Valve’s Gabe Newell Speaks About the Orange Box and Wii
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: First Person Shooters, PlayStation 3, Release Dates, Wii, Xbox 360,
Game Informer has an interview up with Valve‘s Gabe Newell where he discusses the upcoming Orange Box which will include Half-Life 2 plus Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. From the interview:
Episode Two was really helped by Episode One, believe it or not. I think that we’ll continue to get the hang of it. It’s a pretty big deal to throw a bunch of wrenches into your development process and say, “We’re going to try to do this differently now.” We’ve learned a lot. If we’re right, the fans we’ll let us know, and if we’re wrong, they’ll let us know. (laughs) I think they’re going to be pretty happy. I think they’re going to be really, really happy with the Orange Box in what we’ve been able to pull off, and a lot of it is based on their feedback from what we did with Episode One.
Newell also briefly weighs in on the Wii, casually dismissing the lesser hardware specs compared with the other next gen consoles saying, “I think it’s more interesting than just graphics chip – CPU combination. It’s the machine I have at home.”
Click to continue reading Valve’s Gabe Newell Speaks About the Orange Box and Wii
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| Game Informer
Gallery: Valve’s Gabe Newell Speaks About the Orange Box and Wii
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65 Nanometer Microprocessors Coming to an Xbox 360 Near You
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Hardware, Microsoft, Xbox 360,
Dean Takahashi has a write-up regarding the upcoming 65nm microprocessors reportedly shipping on new Xbox 360 units. The more efficient processors are included on the new Falcon boards that are included standard in all units going forward. Of course, Microsoft still needs to sell its existing stock of 90nm chip systems and as a result is being, shall we say, coy about the new processors and their availability.
Also of note is that these new Falcon boards curiously do not include replacement 65nm ATI graphics processors, which some have speculated are at least partially responsible for the frequently discussed Red Rings of Death issue that Microsoft recently took steps to correct. Takahashi remarks that he expected the 65nm chips—both processor and graphics—to have appeared long before now but speculates that the problems with the 90nm boxes may have pulled Microsoft’s engineers away from the efficiency shift to concentrate on damage control.
The crux of the report is that buying a new Xbox 360 right now is probably not the wisest consumer decision, at least until someone determines how to effectively differentiate between the chip sizes from the outer boxes. Once the last of the 90nm systems have been liquidated from stock all 360s sold will include HDMI and the more efficient chips, which many believe (or perhaps hope) will be more reliable than 360s have historically been. The moral of the story then is for those considering an Xbox purchase to wait for a few months for the holiday buyers to clear out the older stock, something Microsoft hopes you won’t do which is why they remain so elusive with details on the new chips.
Read More | San Jose Mercury
Gallery: 65 Nanometer Microprocessors Coming to an Xbox 360 Near You
Wii Supply Problems May Not Be Fixed This Year
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, Nintendo, Wii,
Despite being much harder to find throughout the year in retail outlets than the competitor’s next-gen console hardware, Nintendo‘s Wii may not see much improvement in availability until sometime in 2008. Nintendo originally planned to expand their production in June but were forced to delay their expansion plans due to tight supply of certain components coming from Taiwan-based suppliers.
Wii units are certainly far more available than they were shortly after launch but that may be related to the comparatively lighter demand; with the 2007 holiday season fast approaching and key titles like Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl expected before Christmas, this could mean another tough Christmas on shoppers with Wii systems high on their lists.
Still, Nintendo has not backed down on projections made in April of this year and in a statement to GameSpot said, “Nintendo has no revisions to announce to its most recent shipment forecasts at this time.” They originally predicted that they would sell 14 million Wiis this fiscal year.
Read More | DigiTimes via GameSpot
Gallery: Wii Supply Problems May Not Be Fixed This Year
Sony Announces PlayStation Eye For PS3
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
Sony today announced their next generation camera peripheral for the PlayStation 3. The new camera has lost the EyeToy moniker and will be known simply as the PlayStation Eye. While the new camera isn’t supporting HD resolutions like previously speculated, the Eye does have an upgraded resolution, supporting 320x240 at up to 120 frames per second and 640x480 at up to 60 frames per second. Optical quality should be vastly better, allowing clearer operation in low light as well as supporting dual zoom settings. Audio also has not been left behind in the update – a new noise-reduction array of four microphones sits atop the Eye, allowing for positional 4-channel audio and voice tracking in the new device. Altogether these improvements should vastly enhance the EyeToy experience. New games like the Eye of Judgement collectible card game will utilize the PlayStation Eye to insert real-time 3-D graphics over the images of the cards the player has. Sony’s semi-official ThreeSpeech blog has a Q&A with more information from Sony, and Famitsu has some screen shots showing the interaction between the PlayStation Eye and the real-world cards from Eye of Judgement, and Sony’s full press release continues below.
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| Eye of Judgement at Famitsu
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Read More | Three Speech
Gallery: Sony Announces PlayStation Eye For PS3
Wal-Mart to Sell $250 HD-DVD Player, Will Customers Notice?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Hardware, PlayStation 3, Rumors, Xbox 360,
With all this talk of PS3s, 360s, and Wiis going around, it’s easy to forget that there’s also a next-gen video format war going on - one which will likely have severe repercussions for either Sony or M$. Well, the latest shot in the High-def disc format war has been fired, and this time it’s mega-retailer Wal-Mart that may help tip the scales in HD-DVD’s favor (or at least give Blu-Ray something to worry about).
