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DS Lite Put Through Stress Tests: DS Lite 1, Testers 0
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS,
Ever wonder why the demo units at stores look like they’ve been through World War III? It could have something to do with “testers” like these. This video was recently posted on YouTube, showing some folks doing terrible things to a DS lite trial station they found at their local Wal-Mart. In the video, you’ll see them trying as best they can to break the touch-screen on the DS lite. After a lot of pushing and heavy grunting, the screen still looks perfect - a great advertisement for the quality of Nintendo products, I guess!
Please, don’t try this at home, or even at your local chain retailer… we’re glad to know that the DS lite survived this stress-test, but we’d rather people don’t abuse store displays like this.
Read More 
| YouTube via MaxConsole.net
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PS3 Cell Processor Works Flawlessly, About 20 Percent of the Time
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PlayStation 3,
In a recent article at Electronic News, Ed Sperling interviews Tom Reeves, VP of semiconductor and technology services at IBM, about the latest breakthroughs in chip fabrication technology and where the industry goes from here. Of particular interest to gamers might be Reeves’ statements about the Playstation 3’s much-lauded Cell Processor, which contains eight cores and is one of the most complicated processors ever:
Electronic News: What’s the defining factor that makes some chips better than others?
Reeves: Defects. It becomes a bigger problem the bigger the chip is. With chips that are one-by-one and silicon germanium, we can get yields of 95 percent. With a chip like the Cell processor, you’re lucky to get 10 or 20 percent.
Combine this with other supply issues Sony might run into and you begin to see the reasoning behind the pricing of the PS3.
The article goes on to talk about how there are “a lot” of Cell chips with only 6 cores functioning that may find other uses outside of the PS3. They also note that theoretically, a PS3 Cell processor needs to have only 7 working cores but currently there are no plans by Sony to put 7/8ths working chips in some sort of “bargain” PS3. That’s good news for PS3 buyers - at least for $599 Sony won’t be skimping on chip quality.
Read More | ElectronicNews via Gizmodo
Sony Releases Films on Memory Stick
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Hardware, Portable/Mobile, PSP,
Sony has introduced the new Memory Stick Duo Entertainment Pack that includes the ability to unlock 1 of 4 movies for playback on the Sony PSP. The package allows PSP owners to play back from the memory stick one of the following movies, Hitch, S.W.A.T., The Grudge, or XXX: State of the Union. The Memory Stick Duo Entertainment Pack comes in 1 and 2 GB sizes and retails for $60 and $100. A 1 GB Memory Stick Duo without a movie currently goes for about $60 at Bestbuy, making the Entertainment Pack a good deal. Sony is definitely starting to take steps in the right direction for distributing movies for the PSP.
Read More | Sony
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ATI’s Decoder Chosen For Xbox 360 HD DVD
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, Xbox 360,
ATI announced via press release that their H.264 decoder has been chosen for the technology to drive Microsoft’s HD DVD add on for the Xbox 360. The decoder will apparently be built around ATI’s Avivo technology, built into many of their current Radeon graphics cards. The move makes sense, given that the Xbox 360 is built around ATI technology; the decoder will utilize the Xbox 360 GPU to do its magic. ATI’s familiarity with the core technology makes them the ideal developer for this task. Still left in the air is the pricing and availability for the HD DVD unit. Leveraging the existing GPU in the Xbox 360 will help keep the price down, and November is probably the best guess for the drive’s release in the US.
Full Press Release after the jump.
Click to continue reading ATI’s Decoder Chosen For Xbox 360 HD DVD
Sega Japan Announces Phantasy Star Universe Keyboard
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, MMORPG, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360,
According to a report by Japan’s Famitsu magazine, Sega of Japan is releasing a USB wireless keyboard for use with Phantasy Star Universe. The branded keyboard will work with both the Playstation 2 and PCs. The keyboard also ships with a “Guidebook for new Guardians” to help users navigate through the online lobbies and a driver disk for PC users. The keyboard will be available on August 31, in time for the Phantasy Star Universe launch. The price has been set at 8190 Yen, or roughly $72.
Interestingly, compatibility with the Xbox 360 was not listed even though the game has been announced for that platform. Given that Xbox 360 gamers playing Final Fantasy XI have found most USB keyboards to work, there shouldn’t be any compatibility issues with the Xbox 360 hardware. The Xbox 360 version of the game might not support keyboard communication at all; it will support chat over Xbox Live. If the Xbox 360 game servers are distinct from the PS2 and PC servers as rumored, keyboard support may not be necessary at all.
