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Warner Brothers causing adware?
THE WARNER Brothers have signed a deal with 180SOLUTIONS to provide content for the outfit’s consumer site Zango.com. Their shows, “Deception” and the animated show “Medical Island” were created specifically for the Web are only available if you download 180Solutions ad-serving software which will deliver six pop-up ads a day.
Whew, the worst type of adware no less. Read all about it over at the Inquirer.
Super Smash Brothers Wii, Featuring Solid Snake
In a surprise news conference this evening, Nintendo unexpectedly revealed Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii, and released a promo video of the title. Smash Bros. Brawl will feature online play; a Nintendog item that blocks your view of the playfield by jumping up on the screen and demanding to be petted; bizarre Dragonball Z style superattacks; your choice of traditional Gamecube or motion-sensing Revmote control; and new characters in the form of Samus (without the suit), Meta Knight, Kid Icarus (!), and… Konami’s Solid Snake, complete with a cardboard box he hides in. The only bad news is despite earlier reports it would be a launch title, Smash Bros. Brawl will not be out until 2007.
Kid Icarus! This sounds like it will be a winner, even though the actual concept sounds odd. Nintendo really has strange ways. You can find out more about everything mentioned in the above quote over at Slashdot.
ICANN Finally Rejects .xxx Domain
In a split 9-5 board decision, the organisation acted ruthlessly, against its own previous position, in order to put an end to an increasingly difficult and controversial issue – the approval of a .xxx top-level domain. The .xxx registry application has been the focus of enormous political pressure on ICANN for the past six months and was used at one point as a political football in a wider tussle for power within the internet.
I am unsure whether this means that we will _never_ see it again or not, but I had high hopes for Techgage.xxx. Read more at Slashdot.
Infineon Spin-off Qimonda to go Public on NYSE
Infineon today announced plans to list its chip producing spin-off Qimonda onto the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). This news comes as a surprise to many because analysts had expected Infineon to list within Taiwan or China, where such firms were prominent and investors pumped money into that industry in large amounts.
So does this mean that we should soon be being actual chips from Qimonda? Such a silly name for a memory chip.. Check out the article at DailyTech.
id Software OK With In-Game Advertising
Although not currently used in the mainstream, advertising in video games is one of the options that developers are considering to help ease development costs. The obvious question that is being circulated among the gaming industry is whether or not PC and console gamers are going to be willing to deal with advertising in video games.
Personally, I only have a problem with this with a few select cases, but they are too lengthy to list here. In the end though, if gamers should be subject to ads plastered throughout their games, the price of the game should be substantially lower. Read more about iD’s thoughts at DailyTech.
Introducing "Tritium": NVIDIA’s System-Wide Component Platform
NVIDIA’s vision is to combine several different components, from memory to video cards to motherboards, all under the Tritium certification. Motherboards, for example, will undergo a strict set of criteria that, if satisfied, will receive special certification from NVIDIA said to “maximize overall system performance.”
Some of these proposed settings look to be for the pure enthusiast. Others are just insane though, such as 2.2vcore?! It will be interesting to see where NVIDIA takes this though. Check out the full read at DailyTech.
Universal Abit First Out the Door With HDMI Motherboard
We just got word from Universal Abit that the company is on its way to unveil the first HDMI certified motherboard. The motherboard, dubbed Abit IL-80MV, is a 945GT motherboard designed specifically for Yonah (and eventually Merom).
The motherboard features a 667MHz front side bus and the ICH7m-DH southbridge. A Core 2 Duo (Merom) processor is capable of taking advantage of the full DDR2 533MHz bus as well. Firewire, dual SATA 3.0Gbps interfaces and optical HDA input/outputs are all standard on the IL-80MV.
It looks like ABIT is coming back with a bang, or at least trying to. Hopefully this motherboards other features will help make it the ultimate HTPC solution. Read more at DailyTech.
A Look At Will Wright’s E3 Spore Presentation
The show floor opened up this morning to early-access press only and I headed straight for EA’s booth to check out some of their offerings. In addition to Crysis and Battlefield 2142 playable on the showfloor, there was a Spore presentation being ran by the master Will Wright himself. Here is an overview and some screenshots of what he had to say.
Check out the full article at Think Gaming.
E3 2006 Impressions
Guru of 3D wrote up a small overview for you guys of the E3 in Los Angeles which they attended to this year. The E3 is the Electronic Entertainment Exhibit, it’s the biggest gaming related exhibit in the world. The entire global press strikes down in LA for a couple of days to see feel and sniff on the latest games and gossip from Fragginwood. This artcile cover an overview of the exhibit guided with loads of photo’s.
You can check out the article right here, or check out their more important booth babe article here!
NVIDIA® Technology Powers First HD DVD-ROM Notebook Available in U.S.
