Week of February 10, 2002
Xbox Titles Enter the VSDA Charts
>> The Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) has announced the results of their VidTrac service for the week ending February 10th. Of course, PS2 tops the list, but it's nice to see Xbox moving into the charts with 4 entries - Blood Wake, Max Payne, Wreckless and Halo.
The top twenty-five renting games (USA Only) are as follows:
01 PS2-Grand Theft Auto 3
02 PS2-Max Payne
03 PS2-NBA 2K2
04 PS2-Final Fantasy X
05 PS2-Agent Under Fire
06 PS2-Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty
07 PS2-Salt Lake 2002
08 PS2-Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
09 PS2-NFL 2K2
10 PS2-Maximo: Ghost To Glory
11 PS2-WWF Smackdown Just Bring It
12 PS2-Burnout
13 PS2-Simpsons Road Rage
14 PSX-Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
15 XBOX-Blood Wake
16 PS2-Madden NFL 2002
17 PS2-Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies
18 XBOX-Wreckless: Yakuza Missions
19 PS2-SSX Tricky
20 XBOX-Max Payne
21 PS2-Spy Hunter
22 N64-Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
23 PS2-Smuggler's Run 2: Hostile Territory
24 XBOX-Halo: Combat Evolved
25 PS2-Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec
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(Saturday 16 February 2002 01:30 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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nVIDIA Reports Record Revenues
>> nVIDIA® Corporation reported on Tuesday record revenues and earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 and the year ended January 27, 2002.
"2001 was a defining year for nVIDIA," stated Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of nVIDIA. "Our technology leadership was exemplified by industry firsts in every market we serve, giving us excellent results in each of our businesses. This is a tribute to our employees’ focus and relentless execution and the strength of the nVIDIA business model."
Revenue rose to $499.9 million from $218.2 million in the same period of fiscal 2001, boosted by strong sales for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox game console, which uses a custom nVidia graphics chip. Revenue surged 35 percent from the prior, third period, as many other chip companies reported revenue that was either down or up only slightly on a sequential basis.
Actual net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 was $73.0 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, compared to actual net income of $31.1 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001.
Microsoft accounted for 17 percent of nVIDIA's fourth-quarter sales, or about $85 million, compared with 15 percent in the prior quarter. Even though Microsoft is accounting for a bit more of total revenue, the largest piece continues to come from its desktop graphics business, at about 75 percent.
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(Friday 15 February 2002 14:00 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Microsoft unleashes .NET game for developers
>> Microsoft has marked the launch of VisualBasic.NET by launching a special gaming competition for developers. Terrarium is a multiplayer ecosystem game based on the .NET framework.
The aim is to persuade experts to familiarise themselves with the firm's new web services tools. Players are invited to create their own creatures to fight for supremacy in a fantasy world. The dominant creature at the end of the three-week competition will win an Xbox and a five-day trip to New Orleans.
Each player must programme their creature to survive on their wits and instincts without any human intervention. To take part they needed to download the necessary tools from here: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/visualstudio/terrarium
Any of the languages within the VisualBasic.Net suite can be used.
Entries are invited until March 6.
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(Friday 15 February 2002 13:59 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Game Developers Choice Awards Nominees
>> The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has announced the nominees for the annual Game Developers Choice Awards. The event will be held at the Game Developers Conference March 19-23 in San Jose, CA.
Nominations for the awards were free and open to all professional game developers, regardless of membership or affiliation.
"Every year, the Game Developers Choice Awards recognizes the most innovative individuals and games in the industry," said Warren Spector, director of ION Storm Austin and IGDA board member. "The nominees represent what game developers consider to be the best in game development--the work they most admire and the efforts that are advancing the state of the art."
