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Forget HDMI and DisplayPort -- Kleer and USB now vying for that HDTV link
Ugh, is DRM coming to shackle USB too? You betcha. The USB Implementer's Forum is planning to rollout a variant of tethered USB in 2008 to carry compressed high-def video between TVs and mobile devices. It appears unrelated to USB 3.0 and targets both laptops and personal media players -- however you might choose to define that. A spokesman for the organization said that developers "could layer HDMI's HDCP encryption on top." So it's not definite. But with the studios fighting hard to "protect" their content, well, it's a given that some form of DRM will be there. The new USB linkage is meant to complement HDMI which primarily carries uncompressed video between living room A/V equipment... and an increasing number of media-centric laptops. Thing is, DisplayPort, expected to make a big showing at CES in January, already comes with a slathering of HDCP and is the purported VESA standard for moving HDTV from your laptop to a digital television. To confuse matters more, Kleer Corp is also working on a mid-2008 wireless and wired technology for carrying SD video based on its existing wireless audio technology. Proof that the best part about having standards is that there are so many to choose from.
Atlus goes dungeon crawling for the Wii, PS2
When the chips are down and creativity's glass feels half empty, we know we can always look to the mavericks at Atlus to come up with something just a hair shy of normal for an experience that is, if anything, unique. With surgery sim Trauma Center: New Blood's release sewn up and a pair of Japanese-style strategy RPGs for the Xbox 360 on the way, Atlus is one of the last remaining 'garage bands' of video game publishing. Now the company has announced its next project, namely a dungeon crawl-style action RPG called Baroque, describing the game as "hardcore" and "a pure RPG experience" for both the mini-game addled Wii and aging PS2. With an art style that is all its own, Baroque is set for release on both consoles in February, and is a remake of Japanese dev Sting's Saturn/PlayStation original, no doubt throwing yet another log on the fire for those weary of the Wii's growing catalog of last-gen ports. For us, we're just more interested in finding out what a trek through a post-apocalyptic dungeon has to do with excessively intricate art. Color us intrigued.
Rumor: PSP Silent Hill being ported to PS2
So get this: Konami made a (by most accounts) pretty good game called Silent Hill Origins for the PSP, and according to a Kotaku tipster, the company will be moving the game to the PS2 in March 2008! Making a port of a decent game from a well-regarded franchise for a system with 120 million units sold worldwide, can you believe it? ... Yes, so can we.As we said, this hasn't been confirmed by Konami, but it seems like one of two things would be happening right now. Either they are porting SHO to the PS2, or they've seen this story on the internet, fired the guy in charge of thinking of things like this and are in the preliminary stages of porting SHO to the PS2. Either way, we'd bet that you'll hear more about it soon.
How Okami got to the Wii
Christian Svensson, Capcom's VP of Strategic Planning and Business Development, posted on the Capcom blog about the process by which a PS2 non-starter ended up being earmarked for a high-profile Wii port. Really, it makes total sense to people like us, but on the face of it, porting a poor-selling game like Okami is kind of strange business.But as Svensson tells it, the Okami Wii port is born almost entirely out of fan demand. After seeing the outcry for a Wii version (before, during, and after the original game's release), Svensson started discussing the idea with Capcom in Japan. They realized that a release of the game on a system that was not at the end of its lifecycle may do better, and decided it may be a good move to give Clover's adventure another shot.We love getting to look behind the curtain a bit at the inner workings of game companies. The post actually goes into a bit of detail about dealing with Ready at Dawn and the state of Okami's code.
