Game Boy Gambit
Palm organiser users can now run Nintendo Game Boy games, thanks to the $16.95 Liberty emulator launched on the web by Gambit Studios. The tricky bit is transferring the games from a Game Boy cartridge to a personal computer and from there to the Palm, which is undoubtedly beyond virtually all the program's potential users. As a result, pirated Game Boy cartridge code is likely to be circulated illegally on the internet, as is already the case with some other Nintendo systems. However, Gambit is keen to license games from software houses and make them available for a fee.

While the Palm has a bigger, better screen than the 10 year old Game Boy, it makes a poor emulator because of the key arrangement (it lacks a directional control pad), lack of sound and lack of speed. Gambit Studios therefore "recommends and sells Afterburner 3.0", an over-clocking utility that makes the Palm processor run faster.

Gambit says Liberty runs on most Palm OS 2.0 devices from Palm, Handspring, TRG, Symbol and IBM, if they have at least 16K of memory. Exceptions are the Pilot 1000, Pilot 5000, Palm Personal and Palm Professional "due to operating system display limitations".

Soldier Blue?
Soldier of Fortune, an ultraviolent PC game, has been classified as an adult movie in British Columbia, Canada, making it illegal to sell or rent it to anyone under 18. Mary-Louise McCausland, the provincial director of film classification, said that this was because the game's "depictions of violence against persons and animals are brutal and portrayed realistically and explicitly".

Hello Sydney
Eidos Interactive is publishing the official video game of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games for the PC, Sony PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast. The game is being produced by Warwick-based software house Attention To Detail (ATD), which started the project with a fact finding mission two years ago. The game will include 12 sports from the 100m sprint to the Kayak K1 slalom via skeet shooting, superheavyweight weight lifting and 10m platform diving.

Class goals
Next term, more British schoolchildren will benefit from playing fantasy football in class, with Schoolmaster.net, an internet service and educational content provider, supporting the Schools Fantasy League. Manou Marzban says that "besides developing worksheets on player statistics and performance testing mathematical knowledge, Schoolmaster.net will provide worksheets that address journalism, language prose, geography and history." It will also provide supporting online services including email, chat and discussion groups. See www.schoolmaster.net and www.fantasyleague.com