In addition to the new wireless keyboard, Sega also announced the availability of Phantasy Star Universe Score and Soundtrack CDs.
Read More | Famitsu
As game developers look toward the future for new ways to enhance the gaming experience, one of the areas of focus has been physics acceleration. HardOCP recently was able to talk with the big players in the field to try and map out the state of the field. Right now there are basically two camps. First, graphics card manufacturers like ATI and nVidia are offering GPU based solutions. ATI’s Crossfire configurations allow gamers to utilize a single ATI graphics card as a physics accelerator paired with another card. nVidia will also offer GPU-based physics acceleration, but this will be integrated on a card with other shader effects. nVidia has announced that they will be working with the HavokFX engine from Havok, and it is highly likely that ATI will do the same. On the other side of the fence, Ageia offers a dedicated physics acceleration card, PhysX, with their own API. All four players submit their perspective on the burgeoning market.
It is interesting to see how each company seeks to address the problem. The overall conclusion is that early efforts will focus on effects physics; things like debris and environmental effects that don’t impact gameplay but can enhance the experience. There just isn’t enough market penetration at this point to offer anything more. As the market matures and physics acceleration is more commonplace, it will start to make more sense for developers to attack gameplay physics. This strategy will benefit companies like ATI and nVidia; they currently make great graphics acceleration cards with the potential to accelerate physics in the future. Ageia is kind of in a bind with the PhysX card; it could offer greater environmental gameplay, but needs developer support. By the time the market reaches the user saturation where gameplay physics makes sense, ATI and nVidia could both have better on-board solutions for physics acceleration, leaving Ageia behind.
Read More | HardOCP
Xbox-Scene has received anonymously a picture which purports to be an Xbox 360 motherboard with an HDMI port. Speculation has already run wild in the forums from people claiming this to be a fake image, to those upset that Microsoft would launch a new Xbox 360 with an upgrade already. Currently, the biggest pointer to this being a fake image is the fact that the picture has been flipped horizontally. This could also be a developer board, but to include hardware that end users would not be able to use would seem to be a waste. Those wanting to compare this image with the actual Xbox 360 motherboard, go here. In any case, gamers should expect to see clarification soon with a statement from Microsoft.
Read More | Xbox-Scene
Cheap Ass Gamer Yard Sale Guide
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Accessories, Hardware, Hot Deals, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Retro, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Some of the friendly users over at Cheap Ass Gamer have put together a guide for finding great game deals at local garage sales. With recent garage sale finds such as a Zelda 3 prototype, garage sales have become a beacon to bargain hunters and game collectors. The guide is part of the CAGwiki; and includes many common sense tips, bargaining methods, and video game loot cleaning tips.
Read More | Cheap Ass Gamer
New Videos of WarioWare Smooth Moves (Wii) In Action
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Hardware, Nintendo, Screenshots, Trailers, Wii,
The good folks over at GoNintendo.com have posted some videos from the recent demos over in Spain. Watch someone actually play WarioWare and look like a doofus doing it!! (Which is, of course, half the fun…I’m really looking forward to this game).
Overall, the controls appear to be quite responsive to each of the different actions. Of course, the controller can pick up major shakes and slices, but the part where he twists the key in the door would appear to require a very fine level of resolution. Also, there are some micro-games on display here that use the pointer functionality, and they appear to do quite well also. Really, this just makes me want to get my hands on the controller again. For those of us that couldn’t make it to E3, we can only hope that Nintendo continues bringing this show on the road and spreading the good word of the Wii!
Read More | GoNintendo.com
Microsoft: No Plans For Internal HD-DVD
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Xbox 360,
Cesar Menendez over at Microsoft’s Gamerscoreblog clarified that there were no plans to release an Xbox 360 with an internal HD-DVD drive this year. Recently, a number of articles have quoted a Toshiba general manager that such an item would be released before the end of the year. It would appear this is nothing more than wishful thinking on the manager’s part, perhaps in an effort to convince the public that the HD DVD format will win out against Blu-Ray. With the recent discovery that Microsoft has brought yet another DVD-ROM partner online in addition to Samsung and Hitachi, it seems unlikely that they would integrate HD-DVD drives so soon. Microsoft insists that keeping the HD-DVD drive external offers customers more choice in what kind of HD experience they want.
Read More | Gamerscoreblog
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