The Need for Speed ProStreet gig didn't work out for Electronic Arts and internal studio Black Box, but the superstar publisher decided they could still make a turnaround for the franchise again, starting with Need for Speed Undercover. Perhaps guided by the popularity of night and illegal street racing movies, Need for Speed Undercover's design resettled for the open sandbox design of Most Wanted with a different story. A story, they say, that will include Mission Impossible 3's Maggie Q.

Developer Erant at Hackmii have announced that the DVD access library they've been working on, called libdi, is now available for developers to try out on the Nintendo Wii. But before you go downloading, you must know that this release can't be run on all consoles without a hitch. Get to the full story for more on libdi and the included DVDX installer.

Download: libdi and DVDX Installer
Download: Patchmii

NPD Group's recent survey manged to investigate the niche segment of the gaming market that is extreme gaming, together with six other segments that the games industry has categorized gamers like us under. Feeling like a can of peaches at your local convenient mart? Well, welcome to new, modernized, cash-driven games industry, folks. Find out where'd you fit in among the 20,000 sampled at the full story.

In the wake of homebrew developer Waninkoko's Region Changer, the homebrew community revolving around the Nintendo Wii turned to a classic Mexican standoff. On one side, there's Marcan and Bushing calling developer Waninkoko "irresponsibile" regarding the questionable release of a semi-bricking homebrew process. On the other is Waninkoko and allies, who believe that lack of warning was an honest mistake, and the irresponsibility is an oversight. Get to the full story for more.

Let's start this week early, shall we? Coming up on retail shelves starting July 27 all the way to the first few days of August is another hailstorm of PC games from the independent front, though you'd probably love this week for the release of Namco Bandai's SoulCalibur IV and its limited edition kits. But if there's anything more significant this time, it's the appearance of more Olympics-themed games as the week heralds the eve before the World Olympics in Beijing. We take them all at the full story.

Now at version 0.0.11, FTPii's stability has been improved to an extent, especially when it comes to initializing the server while USB devices are attached and also initialized. Homebrew developer joedj also threw in a sweet little addition to security as well. Details at the full story.

Download: FTPii v0.0.11

Sure, Bushing may be one of the two minds behind the Twilight Hack, but he's no robber and he'd rather go with a clear conscience. The Team Twiizer member recently unearthed an exploit within the Nintendo Wii's system software, which according to him, could be used to load pirated Wii software on unmodified Nintendo Wiis. What does that mean? ISO loaders, people. That and a little more at the full story.

It's a proof of concept currently, though WiiMU happens to shove Nintendo's official Wii System Menu aside when properly loaded onto your Nintendo Wii. Homebrew developer SquidMan has not only released the initial build of WiiMU but also updated it to version 1.2. Learn all that's possibile with this homebrew application and what's currently implemented at the full story.

Download: WiiMU v1.2
Download: WiiMU v1.0

Whoa, hold your horses, people - we say preliminary Wii support because while there is Wii remote and emulation code integrated into the latest build of Dolphin, the GameCube emulator does not successfully play Wii games. Also note that while this update is Wii-centric and applies directly to Windows gamers, it's essentially here to call out to developers who would like to pick up the project. Learn more about it at the full story.

This week's release list can be described in a few words: college football. Tuesday marks the release of multiplatform sports game NCAA Football 2009 on every modern console there is to date. During our search, we've found that some games haven't surfaced in the previous weeks - even on online retail. So expect to see a repeat showing this week. Maybe we should consider renaming "On Shelves This Week" to "Should Be Out This Week"... Now there's a thought. Upcoming releases follows at the full story.