Over 16 years ago on April 21, 1997, NullSoft – nowadays most famous for its ShoutCast software without which tens of thousands of online radio stations could not exist – launched a music player software for Windows that grew to be one of the longest-lasting and possibly the best stand-alone music players around. This year marks the end of an era, as NullSoft announced earlier this week the discontinuation of Winamp and closure of its website and download pages on December 20, 2013.

A simple but powerful music player with lots of supported music formats, a good level of customisability and many features to manage the balance and add effects to your sound, Winamp was once a popular tool for regular music listeners; and maintained a cult following all through its life. In later years, the software was also popularly recommended by many internet radio stations – including us here at Sanitarium.FM – as the best way to listen in due to its strong Shoutcast stream support; and support for the MP3Pro plugin, which allowed MP3s to be streamed at lower bandwidths without losing quality allowing slower connections or large groups of listeners to still enjoy high quality music.

Those who already have their own copy of Winamp – whatever version it might be – or who download the latest release before the site’s official closure on December 20 will be able to continue to use Winamp as long as they wish, as the software is completely standalone; however, it will no longer be available for download directly or supported by the company after this date. It’s also uncertain if other sites will be able to continue offering the software themselves after the closure, as Winamp is copyrighted despite being a free download. Nullsoft have refused to comment on or state the reasons for the closure, but with the rise of internet streaming services and the number of tools now built-in to computers and smartphones for listening to music, it’s possible Winamp was simply seen as an archaic tool now or no longer attracted a strong enough audience.

Long term fans of the Winamp player are already encouraging Nullsoft to reconsider the decision – asking them to either keeping the software and websites alive; or open-source the software so independent developers can continue the work on their behalf, for the benefit of both its users and the broadcasters who have long supported its use, however there has yet to be any sign of movement from the company. However, while it will be sad to lose such a trusted, long-term veteran to the music player scene, there are still many other players available to bridge the gap. Winamp diehards might be interested in checking out jetAudio, a competing Media player with similarly long heritage. jetAudio supports a large number of Winamp’s plugins, even having MP3Pro support built-in; and offers a similar interface – with separated playlists and equaliser windows from the main one, and a “Toolbar” mode that resembles the “Windowshade Mode” of Winamp – which Winamp fans may just find comforting.

During Minecon this year one if the biggest announcements to emerge was the news of a partnership between Mojang and Twitch, which would result in a forthcoming update that would bring integration with the popular game streaming site to the blocky sandbox game. A few days ago the snapshot update with this very feature was released.

Linking to your Twitch account is done through the settings menu for your account on the Mojang website. From the snapshot it appears that you are able to mess with the streaming settings in-game before you start streaming. Recording stops and starts with the press of a single key (default bound to F6 but you can bind the on/off switch to a key of your choice) and a little red circular light appears in the top-right hand corner to let you know that your stream is live and people will be able to see you. The twitch chat also appears in the Minecraft textbox so you can see what your viewers are talking about and talk back to them (sound integration also works as I and my handful of test viewers found out).

Obviously, being a snapshot there are still a few bugs to iron out. For example there are a few frame rate issues (although as you’re streaming some of that is to be expected) and when you pull up your Esc menu all the in-game audio completely stops, mobs and in-game music, and then resumes where it’d stopped when you click out of the menu. Since none of this is game-breaking though this doesn’t stop me looking forward to the full proper release of this new Minecraft update.

A trailer has just been released onto the channel of those who work for Mojang as trailer makers for all the updates and releases Mojang put out for Minecraft. It shows off an extension for the Xbox 360 version of the game which is coming soon.

The extension, called the Skyrim Mash Up, showcases some brief glimpses of how the extension will change the Minecraft game in ways to resemble the fifth Elder Scrolls game including NPCs, maps with pre-built towns and villages and mobs reskinned to resemble the Skyrim creatures (for example the Endermen now seem to resemble the Giants). The trailer also boasts that the extension will feature the soundtrack of Skyrim, have provisions to save Skyrim worlds and other things besides.

No word on a release date quite yet, but we’ll bring you updates when more information emerges. For now, watch the trailer below.

Yesterday, Sony’s cloud-based solution to playing Playstation Vita games – as well as past and (some) present Playstation console games – on your TV became a reality when the PlayStation Vita TV launched in Japan. In case you haven’t been following it, the Vita TV is a miniaturised “micro” console that connects to your TV via HDMI; and is primarily intended to allow you to play games from the Playstation Vita hand-held console on the big screen, but is also capable of playing some other titles available on the PSN Store as well.

Some committed gamers have already imported the Japanese console, but trying it out has revealed a roadblock. While the Vita TV does not appear to be region-locked – despite only being launched in Japan, some non-Japanese region games are available on the console already and appear to be perfectly playable – users who have attempted to sign in to the console using a PSN account registered outside of Japan have been unable to get in, with the console reporting “This service is not available in your country/region”. It appears right now, only Japanese PSN accounts can login to the console – and this also applies to the games, with the console refusing to play games bought from Western accounts even if the title is supported. It’s assumed the Vita TV to PSN compatibility, like the console itself, has only been launched in Japan so far, so this situation may change when launches are made to other Asian regions next year.