Aspyr delays Guitar Hero III, they are now dead to me
Man, remember how excited we were that Guitar Hero III was coming to the Mac at a reasonable time? Yeah, well, guess what. Aspyr has no love for Mac owners. Our friends at Joystiq say that while the PC version is sitting happily on shelves, we're still waiting on the Mac version. "Later this year," Aspyr says. I'll believe it when I see it.I don't want to get off on a rant here, but who the hell put Aspyr in charge of Mac gaming anyway? Their incompetence has reared its ugly head time and time again. They deliver late, buggy ports all the time, and yet game companies still seem to flock to them for development and publishing jobs.There is something rotten in the state of Mac gaming, and it is Aspyr Media. Have they ever kept a promise for release? Have they ever delivered a worthy, on-time port? Or have they continually and constantly profited off of placing junk on Apple Store shelves, forever confining Macs to the bottom of the list for gaming platforms? I won't tell you what to buy, but I'm done seeing Aspyr's name on Mac games. Until they show that they actually have the capacity to release a game that even slightly compares to the PC release version (or even shows up on time -- I'd settle for punctuality at this point), the Aspyr name is a complete dealbreaker for me in terms of both interest and purchases. As far as I'm concerned, they're out.
Capcom ensures a port-filled future with RE4
Capcom released a statement today congratulating themselves for the awesome sales of their Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition. They claim to have shipped over one million copies of the survival-horror game worldwide. Of course, 'shipped' does not mean 'sold', but we can at least assume that the majority of these discs have found their way into homes, unless Capcom 'shipped' a few hundred thousand copies into their own Sales Inflation Warehouse.This should remove any lingering doubt as to the motivation behind the Okami port, since Capcom has discovered that old games can do excellent business on the Wii, while saving on annoying costs like development. We should look forward to the inevitable rush of PS2 and Wii ports, as companies mine every old game that seems the least bit viable. And also Ninjabread Man.
Xantech lets loose slew of HDMI products
Yeah, we saw plenty of HDMI sockets while cruising through Gefen's booth at CEDIA, but now Xantech is apparently looking to hop in the HDMI accessory biz head first. The company has recently announced that it will soon be delivering a full line of HDMI and HDMI-compatible products, which will include "cables, switchers, splitters, extenders and boosters." More specifically, customers can look forward to HDMI 4x4 ($2,500), 4x1 ($500) and 3x1 ($325) Switchers, HDMI 1x4 / 1x2 splitters, a $250 HDMI Signal Booster, a point-to-point HDMI / CAT 5 extender, and a bevy of cables to boot. Hit the read link for the full rundown.
Crestron's CEDIA booth tour
Crestron's booth was rivaled in size only by the likes of Sony and AMX, and while the bulk of the exhibit dealt with highly technical home automation, it was the programmable remotes, HD media distribution systems, digital video processors, and media server integration that tickled our fancy. Granted, a good deal of Crestron's booth wasn't exactly aimed at the consumer market, but if you categorize yourself as high-end, chances are you'd find a good bit of this stuff useful. You know the deal, click on into the gallery.%Gallery-7145%
Gefen's CEDIA booth tour
Thankfully, it looks like Gefen has stepped up its efforts since exhibiting at last year's CEDIA, and this year's display was larger, much more organized, and actually up on the top (read: main) floor. Granted, most of the gizmos there have been around the block a time or two, but it was definitely pushing wireless HDMI by utilizing the technology on its wall-hung displays.%Gallery-7093%
Meridian's iRIS iPod dock upscales videos to 1080p via HDMI
If you're having a flash of déjà vu, fret not, as this device certainly isn't the first from Meridian to output 1080p content from your iPod. Unveiled today, the iRIS universal dock for iPod claims to pump out your stored videos in resolutions as high as 1080p via HDMI, all thanks to the "high-end video upconversion processing." Of course, we're admittedly skeptical about how well this thing truly walks the talk, but nevertheless, users who opt for component outs instead of HDMI can purportedly witness 720p / 1080i content straight from their Pod. Notably, the Qdeo technology is said to "further incorporate advanced DSP for per-pixel, motion-adaptive video processing that corrects both color and contrast losses," and while there's no word on whether this thing plays nice with the new family of iPods, users will enjoy the coaxial / optical audio outputs, headphone and line-level outs, and the HDMI input for external sources. We know you're intrigued, so look for this bad boy to land in November for $379.
