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PS3, Xbox 360 GPUs Compared
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
Impress Watch Japan has just published the latest in a series of articles comparing the PS3 and the Xbox 360. This time, the technical specifications of the GPUs go under the microscope, along with a comparison to the current GPU offerings from nVidia and ATI. Since Google’s translation tools often leave much to be desired when trying to understand the details of an article, a forum member at Beyond 3D has offered their translation. Most interesting are the comments from various anonymous developers; there’s a lot more feedback on the Xbox 360, since it has been on the market longer. One developer says that to work around some of the memory restrictions, developers can render to an internal frame buffer of either 960x540 or 880x540 and then upscale the output for 720p using the built in Display Controller—so gamers may not be getting “true” HD resolutions. In both the PS3 and Xbox 360’s design, though, it looks like memory bandwidth is going to be the killer. Trying to mix high resolution textures with enough of a frame buffer to render HD resolutions is difficult for these machines at 720p, and 1080p for the PS3 is going to be difficult when mixed with multi-sample anti-aliasing; the trade-off will be high resolutions with fewer effects, or lower resolutions with more effects and MSAA implemented. So far, most developers appear to be taking the second approach.
Read More 
| Original Impress Watch Article
Read More | Beyond3D Translation
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Oldblivion Allows Old Graphics Cards To Run Elder Scrolls IV
Posted by John Goulden Categories: Mods/Hacks, PC, Role Playing Games,
So you’re itching to find out what’s so hot about Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion but you’re stuck with a computer running an older, unsupported graphics card? Fear not, for Oldblivion not only does a nice play on words, but allows you to run Oblivion on pre-DirectX9 graphics cards. A description from Oldblivion’s website: “Oldblivion attaches to Oblivion and applies certain patches to it. Some of these patches are for making sure that Oblivion doesn’t crash when run on hardware which lacks certain new functionality. It also changes the shaders used by Oblivion from pixel shader 2.0 and vertex shader 2.0 into pixel shader 1.1 and vertex shader 1.1.”
There are still a number of bugs present, but temporary fixes are abundant as are new releases of the software. The current list of supported cards is as follows:
• Geforce 3 series
• Geforce 4 series
• Geforce FX 5200 series
• Geforce PCX 5300
• Geforce FX 5500
• Geforce FX 5700 series
• Radeon 9550
• Radeon 9200 series
• Radeon 9000 series
• Radeon 8500 series
So if you’re jonesin’ for an Oblivion fix, head on over and grab a copy of Oldblivion and let ‘er rip.
Read More | Oldblivion
If you’re a PC gamer who plays online, then undoubtedly you’re familiar with Xfire, the instant messaging, server browsing, file downloading, and do-it-all software that makes playing online games with your friends tremendously easy. Started 2.5 years ago, the gaming community has 4 million registered members, and an active userbase of 1 million. MTV Networks, a Viacom company, acquired Xfire with the intent of tapping into its prime 18-34 year old male demographic. The acquisition which is valued at $102 million USD, will in return allow Xfire to draw upon the vast resources at MTV.
For those of you not familiar with Xfire, some of the features that make it so well liked are:
• Friend List for Gamers – Users can see when their gamer friends are online and what games they are playing.
• One-Click Join – Users can see what games their friends are playing and use the one-click join feature to play alongside their friends instantly.
• Xfire In-Game Messaging – Xfire users can send and receive instant messages while playing in many games without having to minimize or leave the game.
• Stats Tracking – Through automatically updated player profiles, Xfire displays what games users are playing and how many hours they have played them.
• File Downloads – Xfire’s file download system delivers demos, patches, trailers, and other files to users via a closed peer-to-peer distribution system.
• Voice Chat – Allows gamers to talk to each other over a private peer-to-peer chat network.
Xfire is tremendously popular in the PC gaming community, and we’re hoping that the acquisition only helps to strengthen and promote their position.
Read More | Xfire via bit-tech
UNO Will Support Xbox 360 Camera
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Features, Hardware, Strategy, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
While perusing through our Xbox 360 debug unit, we came across something interesting - it looks like UNO will be the first game to support the Xbox 360 camera accessory that we know will be coming at some point. We figured we would record a short video showing the camera settings in UNO, for your viewing pleasure. Of course, if you prefer straight images, we have those too - after the jump.
Click to continue reading UNO Will Support Xbox 360 Camera
Xbox.com E3 Site Launched
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, E3, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Microsoft’s E3 coverage started officially with launch of their Xbox.com E3 2006 mini-site. Currently available on the site are a “year in review” retrospective, and a few interviews, including one with Peter Moore. Moore’s interview, particularly, gives some insight into what messaging gamers might expect in the upcoming E3 Expo. He start’s by touting the recent success of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: “To follow up as quickly ... with a roleplaying game like The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™...only four and a half months after launch, is a huge achievement.” Of course, Oblivion was originally scheduled to be a launch title, so “only” slipping the release date twice is still somewhat of an achievement.
Moore also touts the upcoming game titles, 150 - 200 in the next 12 - 18 months, quite respectable. Since Nintendo is talking about reaching out to different audiences, Moore also pumps up Rare’s Viva Piñata, where gamers must “...attract all 60 unique piñatas.” Apparently, you have to catch them all. The Xbox Live Arcade gets some support as another method to attrach casual gamers. The two games that get mentioned are Joust and Geometry Wars. It does seem a little odd that the big Live Arcade titles are the same ones that are present at launch, and four plus months later there isn’t another game that captures the same success.
On the plus side, there should be a bunch of exclusive E3 content available on the Xbox Live Marketplace during the expo, so gamers can look forward to that. Moore also looks to the future of MMORPGs, hoping for a Snow Crash like environment, of course, brought to the world by Microsoft.