Thankfully, thanks to sources like Kotaku, we have been able to see how the console works to users who have been able to access it. Setting up the console is, apparently, an identical process to that on the Vita itself, with a short series of screens asking you to choose your language (English is supported already), enter your location, set the clock and give your PSN login credentials if you so wish. Once this is done, games can be sent to the console by downloading them from the Playstation Store; while you can grab your Save files by plugging in the Vita Memory Stick with the saves you want to use or, if you’re a Playstation Plus subscriber, pulling them from your PS+ Cloud.

What games? Sony have an official list on their Japanese website of compatible PS Vita games, which at time of writing lists 153 different titles. Interestingly, while some of these titles are big-name games, a far greater number are smaller affairs such as bargain-bin puzzlers or titles intended as study tools for Japanese school kids. Also, some of the supported titles, like Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster, are currently unreleased – planning for the future, Sony? However, while the console currently only plays compatible games bought on Japanese PSN Accounts, non-Japanese titles are supported if they’re available on the Japanese PSN Store, such as the North American Lumines Electronic Symphony. It seems Sony are serious with the list of “compatible” games, as if you try to load a game the Vita TV does not yet support, Vita TV will not be able to start it at all.

If 153 titles seems a bit paltry to you right now, you may be pleased to know that the Vita TV is also able to play games from the original Playstation Portable (PSP) console as well as classic games from the very first PlayStation (PS1) home console, as long as those games are available for download from the PSN Store. This expands the collection of games currently available to thousands, if you don’t mind a little nostalgia. More titles will likely be added over time.

Controlling the games on the console is possible through connecting a PS Vita to the Vita TV; or by using a DualShock 3 controller – the DualShock 4 controllers available for the PS4 are not yet supported, but a software patch in the future will change this. One problem with this approach is the DualShock 3 has no touch controls like the PS Vita or the newer controllers, but many of the games that will be available on the Vita TV expect some sort of touch-screen input. Thankfully Sony have thought about this – sorry Wikipedia, your claim that “certain games are not compatible with PS Vita TV, such as those that are dependent on the system’s touch-screen, rear touchpad…” has just been proven false – through touch-screen emulation.

The Vita TV contains a virtual touch screen, which can be enabled in the console’s Options menu. When enabled, pressing R3 or L3 turns the thumbsticks into mouse pointers which you can use to “touch” the screen. Pressing R3 gives you two pointers for the front panel, L3 gives two for the back, and both R3 and L3 at the same time gives you two cursors pressing front and back at the same time. Some games have to be patched to support this feature – but if so, the Vita TV will make you aware of this and offer to automatically download the patch before you play.

Currently, there is no news for a Western launch of Vita TV – but we’d be surprised if it never happened. Stay tuned!

Hearthstone is currently quite a big thing in the gaming community. Even though the game has been in closed Beta for a few months now and some of the hype has died down (especially with all the news about Heroes of the Storm and the new WoW expansion emerging recently), it’s fair to say that a lot of people are still checking their e-mails regularly hoping they’ll be one of the lucky ones to get a key before the game enters its Open Beta stage sometime in December. I should know, I was one of those people. Until Tuesday evening at least…

One of the first things I’ll say is that from the get-go, this game impressed me. Having seen many game play videos on Youtube while waiting for the key I expected the game to have some stutter or lag on my little laptop, which is the only machine I have available for PC gaming. Yet, despite having had this laptop for 2-3 years now, Hearthstone loaded up quickly and runs incredibly smoothly, much better than I was expecting.

As for the game itself, it is basically a card game based off the popular World of Warcraft series. There are a set of different ‘heroes’ that you can choose to play as and each hero has special cards that only they can use (for example Gul’dan the Warlock can summon all kinds of Demon minions) and a special ‘hero power’ that they can use which can do everything to striking any character with a single point of damage to sacrificing your own heroes life points to draw an extra card.

Hearthstone starts you off with a set of ‘tutorial battles’ that introduce you to the game’s core mechanics and how to do things such as summon minions, play spells and more besides. After these battles you are into the main game but still need to play and unlock all the other heroes (you start with the Mage alone) which you can do through the Play (facing real opponents you are randomly matched against) or Practice (AI opponents) options. Unlocking all the heroes allows you to access the Arena mode which I consider one of the best parts of this game. Arena gives you the option of three heroes to play as and then will present you with three random cards 30 times to help you build a deck with which to play an Arena round with. Trouble is, as those cards are random you can’t be sure what you’ll get. It’s a fantastic way of getting players used to cards they don’t already own or use and also to make them improvise with whatever they get.

The way a battle plays out is usually very interesting too. The amount of cards you can play in a turn completely depends on your ‘mana-count’ which increases by 1 crystal per turn (if you don’t use a card to increase or decrease this) to a maximum of 10, which means as the battle goes along the minions and spells get more and more powerful and/or more cards can be played in a single turn. It gives the game a sense of escalation and makes you ask ‘Should I take the chance on trying to rush down my opponent before he gets the 10 mana crystals or wait until I’ve got more crystals myself and use more powerful creatures?’

Yet this game isn’t all drama. The creatures on the board slam down onto the board with battle cries, but some of them are actually rather funny (‘Join or die! … Or both’) and there are a few different ‘stages’ for the card game with little interactive bits placed around for you to click upon to make actions happen. You also have the option of making your hero say six different phrases or if your opponent is spamming theirs, right click to ‘Squelch’ them.

It took me a while to get a key for this game, and it’s about a month before the Open Beta is due to arrive and let in everyone interested in this game. But given all that it has to offer, I don’t regret having waited for my early access at all. Hearthstone is for the PC, the Open Beta is coming in December and coming soon for the iPhone and Android.