IOGEAR intros USB-IF certified wireless USB hub
IOGEAR has launched its new Wireless USB (W-USB) hub and adapter kit, a combination of a receiving / transmitting base, and dongles which allow USB devices to communicate with the hub. Although we've seen a slew of these devices before (Belkin and Gefen's entries spring to mind), this is the first that we know of to be certified by the USB-IF, or USB Implementers Forum, which is basically the MPAA of USB devices... er, without the ratings. Regardless, the little package can get your USB devices to suddenly start rocking cable-free transfers at 480Mbps from 30-feet away, which should appeal to those of us looking for less clutter, USB-IF-blessed or not. The kit, which contains the base, antenna, power supply, and one adapter is available now for $199.99.
Accell launches UltraAV 1-2 HDMI Splitter
Yeah, there's already a number of devices on the market to split that HDMI signal, say, ten different ways, but for those just needing a traditional 1-to-2 split, Accell's got you covered. The UltraAV 1-2 HDMI Splitter, set to be exhibited at CEDIA, allows a "single HDMI audio / video source to send an audio / video signal to two devices." The wee box handles resolutions up to 1080p, can be daisy-chained to play with more than two displays, supports HDCP, but isn't marked as being HDMI 1.3-compliant. 'Course, the respectable $119.99 pricetag may be low enough to win you over, anyway.
HDMI 1.3 not living up to its promise?
One of the benefits in going from HDMI 1.2 to 1.3 is support of Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio streams. The idea goes something like this -- you get your HDMI 1.3 compliant player (HD DVD or Blu-ray flavor), hook it up to your new HDMI 1.3 processor/receiver, and bask in the glory of reference quality audio. The reality? Not so clear. It turns out that at least some standalone players don't support the HDMI 1.3 specification fully, and skimp on streaming these formats either naively or in a PCM format, just like PS3 owners found for DTS HD. Technically, that's fair - manufacturers are not required to implement the full HDMI 1.3 specification to wear the HDMI 1.3 badge. But wasn't HDMI supposed to reduce confusion among consumers? The HDMI Learning Center suggests that "... consumers should ensure that their playback device ... is capable of decoding these new lossless Dolby & DTS audio formats ..." Caveat emptor, friends.
Aspyr porting Neverwinter Nights 2
Aspyr, maker of many Mac game ports, has confirmed they're working on a port of Neverwinter Nights 2 for the Mac. The game features straight-up D&D action in the Forgotten Realms setting, and while not quite as critically acclaimed as Neverwinter Nights (that one was made by Bioware, after all), it did grab a pretty respectable rating of 82 over on Metacritic.There is one problem-- the toolset that players can use to create their own content which came with the PC version won't actually be ported to Mac (more evidence that we're getting leftovers). Those of us who buy NWN2 on the Mac will still be able to play that created content, and join up to all the persistent world servers players have put together (and some of that stuff is pretty cool). No release date yet, but we'll keep you posted.[via MacBytes]
Sony's ES receiver lineup handles multizone HD streaming, iPods
Those in the market for a receiver that can handle the latest and greatest ought to look Sony's way, as the firm's revamped ES lineup not only plays nice with your iPod, but it's the first from Sony that can distribute high definition content to a second room. The STR-DA5300ES, STR-DA4300ES, and STR-DA3300ES 7.1-channel devices all offer seamless (albeit optional) iPod integration, and the onboard Digital Media Port allows users to add other accessories such as a WiFi client for streaming digital music, a Bluetooth receiver, or a Network Walkman docking station. You'll also find 1080/60p and 24p support, 1080p upconverting, Sirius / XM compatibility, and a variety of internal amplifier ratings depending on model. All three of Sony's latest AV components will be available before October, and while the low(er)-end DA3300ES will check in at a cool grand, the DA4300ES will demand $1,300 while the DA5300ES runs $1,700.[Via Electronista]%Gallery-5193%
Secret Collect. reveals itself on the DS
Just when you think we've established what the Nintendo DS is capable of graphics-wise, homebrew developer Phillip Bradbury comes along and smashes those preconceptions with a Videlectrix port for the ages. If you thought Population: Tire shook the scene with its innovative touchscreen controls, prepare to be brought to your knees by Secret Collect. Epic in every sense of the word, this remake is half Indiana Jones, half God of War The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time:"The greatest secrets man has ever known have been scattered all over the globe and its [sic] your job to find them."Homestar Runner's Strong Bad stars in the game, represented by a magnificently detailed, red square. You'll navigate the agile hero through fifteen blocky mazes and collect yellow squares to advance to the next spine-tingling level. Picking up the blue power-ups (also squares) will boost your speed, keeping you ahead of the labyrinths' treacherous monsters -- so treacherous, they're invisible to the naked eye! The original Flash version is also available online for those of you who either lack the tools to play homebrew games or don't have enough room on your hard drive for the 18KB download.