Updates on the site will accelerate as E3 approaches, and gamers with an RSS reader can add the feed for the site to keep pace.
Read More | Xbox E3 2006 Coverage
Read More | Peter Moore Interview
New Oblivion Content Available
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Adventure, Internet, PC, Role Playing Games, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Bethesda today made available the latest Elder Scrolls: Oblivion downloadable content, the Wizard’s Tower. Like previous releases, the content is available for the PC for $1.89, and for the Xbox 360 for 200 Live Marketplace points. Updates include:
- A fully detailed tower for you to explore
- A breathtaking view of Cyrodiil from the highest point in the land
- Simple furnishings including a bed for leveling up
- An indoor botanical garden with over 130 specimens… including Oblivion-native herbs!
- Summon Atronach Familiars that obey your commands
- Instant teleports to every Mages Guild in Cyrodiil
- New Spell and Recharge vendor in the Imperial City
- Fully upgrade the furnishings in your lair to suit your needs
- Upgrade to a fully functional Enchanting and Spellmaking station with no need to join Mages Guild
- Upgrade to a laboratory that buffs your Alchemy skill
No real quest related additions seem to be present for the new content, so there might be further disappointment with this add-on. Still, Bethesda appears to be committed to regularly releasing new items and areas for the game, extending its play life, little by little.
Read More | Obliviondownloads.com
New Mario Bros. DS Movie
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Corporate News, Nintendo DS, Trailers,
Nintendo updated the official Mario Bros. DS game site with a fairly long video highlighting some of the new power-ups in the game, including the new Mega Mushroom. Mario Bros. DS will be the first new version of the 2D Mario platformer series since the Super Nintendo, and should hopefully capture the feel of the original games and gameplay while updating the visuals to modern times. Looking at the video and the various elements, it is hard not to feel nostalgic for the original games in the series. Nintendo will be updating the site with more videos leading to the eventual release of the game on May 15. Maybe gamers will see the new DS Lite as well…
Read More | Official Mario Bros. Site
Square Enix Announces E3 Titles
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, E3, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360,
Square Enix have updated the E3 2006 section of their website with the software titles they will be highlighting at this year’s Expo. The company will be showing Final Fantasy XII, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, Dirge of Cerebus: Final Fantasy VII, and Dawn of Mana, all for the Playstation 2. Square Enix will also highlight their recently released Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urghan for the PC, PS2, and Xbox 360. DS gamers will see the port of Final Fantasy III in 3D, as well as Children of Mana and Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. Other titles to be shown include Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, a port of the original Playstation game on the PSP, and Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI on the Gameboy Advance. Square Enix also will be showing off some of its new mobile titles. Along with everything previously announced, one should expect to have some secret titles shown for the next generation consoles.
Read More | Official Square Enix E3 Site
Import video game store NSCX has posted a fairly lengthy import review of the Japanese release of Mother 3 for the Gameboy Advance; the Mother series has been elevated to almost mythical status among Nintendo fans, in part because of its strange release history, and in part due to the offbeat and unique nature of the gameplay of the one Mother game to be released in the US to date, Earthbound for the Super Nintendo. Mother 1 was originally released in Japan, and plans were made to translate the game for release in the US as Earthbound. This never happened, since the game was put on hold. The “sequel” to the game, Mother 2 would eventually become Earthbound in the US. Mother 3 would be eventually announced for the Nintendo 64 in 1996. While the game would be eventually cancelled for the Nintendo 64, the Japanese release has just recently shipped, making almost a ten year gap between the game’s announcement and availability. The fact that Earthbound has been considered by many to be one of the top RPGs for the Super Nintendo, combined with the horribly spotty release history for the other Mother games makes the release of Mother 3 a highly anticipated event.
However, NCSX found that the actual release fails to live up to the hype. Graphically, they find the game to be lacking. While the series has never really been known as a graphical powerhouse (even for its time), NCSX complains that the graphics do not age well, and particularly do not take advantage of the Gameboy Advance’s capabilities. Gameplay, also, is largely the same as the previous releases, which is somewhat to be expected as with all sequels. However, NCSX’s biggest complaint seems to be in the amount of expectation laid upon the game and the result, which seems to be the Nintendo 64 version translated into 2D. Perhaps it is part of the mythic status that has been laid upon the series, but the story also was found to be lacking, and without inspiration. It may be that given the long development time and the amount of anticipation built up, there would be no way for this release to match the hype, but at least in NCSX’s eyes, it still fell short of reduced expectations.
Update: A more positive preview is available from 1up.com
Read More | NCSX.com
Command & Conquer 3 Announced
Posted by John Goulden Categories: Corporate News, PC, Release Dates, Strategy,
Electronic Arts has dipped into their back catalog of games and announced that a new chapter in the C&C series, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, will be released in 2007. Originally crafted by the RTS gods at Westwood Studios (who also brought us Dune), the Command & Conquer franchise has come a long way over the years, and some would venture to say that it has fallen far from the tree as well. No matter your opinion, if EA can combine the immersive gameplay of C&C: Red Alert, with the graphics power of the modern computer, and manage to not release a buggy title as is their modus operandi, they should have a massive hit on their hands.
From the press release: “Experience a revolution in RTS gaming with a breakthrough single player campaign that rewards you for your gameplay style. Add layers of strategy to your gaming experience by building mobile bases, wielding the power of terrifying Ion Storms on the battlefield, or customizing your armies by combining units. Battle it out online with native voice-over IP, integrated clan support, and new spectator modes that let you play RTS games like a sport.”
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