Archive for September, 2005
Jim Merrick Interview
Posted by Blackstaffer in Nintendo Wii on September 28th, 2005
Jim Merrick is Nintendo’s head of European marketing. He’s recently been interviewed by C&VG, and he gave away some juicy morcels.
Nintendo had several objectives with their new controller – interesting new gameplay was just one of them. They also wanted something accessible, like a TV remote. The resemblance isn’t unintentional. The new controller can even be used to turn the new console on and off, just like a TV remote.
Mr. Merrick thinks the new controller has so many different ways of using it, you won’t miss the relatively fewer buttons. For example, to control an airplane you can bank left, right, dive, pull up, do a loop, and not press a single button. And he says that when combined with the analog stick on the nunchukk accessory, that you’ll never go back to using a traditional controller for first-person shooters.
The new console will continue to support existing GameCube controllers. That’s a backwards compatibility that Sony and Microsoft won’t be offering with their PS3 and 360. They’re also working on a classic-style controller with a hole wherein you slot the the free-hand controller. I saw a mockup of this somewhere on the net a while ago and thought it was a bunch of baloney, but evidently I was wrong.
MotorStorm: Racing Redefined
Posted by Blackstaffer in PS3 software on September 28th, 2005
bPlaystation3 has an article about MotorStorm. MotorStorm is a mayhem racing game that looks unbelievably cool.
Players simply choose their vehicle from a massive range – including dirt bikes, ATVs, sand rails, rally cars, monster trucks and everything in between – then hit the track in a no-holds-barred sprint to the finish line. Carving a line of destruction through the ever-changing wilderness, players must compete in a high octane-fuelled, horsepower spectacle where the only rule is to try and stay ahead of the competition.
I am really looking forward to this game. I hope the final experience is close to what the trailer shows, but who knows? I can’t wait to see some in-game footage.
Sony Unified Behind Stringer
Posted by Blackstaffer in Talk on September 28th, 2005
Sony solidarity in the ranks:
Sony Corp. President Ryoji Chubachi said Tuesday there was no division in the company’s management team, despite CEO Howard Stringer’s recent remarks indicating he met resistance in trying to cut more jobs than the 10,000 layoffs planned.
“There are no contradictions or conflict. I can say with confidence we stand together,”
He said that while not everyone will come up with the same solution to a problem, Sony’s team backed Stringer’s decisions. This kind of solidarity is good for Sony and good for us, the consumers.
Sony, in this time of minor trouble, doesn’t need dissension among their top decision makers. Sony employees worldwide will see a united front at the top, and this will only help to keep up morale in a time of 10,000 layoffs.
More than Two Displays on PS3?
Posted by Blackstaffer in PS3 on September 27th, 2005
Mike just keeps the questions coming (great stuff!):
It has been suggested by Sony that one of the advantages of being able to use 2 televisions with the PS3 is that, when playing a game that allows for 2 people like, deathmatch, each player could have their own screen. With that said, do you think since the PS3 allows for 7 players that, more than 2 screen might be able to be linked together for 2+ player deathmatch, etc. And what connects on the PS3 allow for a dual television setup?
The PS3 has two HDMI outputs and a multi-out output. Sony has said that the two HDMI outputs could be used to drive two displays. They have given no indication at all of supporting any more than two screens. Even if the hardware was physically capable of this (given that there’s also the multi-out that you could use) it’s doubtfull that the RSX would support more than two framebuffers. Even when the PS3 was doing all the heavy lifting in the London demo, it had to write the final results to the framebuffer. And if the graphics card doesn’t support more than two, plus the associated video-out circuitry, then you won’t get more than two screens.
Nintendo Revolution Specs Revealed?
Posted by Blackstaffer in Nintendo Wii on September 27th, 2005
Someone (codenamed ‘Han Solo’, so you know it’s gotta be good, right?) claims to have the inside scoop on the Revolution’s specs. Here they are:
- CPU: 1 IBM Custom PowerPC 2.5 GHz
- GPU: ATI Custom based RN520 core, running at 600MHz, HD support still undecided, though this GPU is physically capable of it
- 512 MB of RAM
- PPU chip (Physical Processing Chip) with 32MB of RAM
- Sound chip with DD5.1 and DTS7.1 support
Supposedly the CPU will lag a little behind the PS3′s Cell and the GPU will be ahead. Of course, a large part of this is pure speculation.
The thing that caught my eye was the PPU. Is this anything like the AGEIA stuff whose library Sony has licensed?
This is really quite interesting. Everyone always assumed that since Nintendo was being so quiet about its system and not talking up the specs, that it would be behind the other two consoles. If these specs are close to accurate, then the Revolution won’t be giving up anything to its two competitors.
Follow Us
Last 5 Comments