ELECTRONIC ENTERTAINMENT EXPO—LOS ANGELES, CA—May 11, 2006—NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) today announced that Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. is showcasing the first notebook PC with an HD DVD-ROM drive available in the U.S. at the NVIDIA booth at E3. The new notebook, the Toshiba Qosmio™ G35-AV650, features the NVIDIA GeForce® Go 7600 graphics processing unit (GPU) which enables the playback of highly-anticipated, high definition movies with superb picture clarity.
You can read the full press release here.
Tomb Raider Legends Review
I remember playing Gun a little while back – the title was slow to get into, but incredible once you actually got into it. That’s how things turned out here – though I was adamant about this review at first, thanks to the “try and drive a bus with a fork” logic of the controls in Angel of Darkness, I soon fell in love with Legend. With Lara being so easy to control, and puzzles requiring just the right amount of logic, I was vastly enjoying the game and becoming quite good at it.
Check out the full review over at GamePyre.
Hardware Roundup for May 11
- IcyDock MB452 3.5″ External HDD Enclosure – Virtual-Hideout
- Shuttle SD36G5M XPC – HotHardware
Cases & Enclosures
- Noctua NH-U12 & NH-U9 Heatsinks – OCIA
- Thermaltake iFlash 12 LED Light Fan – A1-Electronics
Cooling
- OCZ Mini-Kart 1GB – Phoronix
- The Kingston DataTraveler Elite – Privacy Edition – Legit Reviews
Memory & Storage
- ABIT Fatal1ty Professional AN9 32X – Legit Reviews
- ECS 945G-M3 – Motherboards.org
Motherboards & CPU’s
- Bluetake i-Phono Bluetooth Headphones and USB Adapter – XYZ Computing
- Logitech V400 – CoolTechZone
- SteelPad QcK+ Gaming Mousepad – techPowerUp!
- Techsolo TP400W PSU – Technic3D
Peripherals & Power Supplies
- Connect3D & Sapphire Radeon X1900GT – Bit-Tech
Video Cards & Monitor
- Samsung D600 Chrome Limited Edition – UK Gamer
- Samsung T509 Mobile Phone – Digital Trends
- SiSoftware Sandra 2007 – NGOHQ
- Q3i ThermoHawk 200/400 Infrared Keychain Thermometer – TweakNews
Etcetera & Contests
Earthworm Jim is back!
The Company is planning to develop a range of video games over the next five years for next-generation handheld and online systems.
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“Atari is a company on the move, and as one of the most beloved video game characters in history, the return of Earthworm Jim marks an important day for Atari, the video game industry and consumers,” said Atari, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bruno Bonnell. “The Atari brand signifies innovation, imagination, entertainment and most importantly, fun. Our commitment to the Atari brand and investing in franchises that embrace similar traits, like Earthworm Jim, are the cornerstones in the Company’s evolution.”
Alright.. I am a big fan of Earthworm Jim. I am not too sure I like the sound of “Online” or “Handheld” games though. It seems as though we will not be seeing a regular offline version of the game that we have come to love. I hope to that this is not another series to go down the toilet. Check out the full news release at Yahoo.
LOTR Online Beta Signups
It seems as though Turbine just opened up sign-ups for their ultra-hyped LOTR MMO game. At the time of writing, the website is down. Likely this is due to it getting pounded by so many frantic gamers.
If you wish to sign-up, you may want to periodically check out this url: http://beta.turbine.com/signup.
Opera + Wii = Done Deal?
Opera Software, a world leader in Web browser technology, today announced that Nintendo’s much anticipated new generation game console, Wii, will use the Opera browser. Users of the Wii console will browse the Internet using their consoles. Navigating via the innovative new Wii Remote controller, users can visit Web sites in between gaming sessions.
It’s interesting that Nintendo touts the Wii as a pure gaming machine, but you can actually surf the net also? That’s not a ‘pure’ gaming machine anymore. Either way, this is a huge win for Opera! Check out the full press release on their site.
Jobs gets out of the Happy Meal business
The word is that Disney is trying to disassociate itself from high calorie and trans fat laden fast food peddled by fast food giants like McDonald’s. Times staff writer Rachel Abramowitz finds the timing the contract cancellation (reported to be worth US$1 billion to Disney) less than coincidental. It happened just as Steve Jobs becomes Disney’s largest shareholder after the acquisition of his Pixar Animation Studios.
It’s hard to imagine anyone pushing away a $1B deal. Apparently Jobs feels pretty strongly about poor eating. Check out the full read at ZD Net.
Microsoft Announces New Windows Live Messenger 8 Public Beta with VoIP
Microsoft has made available a new beta version of its instant messaging application. Windows Live Messenger 8.0.0689 builds on Microsoft’s “Live” initiative and features Windows Live Call. Windows Live Call is a new VoIP service that allows Messenger users to phone each other for free. The Windows Live Call service will be provided by Verizon and will be offered in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain. The service will expand to Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands beginning next week.
It’s surprising that it took this long for Microsoft to finally dip their mitts into the VOIP side of things. This looks promising though; the handsets look great. Check out the full posting at DailyTech.
