March 2005 Archives

Quote:
A number of media outlets are erroneously reporting that Sony can no longer sell its PSone and PS2 gaming consoles after losing a decision in their case against Immersion Corporation. Sony has been battling Immersion for some time now, as the two companies are disputing the technology behind Sony's DualShock vibration feedback system for controllers. Back in September of 2004, Sony lost to Immersion, and was ordered to pay $82 million in damages. Immersion would have also prevailed against Microsoft, but Microsoft wisely settled with them for about one-third that amount, and the other big players such as Nintendo have licensed the technology.
/Quote

Looks like Microsoft & Nintendo played it safe. Sony should have done the same but, they tried to be cheap and stick it out. Now they are being forced into licensing the technology among paying the fines, not to mention all of the court fees. Ouch.

Source: Arstechnica

New Comic. It would have been up sooner, but I've been swamped with work and computer errors. But at least the balloons look better.

Is this what the PS3 will look like? Its a possibility, but I hope not.

Bigger Pic!

At first glance I thought it was a DV projector. Still kinda looks like one.

Its a sad sad day.... Namco has confirmed in a press release that Soul Calibur III will be exclusive to the Playstation 2. While it is good for Sony, I think it's a bunch of crap. Just goes to show you what money can do; even though the GameCube version of Soul Calibur II sold the best.

I guess that will be another game I can add to my list of games I won't be playing, expect for minute or two at a demo kiosk.

New Comic up. This time I used a nice classsic character. In other news, I still have no idea on what's the plot to the new Zelda game.

We have a special treat for everyone, an extra comic! This one is from NecroJon. I have actually had it for awhile and forgot that he gave it to me. It all started when one of my friends got in on the first beta of World of Warcraft and then we found out another one of our friends got it too. We weren't sure how people who were unable to download such a huge file got the game, but we speculate it was delivered discretely.

In other news, Nintendo has said that Revolution development kits have been sent to developers. So they are out there somewhere and games are being made, but I want to hear some system specs!! Nintendo plans on revealing everything at E3 this year, but that is still some time away. But if I catch wind of anything, I will be sure to let you all know.

One more thing. As some of you may know, Total GamerZ.com will be two years old in a little more than a month. We have something special planned, so be sure to stay tuned in the coming week (or two) for more details.

As reported earlier, according to Spong, the name of the new Xbox will be..... Xbox 360.

Spong

Is this what the new Xbox will look like? Sources confirm that this is a prototype model taken with a camera phone in late development stages. I think it looks pretty cool, but it's not practical for a gaming system. Everyone is use to the typical flat look of consoles. I will post more about this when it becomes available.

Source

A Comment from Ryo:
I have read more and this prototype is a 'decoy'. It is interesting to see all the different designs M$ has come up with before the final look is revealed. I have also read the size of the Xbox 2 is much smaller than the original, where the size is said to be in between the new PSTwo and the original PS2.

New Comic. It involves Kirby without sucking jokes so check it out. Game On is a TGZ comic series starring the staff with video game parodies. It should be updated every Friday.

Pics have been release of the new xbox's user interface. Take a look for yourself.

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Video

Starting tomorrow, March 11th, we will have a new comic every Friday. Dive just finished the first comic and will be posted sometime tomorrow.
Necrojon posted an insight (forums no longer exist, sorry) on his World of Warcraft character and I am hoping Agentsith will do the same.

In other news, at GDC, Nintendo revealed that the Revolution will come with built in Wi-fi and connect to the DS (yes I was wrong), but I still think it will connect to the Game Boy Advance 2. Nintendo also showed off a very awesome trailer for the new Zelda. It is starting to look like the Zelda everyone has been waiting for.

See you all tomorrow with a comic from Dive!

The Guts of the Next Box

CPU - Xenon's CPU has three 3.0 GHz PowerPC cores. Each core is capable of two instructions per cycle and has an L1 cache with 32 KB for data and 32 KB for instructions. The three cores share 1 MB of L2 cache. Alpha 2 developer kits currently have two cores instead of three.

GPU - Xenon's GPU is a generation beyond the ATI X800. Its clock speed is 500 MHz and it supports Shader 3.0. Developers are currently working with an alpha 2 GPU. Beta GPU units are expected by May and the final GPU is slated for a summer release. The final GPU will be more powerful than anything on the market today; in game terms, it would handle a game like Half-Life 2 with ease.

System Memory - Xenon will have 256 MB of system RAM. Keep in mind that this number should not be equated to typical PC RAM. The Xbox has 64 MB of system RAM and is a very capable machine.

Optical Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon will not use Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Games will come on dual-layer DVD-9 discs. While the media is the same as that of the current Xbox, the usable space on each disc is up to 7 GB. The drive is slated to run at 12X.

Memory Units - Xenon will use 64 MB to 1,024 MB memory cards. 8 MB is reserved for system use, leaving a 56 MB to 1,016 MB for user data.

Hard Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon's hard drive is optional. 2 GB of the drive will be used as game cache. The final drive size is still being determined.

Camera - Xenon will have a USB 2.0 camera. It's capable of 1.2 megapixel still shots and VGA video. Photos can be used in-game and for gamer profiles. The camera can also be used for video chat. It's unknown if the Xenon camera will allow for EyeToy-like gameplay. Developers are currently using a simulated camera driver.

Sound Chip - Xenon does not have an audio chip in the traditional sense. Decompression is handled by hardware, while the rest of the chores are handled by software. DirectSound3D has been dropped in favor of X3DAudio. The former was deemed too inflexible.

Source

Seems very powerful. At least they are keeping the harddrive, and what is with the camera? Oh well, we will just have to wait and see if these specs are very accurate.

With the rumors on the net of possible names for Microsoft's new console, I take a look... Read more here.

C|net has a pretty interesting article that was posted on MY birthday, March 1st. It consists of many answers to questions a Total Gamer should know. They talk about possible names for each system, the specs, possible price ranges, etc. Although I disagree when they talk about the DS connecting to the Nintendo Revolution because Nintendo has stated that it will not (but they could have changed their minds). I anticipate that the Game Boy Advance 2, the topic of my previous post, will connect to the Revolution.

Check it out here

According to rumors, the next Game Boy "Game Boy Advance 2" will be shown at E3 this year. The handheld is supposed to have a large screen along with analog controls, which somewhat sounds like the Sony PSP. The new handheld will be based off the GameCube hardware, which will make it the most powerful handheld, ever. The system is said to have a release date in Japan and the US by the end of this year. This leads many people wondering what Nintendo will be doing with the DS.

Well according to SPOnG, Nintendo will be turning it into a real powerful PDA with software licensed from Palm OS.

It will be interesting to see what Nintendo has up its sleves to compete with the Sony PSP and what the future will hold for the DS. The DS could be a top of the line PDA with its Graphical Power and built-in wireless.

GBA 2 Info
Nintendo & Palm OS