Rygar screens: remember the game for the first time
We liked Rygar: The Legendary Adventure enough to want to at least look at the Wii version. We hate to admit it and indirectly support port-dumping, but messing with the yo-yo-like Diskarmor was pretty neat on a regular controller, and we kind of think it mightb be worth trying with the Wiimote. Famitsu uploaded some new screenshots of the game, all of which highlight the bizarre and absolutely non-Rygar-like character design.Famitsu actually found the new content in the game, outlining the new Wiimote-based "Muscle Mode," a battle arena where you slice tons of monsters with your Diskarmor using motion controls. You can slam the Diskarmor into the ground, generating a quake. You can also swing it around horizontally and create a sonic boom, or perform a sort of Diskarmor stab in which the Diskarmor shoots directly forward at high speed.
Mazes of Fate getting ported from GBA
We're pretty inured to this kind of thing on the Wii, although we still enjoy getting outraged about it now and then. But now we're starting to see last-gen ports on the DS! Sure, we have the Phoenix Wright games already, but they totally get a pass since the ports are new to the US and Europe. RPGLand reports that Mazes of Fate, the first-person dungeon crawler developed by Argentina's Sabarasa Entertainment, is being prepared for a DS release by publisher Signature Devices and their in-house developer Graffiti Entertainment. Unlike Phoenix Wright, the GBA version of Mazes of Fate did come out in the US-- in December of last year. The DS is a good system for dungeon games, with its map-displaying second screen, and Graffiti is adding new dungeons, characters, and some touch-screen stuff. If you don't already have the game, this is the one to get. Or if you have a DS Lite and you get really embarrassed about the GBA protuberance.
Project Rygar not as big a project as we thought
We were very excited about the prospect of a new Rygar game on the Wii. Whipping the Diskarmor around sounds like one of those things that would naturally be perfect for the Wiimote. And we thought, based on the brand-new character art and the title-- Project Rygar-- that we were in for some big new stuff. After all, if it's a "Project," that means it's a pretty intensive undertaking, right? One that takes a lot of time and effort on Tecmo's part?Yeah, it's a port of the PS2 game Rygar: The Legendary Adventure. The one from 2002. That's a little depressing! But hey, if it helps, the PS2 game was a fairly competent Devil May Cry-alike. And Tecmo is promising new content in the form of the newly-designed main character and, more significantly, a new Wiimote-friendly battle mode.[Via NeoGAF]
Shuttle's XPC SG33G5 hearts HD, touts HDMI port
Before Shuttle goes and entertains any potential bids to sell itself, it's answering the demands of HTPC admirers hankering for a small-form-factor barebones system that integrates well into an AV setup. The SG33G5, straight from the egotistical Glamor series, sports an Intel G33 Bearlake chipset, 250-watt power supply, supports Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad Intel CPUs, handles up to 4GB of RAM, and features the company's own I.C.E. cooling technology. Furthermore, you'll find a PCI Express slot, Intel's GMA 3100 graphics set (weak, we know), 7.1-channel audio, Dolby Digital / DTS support, gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, SATA compatibility, VGA output, and the obligatory HDCP-compatible HDMI port. Of course, picking up a quasi-stripped box in order to snag the HD DVD / Blu-ray drive of your choice won't come cheap, as the currently available SG33G5 will set you back a whopping €303 ($405) right from the start.[Via PCLaunches]