The Trouble with MMOs
As if it weren’t obvious by now, allow me to reiterate: Like many gamers, I’m a giant, raging geek. Hand-drawn pictures of griffins and manticores on the high-school notebook? Been there, done that. Years spent poring over Dungeon Master’s manuals and Star Wars role-playing game (RPG) supplements? It doesn’t take a saving throw against dignity to discern such sordid highlights are also on the resume. But spending hours exploring Internet-only worlds that exist and evolve 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the company of fellow players via massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) like Guild Wars and PlanetSide? That’s where even I draw the line.
Check out the full interesting look at Digital Trends.
E3: Sony Press Conference Overview – Opinions on the PS3 and more.
The E3 madness has begun today with Sony’s press conference covering all of the latest of Sony’s offerings, including some new details on the PSP and all that you’d want to see and hear about the Playstation 3. Key points included a large collection of PS3 game demos and trailers never-before-seen as well as price points and release dates for the PS3.
Check out the full article over at Think Gaming.
E3: Nintendo’s E3 Press Conference Coverage
After Sony’s appearance at E3 last night, it’s Nintendo’s turn at the mic. Stayed tuned to this page because we will be continuously updating it with all of the latest information released at Nintendo’s press conference. Be the first to know the Wii’s official launch price and date as well as any other big surprises that Nintendo throws at us!
Check out the full article over at Bona Fide Reviews.
Mushkin announces new DDR2-800
Denver, CO, May 09, 2006– Mushkin Enhanced, a leading, manufacturer in high performance computer components, is proud to announce the addition of four new XP2-6400 memory modules to its XP DDR2 lineup. “As the industry moves increasingly towards DDR2, Mushkin wants to maintain its position as the performance leader. The XP2-6400 clearly keeps Mushkin in this position,” said Lee Groninger, Mushkin Sales and Marketing Director. The XP2-6400 is available in both 512MB and 1GB memory modules and is rated at 4-4-3-10 at 1.9V.
Check out the full press release here.
AGEIA PhysX Powered Add-in Cards Now Available Worldwide
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – May 9, 2006 – AGEIA™ Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardwareaccelerated
physics for games, today announced the availability of its PhysX™ processor on add-in
accelerator cards from ASUS Computer International and BFG Technologies, Inc. The first physics
processing unit (PPU) designed to power pervasive real-time physics in PC gaming can now be
purchased by consumers worldwide, thus delivering true physics interaction on a massive scale to
serious gamers everywhere.
You can read the full press release here.
Hardware Roundup for May 10
- Aerocool ExtremEngine 3T – Neoseeker
- HighSpeed PC Tech Station – Legit Reviews
Cases & Enclosures
- Mach II GT Extremecooling – DNR Hardware
- Thermalright Ultra-90-K8 Heatsink – Virtual-Hideout
Cooling
- Kingston launch 2GB DDR with 2-2-2-5 timings – Pure Overclock
- Sytrin KuFormula VF1 Plus VGA Cooler – ModTheBox
- Sytrin KuFormula VF1 GPU Cooler – Overclockers Club
- TeamGroup Xtreem 2x1gb Cronus – Infineon/Aeneon – EclipseOC
- Toshiba 120GB MK1234GSX SATA Hard Drive – Rojak Pot
Memory & Storage
- Altec Lansing AHP612 Wireless Headphones – Think Computers
- Creative Zen Vision:M – Bjorn3D
- Hercules DJConsole MkII – UK Gamer
- OCZ GameXStream 700 Watt PSU – Pro-Clockers
- PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW PSU – 3D Gameman
- Samsung YP-T8Z 1Gig Portable Media Player – TweakNews
Peripherals & Power Supplies
- HiS Radeon X1800 GTO ICEQ3 – Guru3D
- PNY’s Verto GeForce 7900 GTX – BIOS Magazine
Video Cards & Monitor
- Contest: Mvox MV900 Bluetooth Speakerphone Giveaway – techFEAR
Etcetera & Contests
E3: Playstation Launch Date and Official Details Announced
Sony just finished up the company’s E3 official announcement of Playstation 3. As expected, the company has confirmed that the console will ship early November 2006 in a simultaneous worldwide launch. Some information about the PS3 has already been announced — the device will feature a 60GB hard drive, Blu-ray and integrated networking capabilities.
Well, I can immediately say that I appreciate such a beefy hard drive, compared to the wimpy 20GB of the 360. Free online service and 1080p may take the online crown away from Microsoft pretty quickly. Check out DailyTech for more info, including pricing.
Xbox 360 Availability Issues
Back in November 2005 Microsoft Corporation launched its powerful Xbox 360 console. Powered by three cores and a very powerful ATI GPU, the mighty Xbox 360 gained quite a reputation and many liked the console monster. But there is some unpleasant news regarding the Xbox 360. It seems that the Xbox 360 is not available in a few countries.
Check out the full article at NGOHQ.