added a new Dev build of openMSX to their website: Dev 11023 (2009-12-25). Apart from the regular Win32 build, CheatMSX has now also added a build for Macintosh (OSX32). Both versions have been build by CheatMSX according to openMSX standards, which means these versions have been build the way the openMSX team would've build them. There's laserdisc support in openMSX these days, so that would be a nice feature to try out these days. The source code can also be obtained at CheatMSX and the website also includes a link to Nekolauncher, a launcher for Mac.

Relevant link: CheatMSX

Django has provided the MSX world a new partial translation, to be found in the goodies at Passion MSX: Laplace's Evil Spirit. This game was published in 1989 by Humming Bird Software, a now defunct Japanese video game company that not only focused on MSX, but also on our digital neighbors from the 80's and early 90's like the Sharp X68000, the Famicom, the FM-Towns and finally the 3DO. Another Japanese game made playable!

Relevant link: Passion MSX

According to our statistics, France ranks the 8th place in our top 10 countries. This is actually the 7th language if you keep in mind that the United States and the United Kingdom share the same language (give or take some deformations). A few months ago, after a few internal debates, MRC decided it was high time to add French as the 6th language and a 6th multilingual forum to this website. MRC contacted two people right after this decision and they immediately shared their appreciation for the concept. In the months that followed, they translated our large database of text, and last weekend we finally implemented their efforts. So, there it is: fr.msx.org, for people in France, parts of Swiss, Wallonia (Belgium) and Québec (Canada) or where ever French MSX fans live, MRC's X-Mas present for 2009!

Like our active Spanish section, the objective is to have a lively French forum and French frontpage. Responsible for this continuity will be the two people who have translated the website: Vincent Van Humbeeck (Metalion) and Franck Laurent (Franckfr), both from France. Like the other multilingual forums, the French forum will start with a single forum for all sorts of discussions. If in time it becomes obvious that more sub forums are required, then these will be added.

In 2010 we hope to launch MRC2k10, the project formerly known as MRC2k9, which was formerly known as MRC2k8, which once started out as MRC2k7. Several unforseen problems hampered this development, so yes: we know we're a tad late! We really aim for 2010 now, and luckily a large body of work has already been done. Internally we are tweaking MRC2k10 already, such as color schemes, the new user interface and our new CMS. We're on our way! The localized sections of MRC could surely use a bit of a boost here and there and for MRC2k10 we'll introduce a different method to keep everything actual. Until then, or even when that new system is up and running, if you wish to be a translator or newsposter, don't hesitate to contact us.

Bonjour!

Relevant link: French MRC

The map machine from Brasil spins like a happy cat, with only_69 providing more maps than we can cope with! At least you'll know how to spend your Christmas days, next week. Take his latest map for instance: Koneko no dai bouken - Chibi-chan ga iku. Just like his earlier effort this week, he dives into history and picks up an old 1986 game from Casio to map. Once again a game with a long title in English as well: Adventure of a small cat - Chibi goes on adventure. And a rather colorful game it is too. There've not been many Mario clones on MSX, but within the genre this game surely deserves its own universe.

Relevant link: MSX Solutions

Cheat MSX keeps expanding her horizon. It started out as a website with game cheats, but meanwhile it boosts game maps and game FAQs as well. The latest feature of this website is a very practical one: as of today it will host the latest dev version of openMSX (Win32). Dev versions are the versions between official openMSX releases, often utilized by developers, betatesters and anyone else who follows openMSX closely. With the risk of encountering new bugs, people can enjoy the latest tweaks and features. The website aims to add the latest dev version at the end of each week.

Relevant link: Cheat MSX

It's only five days until Christmas and to spread the holiday cheer, MSX Translations treat you to a small patch for the MSX2 ball throwing game Penguin Wars 2. Fans of penguins and arcade action may want to check it out. Aside from the translation (though there isn't that much text), the patch features:

• a bug fix so the internal MSX-Music will be recognised on MSX2+ and Turbo R computers as well
  
• a bug fix so you can save to the (FM-)PAC's S-RAM on MSX2+ and Turbo R computers
  
• a feature to enable R800 mode for all you guys who thought the Emperor Penguin was a pushover

There's also a separate patch if you only want to apply the bug fixes to the Japanese version.

Relevant link: MSX Translations

Sooner or later, only_69 will be out of work, simply because by then all MSX games are mapped by him. But until then, he'll enjoy himself doing his thing, and we'll watch him doing that! His latest output is the 1986 Casio game Iga Ninpou Chou Mangetsujou no Tatakai, or -for those who fancy long titles- Handbook of Iga's technique: the Fight of Full Moon Castle, according to Generation MSX.

Relevant link: MSX Solutions

Well over a month ago, the website Cheat MSX saw the light of day. Meanwhile it has grown a bit, and currently it contains 235 cheats, 141 maps and 5 game FAQs by only_69. Also included are all maps of MSX Solutions. As of today, three wallpapers by the website's creator have been added to the website. All three have been submitted to the MSXart Unlimited contest by PassionMSX some while ago, but until they get mentioned there, you can already have a look at them at Cheat MSX. These fairly large wallpapers are: Dark and Light, Golvellius and Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake.

Relevant link: Cheat MSX

Most people tend to clean up their place at the start of the new year, some people do it at the end of the year. Meits for instance, recently browsed his harddisk and discovered a number of game rearranges that were just collecting dust, in a digital way. Meits decided our freeware downloads section was a better place for them, and so here they are!

• Aleste 2 - Area 1
• Sword of Legend Lenam - Intro
• Randar 3
• SD Snatcher - Church

More X-Mas presents are afoot this year, stay tuned. Meanwhile, if you like to donate your freeware material to our downloads section, send them to us and perhaps you even end up in the monthly top 10!

Relevant link: Downloads section