Wired News: Violent Video Games: Not Our Kids

Wired News: Violent Video Games: Not Our Kids

The scoop on the Xbox 360's embedded OS

The scoop on the Xbox 360's embedded OS

Funny Half Life 2 video using Gary's Mod.

domino - geile_map.wmv - Free Webhosting / ZippyVideos Web Hosting / Free WebSpace

BBC NEWS | Technology | Quake leaps into next generation

BBC NEWS | Technology | Quake leaps into next generation

BBC NEWS | Technology | Sims creator takes on evolution

BBC NEWS | Technology | Sims creator takes on evolution

An audio comparison of XB360 vs PS3

(from MSDN Channel 9)

Another comparison (podcast) of XB360 & PS3
By Minh
via Major Nelson
This is a special blogcast that is an interview with Michael and Bruce from the Xbox Advanced Technology Group. That is the team that authored the Xbox 360 vs PS3 report that has caused quite the uproar in the gaming community. In this blogcast, Michael and Bruce address some of the questions that people have posted on this blog, as well as explain more of the inner workings of the Xbox 360.
Warning: Parts of this blogcast get extremely technical.
Xbox 360 vs PS3 blogcast in MP3 format 19:55 (6.84 Mb)

You gotta see these PS3 Game Demos ...

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/killzone2/media.html

Among all of them, KillZone is definitely the most impressive, I just cant believe that is realtime ... gotta be pre-rendered ... time will tell ...

-- amr

E3 2005: PS3 Official

More details at IGN:
PlayStation 3: E3 2005: PS3 Official

Specs:

CPU
Cell Processor
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS

GPU
RSX @550MHz
1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines

Sound
Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell- base processing)

Memory
256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

System Bandwidth
Main RAM 25.6GB/s
VRAM 22.4GB/s
RSX 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB< 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

System Floating Point Performance
2 TFLOPS

Storage
Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1

I/O
USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1
SD standard/mini x 1
CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1

Communication
Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

Controller
Bluetooth (up to 7)
USB 2.0 (wired)
Wi-Fi (PSP)
Network (over IP)

AV Output
Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI: HDMI out x 2
Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1

Disc Media
CD PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DualDisc, DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)

DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW

Blu-ray Disc: PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE

What the Xbox 360 is Not : Gizmodo

What the Xbox 360 is Not : Gizmodo

Nintendo Revolution No Taller Than Three DVD Cases : Gizmodo

Nintendo Revolution No Taller Than Three DVD Cases : Gizmodo

Boing Boing: PSP will only run apps that Sony has signed -- Sony shooting self in head

Boing Boing: PSP will only run apps that Sony has signed -- Sony shooting self in head

Boing Boing: Car modded to control a PC with windscreen display

Boing Boing: Car modded to control a PC with windscreen display

Boing Boing: Katamari ball of real junk to be built at next E3

Boing Boing: Katamari ball of real junk to be built at next E3

Xbox 360 Details ....

Ok, first watch this nice video clip by the Xbox360 design team:

http://msxb.wmod.llnwd.net/a274/o2/ourcolony/TheColony_v1_750k.wmv




The details are:

Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU
• Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each
• Two hardware threads per core; six hardware threads total
• VMX-128 vector unit per core; three total
• 128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread
• 1 MB L2 cache

CPU Game Math Performance
• 9 billion dot product operations per second

Custom ATI Graphics Processor
• 500MHz processor
• 10 MB of embedded DRAM
• 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically scheduled shader pipelines
• Unified shader architecture

Polygon Performance
• 500 million triangles per second

Pixel Fill Rate
• 16 gigasamples per second fill rate using 4x MSAA

Shader Performance
• 48 billion shader operations per second

Memory
• 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM
• 700 MHz DDR
• Unified memory architecture

Memory Bandwidth
• 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
• 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM
• 21.6 GB/s front-side bus

Overall System Floating-Point Performance
• 1 teraflop

Storage
• Detachable and upgradeable 20GB hard drive
• 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM
• Memory Unit support starting at 64 MB

I/O
• Support for up to four wireless game controllers
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• Two memory unit slots