This week, Wal-Mart announced that they would be producing and distributing an HD-DVD player that well be the cheapest available, coming in at around $199-$299. I haven’t spent much time in Wal-Marts (I find them noisy, messy, and crowded when compare to other retailers… oh, and generally evil). So I’ve got to ask… is Wal-Mart really a place where you want to pick up your next piece of high-end (or at least, moderate-end) electronics? My impression was that most of the folks who shop there probably aren’t too tuned-in to the next-gen DVD formats, and may not even own an HDTV set to take advantage of such hardware. Still, perhaps the lure of a ridiculously cheap HD player will pull a few bargain-hunting techno-fiends towards their blue glow. And hey wait, while we’re on the topic shouldn’t Target be the one promoting HD-DVD (think: slick red cases!), and Wal-Mart be the one promoting Blu-Ray? That would make much more chromatic sense, at least.
Read More | IGN.com
Gallery: Wal-Mart to Sell $250 HD-DVD Player, Will Customers Notice?
Sony Kills 20GB PS3
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
While the 60GB PlayStation 3 models have been plentiful on US shelves, the 20GB model has been difficult to get. Most stores have been removing the console from their online stores, including Sony’s official SonyStyle. Once that happened, gamers had to suspect that something was up. Now, 1up is reporting that Sony Computer Entertainment America has officially announced that the 20GB version of the PlayStation 3 is dead. Sony’s statement indicates that 90 percent of the retail demand was for the 60GB console, and that they are merely following the demands of the buying public. Realistically, though, various reports had Sony actually losing more money on the 20GB hardware than on the 60GB; retailer margin would likely be less as well, leading stores to order the model that could make them more money. The real customer demand for the 20GB model will never be known now, since a mere five months after launch the 20GB hardware is gone. One hopes that this is clearing the way for a price drop on the 60GB model, but that hope would seem to be slim at best.
Read More | 1up
Gallery: Sony Kills 20GB PS3
Nintendo Looking At External Storage For Wii?
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Wii,
Cubed3 is reporting on a new press release issued by eSol Co., Ltd., indicating that Nintendo has entered into an agreement with the company to license their FAT file system and USB host support for embedded systems, to be used in Nintendo’s Wii console. Cube3 believes that this may be pointing to an external USB storage system coming for the Wii some time soon. However, the press release seems worded oddly for a new addition to the Wii. For instance, eSol’s Executive Vice President, Embedded Products says this:
I am very happy that we could take part in the development for Wii, a new game console from Nintendo. I believe that our products were selected because Nintendo highly-valued our long, successful history with many digital consumer products and high-reliability and functionality based on that. We will continue to provide superior products and technical services to strongly support developers in embedded software development.
This statement seems to indicate that eSol was involved during the console development process, and this licensing is not a new thing. Why the company is issuing a press release now about this seems somewhat odd, though. Still, even if this is not new functionality in the Wii, this announcement would indicate that Nintendo could potentially enable the feature in the Wii to allow USB-based storage in the future.
Read More | Cubed3
Gallery: Nintendo Looking At External Storage For Wii?
European PS3 Motherboard Analyzed
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
It didn’t take long for someone to dissect the European PlayStation 3 to see what makes it tick, and the hardware geeks at Beyond3D have analyzed the motherboard pictures and compared them with the US and Japanese PlayStation 3 to see if they can determine the exact differences, and where Sony might be going with their hardware design optimizations. The known difference is the removal of the Emotion Engine that provided hardware compatibility with the PlayStation 2. Other optimizations seem to have the Graphics Synthesizer connected between the RSX chip and the HDMI transmitter. Beyond3D seems to believe that the Graphics Synth chip will eventually be integrated into the RSX. Another unexpected development has the southbridge chipset shrinking for the PS3, indicating a possible move to the 65nm production process. While this has little to do with the game playing capabilities of the PS3 (other than backward compatibility), the article does give hardware design nerds some insight into Sony’s ongoing quest to reduce costs.
Read More | Beyond3D
Gallery: European PS3 Motherboard Analyzed
Nintendo Alters Wii To Block Modchips
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Wii,
Reports in Taiwan indicate that Nintendo may be altering the circuit board layout of the Wii to make mod chips more difficult to install. According to Digitimes, however, new modchips to deal with the changed layout may be less than a month away. While these changes probably won’t be difficult to work around, other mod chip installers believe that there are more complex methods available to Nintendo to block modifications for a longer period of time.
Read More | Digitimes
Gallery: Nintendo Alters Wii To Block Modchips
NPD: Nintendo DS, Wii Lead Hardware Sales
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360,
February’s NPD data has been released, and things look good for Nintendo. 1up has the details on video game sales for last month, and the Nintendo DS sold 485,000 units, the Wii 335,000. For the rest of the next-generation hardware, Microsoft maintained its sales pace by moving around 228,000 consoles, while the Playstation 3 saw a significant drop to 127,000. The PSP didn’t do much better against the DS, moving 176,000 handhelds.
The only bright spot for Sony would be that in the non-handheld category, the PS2 took second behind the Wii, selling 295,000 units, showing that their now last-generation technology still has plenty of legs at retail. Still, having their PS3 sales drop by nearly half over last month’s sales is a significant change; if new software from Sony can’t change course, the company may have to do something drastic to turn things around.
Microsoft should be pretty happy; while they didn’t lead the pack, the company will surely trumpet their increase in year-over-year sales. That, and having the number one game at retail for the month of February, Crackdown will also help. 1up’s article also further details the rest of the software charts for the month.
Read More | 1up
Gallery: NPD: Nintendo DS, Wii Lead Hardware Sales
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