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Wait For It… PS3 Loads to be Slower Than Xbox 360, Says Math
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3, Rumors, Xbox 360,
It’s been a few hours since we’ve heard some new bad press rumblings about Sony’s seemingly ill-fated PS3, so let’s fill that void… This time, it’s not-so-unbiased blogger Ozymandias, a.k.a. gaming strategist for Microsoft Andre Vrignaud. He reports on some technical details of the PS3’s Blu-Ray drive, pointing out that its read speeds, even for standard DVD discs, will be slower than those on the already-released Xbox 360.
Says Ozy:
At GDC Europe last year Sony mentioned in their presentation that the PS3 Blu-ray drive would have sustained peak transfer rates of 36 MBit/s (4.5 MB/s) at 1x speed. Since then it appears that the drive has been upgraded to a 2x drive, which would enable transfer rates of 9 MB/s. Assuming a full 50 GB Blu-ray disc, at this speed you’d need just over 90 minutes to read the entire disc through memory. Of course, you can’t fit all of that data into system memory at the same time, so you’ll either be streaming a great deal (hard even with faster optical drives) and/or caching data to the hard drive. There’s a reason the PS3 is so expensive - once Sony committed to Blu-ray as a corporate strategy, they were also forced to bundle the hard drive in every box to help mitigate slow disc data transfer rates.
For comparison, the Xbox 360 uses a 12x DVD drive, which can load at about 16 MB/s, making Microsoft’s read speeds about 2x greater. In recent days, this has lead to an online blogging argument, between Ozy at MS and Mark Deloura at Sony, about the importance of this comparison. Still, they seem to agree on the fundamentals of the mathematics.
Says Deloura:
“Admittedly, Blu-Ray looks dicey from several non-capacity angles. Blu-Ray movies require a 1.5x Blu-Ray drive, or 54Mbits/second. Sony announced that PS3 uses a 2x BD drive, which is 72Mbits/second or 9MB/second. The Xbox360 uses a 12x DVD, which should give it about 16MB/second. That is significantly faster for games and will result in shorter load times. And that 12x DVD drive should be a whole lot cheaper. (Note that the PS3 drive will do 8x DVD, and even that is faster than 2x BD.)”
First the official Playstation magazine editor states she doesn’t want the PS3, now former Sony execs are agreeing that the PS3 is too slow?? What’s next—Kaz Hirai admitting that Dead Rising is his favorite game ever?!?
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Japanese Date, Price for PSP GPS And Camera Released
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PSP,
Sony announced that users in Japan will be able to purchase the GPS and camera peripherals for the PSP on December 7th, according to Game Watch Japan. The pricing for the 640x480 resolution camera is set at 5000 Yen, approximately $42 US. The camera will capture still images and motion at 30 frames per second. In addition, various effects can be applied live to images captured by the camera.
The GPS will sell for 6000 Yen, or around $51 US. No software will be included with the unit, but the GPS will work with Sony’s upcoming navigation software, as well as Sega’s previously announced planetarium software and Konami’s Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.
Read More 
| Game Watch
Nintendo Officially Announces Onyx, Pink DS For US
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo DS,
Rumors had been circulating around the Internet that the US would see the Coral Pink and Black Onyx versions of the Nintendo DS Lite soon, and today Nintendo made it official. Starting September 13, both colors will be available to gamers in the United States, finally giving those consumers access to some of the larger palette of DS Lite colors available to users in other territories, and they will no longer have to pay upwards of $200 for an import unit.
Nintendo’s full press release continues below.
Click to continue reading Nintendo Officially Announces Onyx, Pink DS For US
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Microsoft’s Leipzig Announcements
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
At the Leipzig Games Convention, Microsoft had a number of announcements for both the Xbox 360 and their PC gaming platforms, but still left gamers wanting more. While Microsoft was demonstrating their HD-DVD add-on drive for audiences at the show, neither price nor availability was mentioned. Still, there were some interesting items mentioned. First, that Microsoft would hold a twelve month exclusivity lock on the next generation soccer games, Fifa 07 and Pro Evolution Soccer 6. Given that the Playstation 3 is just launching this winter, this probably isn’t as big of a deal as Microsoft would have gamers believe.
For the hard core board game contingent, Microsoft announced that three new “German-style” board games would be coming to Xbox Live, including Settlers of Catan, Alhambra and Carcassonne.
Microsoft officially demonstrated some of its new Xbox 360 peripherals, including the Xbox Live Vision camera (which has already leaked into some gamers hands), their Wireless Racing Wheel and new Wireless headset.
On the PC side of gaming, Microsoft announced a few hardware pieces. First, they are partnering with Razer to bring the Habu gaming mouse to Windows. A piece of Razer hardware with the Microsoft stamp of approval might mean better support under Windows. Those gamers dedicated to the “old school” Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 should be happy, as Microsoft also announced that they are bringing this peripheral back. Finally, Microsoft also showed off the Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, a USB dongle that will allow Windows gamers to use Xbox 360 wireless controllers on their PC.
So, while consumers may not have gotten all the information that they wanted from Microsoft’s announcements, overall the company presented the Xbox 360 and Windows gaming as a unified assault on the market.
Microsoft’s Leipzig Press Release continues below.