Optimized for Online
• Instant, out-of-the-box access to Xbox Live features with broadband service
• Built-in Ethernet port
• Wi-Fi ready: 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g
• Video camera ready

Digital Media Support
• Support for DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW,
CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD
• Ability to stream media from portable music devices, digital
cameras and Windows XP-based PCs
• Ability to rip music to the Xbox 360 hard drive
• Custom playlists in every game
• Built-in Media Center Extender for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
• Interactive, full-screen 3-D visualizers

High-Definition Game Support
• All games supported at 16:9, 720p and 1080i, anti-aliasing
• Standard-definition and high-definition video output supported

Audio
• Multichannel surround sound output
• Supports 48KHz 16-bit audio
• 320 independent decompression channels
• 32-bit audio processing
• Over 256 audio channels

System Orientation
• Stands vertically or horizontally

Customizable Face Plates
• Interchangeable to personalize the console

Video Games makes us handle more info and syntehsize more complex data.

Good Morning Silicon Valley: Your GPA and SATs look good, son, but that "Super Monkey Ball" score needs to come way up: "Mike Antonucci of the Mercury News reports that there's a growing wave of research and firsthand reports about children, parents, workers, corporations and even medical patients experiencing notable benefits from computer or video games."

New Xbox details leak out ahead of launch on Yahoo! News

New Xbox details leak out ahead of launch on MTV: "Extensive details of Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) newest video game console leaked out on the Internet on Monday, three days ahead of the console's formal worldwide unveiling on MTV.
Based on pictures and purported eyewitness accounts that made the rounds of the Internet over the weekend, the console will be known as 'Xbox 360.'"

Live Xbox 360 shot! - Engadget - www.engadget.com /

Live Xbox 360 shot! - Engadget - www.engadget.com /: "Live Xbox 360 shot!"

Wired News: Violent Game Ban Advances

Wired News: Violent Game Ban Advances: "California lawmakers reconsidered and approved a bill in committee on Thursday that would ban the sale of violent video games to minors."

Sony contest for Antonia Bayle look-a-like (Everquest Babe: Queen of Qeynos)

CNET News.com: Know anyone who looks like the 'Everquest' babe?

PS3 Claimed to be 3x Faster Than Xbox 360

PS3 Three Times Faster Than Xbox 360? and Other Gossip: PS3 Stories : Kotaku

Queen of Quake to Make Men Weep at E3

(Click here for more details)

Researchers Looking for MMO Players : Kotaku

Researchers Looking for MMO Players : Kotaku

The State of PSP Piracy: Ahoy, World! : Gizmodo

The State of PSP Piracy: Ahoy, World! : Gizmodo

Katamari Damacy sequel

I love any game that is original, that is something new that nobody did before.
Katamari falls under this category. Very happy that a sequel is in the works.

Boing Boing: Katamari Damacy sequel in depth

The Pirates of World of War Craft ...

Boing Boing: Pirate MMO clan freaks out monitor with yarrrs - Updated Link

Clownterstrike: a funny clown based mod for UT2004 ...

worth checking out:

Boing Boing: Clownterstrike: clown-based first-person-shooter without guns: "Clownterstrike"

Playing Games = Higher IQ ... !

A funny posting from Boing Boing ....

Boing Boing: Do games and bad UIs account for rising IQs?

Ouch: EA profit plunges 91% for quarter

Shares of the world's biggest video game publisher plummeted 11 percent in late trading Tuesday and 7 percent in early trading today. ``We are in a challenging period,'' said Warren Jenson, EA's chief financial officer, in a conference call. ``It's a period of significant risk, and a period of significant opportunity.'

Read more details at:

MercuryNews.com | 05/04/2005 | EA profit plunges 91% for quarter

Bungie to reset all Halo2 stats tomorrow (Wed May 4th)

They will reset all stats and add the new maps to the matchmaking cycles. They will also add a "Double Team" playlist for 2vs2, and a "Team Preview" playlist for the Turf and Sanctuary premium maps.

Read more at:

Bungie.net : Top Story

Gates says Xbox 2 will beat Sony

Interesting Article from BBC Tech News:

BBC NEWS | Technology | Gates says Xbox 2 will beat Sony