Click to continue reading Microsoft’s Leipzig Announcements
Wired Magazine Wonders: Can the PS3 Save Sony?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, Internet, PlayStation 3,
While everybody else is wondering exactly the opposite (shouldn’t it be “Can Sony save the PS3”?), Wired Magazine’s Frank Rose in their September issue looks into the history, politics, and economics of the PS3 and points out why it might be Sony’s last chance for redemption as an electronics manufacturer. Among other things, he points to the fact that Sony’s electronics division has seen profits plummet since 2001 and has had only one profitable year in the past five years. Along with these facts, he goes into the usual doom and gloom that we’ve seen from a variety of outlets so far - consumers don’t want/need a Blu-Ray drive; the console’s too expensive; the Cell processor’s too tough to program for; the manufacturing is too expensive. Still, Rose manages to get some interesting comments from some big names in the industry and other analysts.
Says Rishad Tobaccowala, of ad giant Publicis, talking about Sony’s strategy:
It’s very un-Japanese. It’s betting the company. If this thing bombs, there is no second coming. Everything else about Sony is a sideshow. This is the show
To be fair, Wired’s article also points out that this is not the first time developers have complained about creating for a new console, or that speculators have had jitters about a new disc format - many of the same issues being discussed now were pertinent back at the launch of both the PSOne and the PS2, and Sony has fared quite well from both of those.
For now, you’ll have to check out the article on news-stands, as the contents haven’t yet been released online. When it does hit though, you should be able to read the article using the link below! For now, you can head to news-stands and pick up the latest issue, September 2006, which features Beck on the cover.
Read More | Wired Magazine
Halo 2 Vista To Be Shown At Leipzig
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Hardware, PC,
When Halo 2 was released in 2004, PC gaming fans hoped for a fairly quick release on Windows. However, it was ultimately announced that Halo 2 would be available exclusively on Windows Vista. This was somewhat puzzling, given that the Xbox version of the game was running on hardware that could easily be matched by PCs at the time. This week, however, Matt Priestley gives an update on the Halo 2 port that may give some insight into what gamers can expect. While more information will likely be featured when Halo 2 is shown at the Leipzig Games Convention, there are some interesting tidbits in the update. First, Halo 2 seems to be running decently under Vista, and was shown in 1920x1200 with 5.1 sound.
The audio and video portions of the game are also seeing an update, including new bump mapping effects, updated weapon models, and improved texture detail. Sound gets updated; Priestly indicates that sound effects are now better spatially located, and some tweaks have been made to vehicle sound effects. The other tweaks that were present in the latest build include support for the “mouse and keyboard” controls most PC gamers are used to and gamepad support. The article also hints at a new PC controller that may be available by the time Vista ships, possibly a gamer specific revision of the Intellimouse.
Read More | Bungie
While at Sega’s recent press preview event, Gaming Age was able to grab a few pictures of Sony’s Playstation 3 final development kits and near final Playstation 3 controllers. The kit itself looks pretty much like a desktop PC, with additional slots and indicators for the Playstation 3 specific hardware. The Playstation 3 controllers appear basically like they did at E3, with the standard dual analog configuration. Gaming Age also commented on how quiet the development kits were. This won’t really be an indication of the actual noise levels of the retail console, since that will have a different case and cooling configuration, it is somewhat reassuring that the development kits don’t run super hot.
Read More | Gaming Age
IGN Peeks At Final PS3 Development Kits
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
During the recent preview of Pseudo Interactive’s Full Auto 2: Battlelines for the Playstation 3, IGN was able to get a look at the final Playstation 3 development kits. According to their reports, the development kits were quite polished, which will be good news for consumers looking to pick up a console in a couple of months. First, IGN reported that the development hardware was both quieter and cooler than expected. Pseudo Interactive also seemed pleased with the development environment, and the wireless controllers worked well. All of the multiplayer sessions of Full Auto were handled with eight machines running over the PlayStation Network without lag, apparently, which also bodes well for online play in the future. The PS3 menuing system also seems to borrow a little from the Xbox 360 configuration; according to IGN, the PS3 menu was “easy to pull up in-game by quickly pressing the PlayStation button, which popped up an overlaid menu on top of the screen.” With roughly three months until Playstation 3 consoles hit stores in the US, it looks like things are actually dropping into place for launch.
Read More | IGN
Phantom Entertainment Offers Lapboard Pre-Orders
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Internet, PC,
Phantom Entertainment, formerly Infinium Labs, has updated their website. Now, gamers who trust a company with a long history of not shipping products can hand over their credit card number to be first in line to get a Phantom Lapboard. The company is offering a pre-order option that will give gamers $30 off for orders placed before September 30, 2006. The retail price of the wireless keyboard and mouse combination will be $129.95, and Phantom claims this will ship in November.
Phantom also still plans on shipping their game service. The online service has now been uncoupled from their mythical console, so gamers can get all the drawbacks of DRM-protected games with none of the benefits of a standardized hardware platform.
Read More | Phantom Entertainment
Retro Gaming for the Lazy Rich Kid: Arcade In A Box
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Fighting, Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Retro,
Maybe I’m just jealous because, like most MAME cabinet builders, I spent weeks planning out the perfect button layout, designing schematics, ordering parts, and assembling the final system. I felt special—I was part of an elite group with the motivation and know-how to build my own home arcade. But, alas, no longer - thanks to “Arcade In a Box” anyone with $1500 lying around can plunk down the cash for a plug-n-play MAME arcade setup.
Unlike your granpappy’s old X-Arcade joysticks, the setup above includes a fairly substantial built-in computer including a 3 GHz processor, 128 MB graphics card, ethernet, VGA/S-video, and USB ports galore front and back. Plug in a monitor and this set will have you retro gaming in minutes. And for a few extra bucks they’ll even customize the button colors and add in a spinner for that Arkanoid lovin’.
Now excuse me as I ramble to myself about the “good old days.”
Read More | Arcade In A Box via RealTechNews
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