The nominees for this year's Game Developers Choice Awards include the following:
Game of the Year
Black & White (Lionhead Studios)
Grand Theft Auto III (DMA Design/Rockstar Games)
Halo: Combat Evolved (Bungie Studios)
Ico (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)
Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment)
Rookie Studio of the Year
Adrenium Games for Azurik: Rise of Perathia
Bohemia Interactive Studio for Operation Flashpoint
Croteam for Serious Sam
Pseudo Interactive for Cel Damage
TimeGate Studios for Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns
Original Game Character of the Year
Dante from Devil May Cry
Daxter from Jak & Daxter
Ico from Ico
Max Payne from Max Payne
Munch from Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Excellence in Audio
Erik Kraber and Jack Grillo for sound design in Clive Barker's Undying
Harry Gregson-Williams for composition in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Josh Randall for sound design in Frequency
Marty O'Donnell and team for sound effects in Halo: Combat Evolved
Thomas Engel for sound engineering in Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II
Excellence in Game Design
Fumito Ueda and team for game design in Ico
GTAIII team for gameplay in Grand Theft Auto III
Lorne Lanning and Chris Ulm for story/writing of Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Peter Molyneux and team for game design in Black & White
Shigeru Miyamoto and team for game design in Pikmin
Excellence in Level Design
Craig Filshie, William Mills, Chris Rothwell, and James Worrall for level design in Grand Theft Auto III
Fumito Ueda and team for level design in Ico
Ghost Recon team for level design in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Scott Campbell, Dave Jaffe, Kellan Hatch and team for level design in Twisted Metal: Black
Toshihiro Nagoshi and team for level design in Super Monkey Ball
Excellence in Programming
Kazunori Yamauchi and team for physics in Gran Turismo 3: A-spec
Andy Gavin for programming in Jak & Daxter
Jason Jones and team for programming in Halo: Combat Evolved
Richard Evans for artificial intelligence in Black & White
Sherman Archibald, John Carmack, and Ryan Feltrin for graphics in Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Excellence in Visual Arts
Dan Arey and Evan Wells for animation in Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Fumito Ueda and team for art direction in Ico
Kazunori Yamauchi and team for modeling in Gran Turismo 3: A-spec
Lorne Lanning and Farzad Varahramyan for art direction in Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Tetsuya Mizuguchi and team for art direction in Rez
Game Innovation Spotlights
Black & White (Lionhead Studios)
Cel Damage (Pseudo Interactive)
Frequency (Harmonix Music Systems)
Grand Theft Auto III (DMA Design)
Ico (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)
Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns (TimeGate Studios)
Majestic (Electronic Arts)
Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment)
Rez (United Game Artists)
Super Monkey Ball (Amusement Vision)
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(Thursday 14 February 2002 18:26 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Xbox to Japan
>> With less than 10 days to go, Xbox is set to light up the land of the rising sun and turn it all green.
Here are some pictures from the Tokyo Xbox eXPerience :
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(Wednesday 13 February 2002 17:42 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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DVD Tweak
>> ajtaji on the xboxhacker forums found out how to adapt your xbox dvd driver so it can read all cdr's!
Please note that this WILL void your warrenty and hasn't been tested enough yet to know all possible side-effects.
Check the DVD tweak here.
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(Tuesday 12 February 2002 10:46 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Immersion sues Sony and Microsoft
>> Immersion Corp., which develops technology that makes joysticks and video game pads vibrate and rumble, on Monday filed suit against Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. , claiming that elements of their video game consoles violate Immersion's patents.
The company said Sony's use of feedback in controllers for its PlayStation and PlayStation 2 console, and Microsoft's use of the same for its Xbox, violate Immersion's patents on its "haptic feedback" technology.
Based on the Greek word "haptesthai", meaning touch, haptic technology enables people to feel touch sensations while interacting with a digital display, like a computer screen and a hardware device such as a joystick or mouse. Immersion's haptic technology, brand-named TouchSense, enhances the user experience with sight, sound and touch simultaneously.
Immersion's technology is licensed extensively within the computing and entertainment industry. Immersion has expanded its licensees into the gaming console market with partners such as MadCatz, Saitek and others. These partners have developed more than 40 touch-enabled gaming peripherals currently shipping for the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation platforms.
A Sony spokesman was not immediately available for comment. A spokesman for Microsoft had not seen the suit and could not immediately comment.
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(Tuesday 12 February 2002 00:57 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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The truth about the Xbox's "name"
>> It doesn't have one. The developers of Halo made a rather novel use of the built-in nickname feature, which is really intended topopulate high-score lists and save-games (that is, you get a high score in game X and put your name in as "foo", and then when you play game Y and get a high score, it offers "foo" as the default name instead of something like "AAAAAAA").So, if your interest is in having your box show up in multi-player Halo as something other than "Walla-walla" or one of the other defaults supplied on the disc, you need to do something like get a high score in DOA3, which uses the nickname feature as originally planned.But it isn't your box's "name", and it won't get picked up by other games down the road. I haven't seen the certification requirements for games released for the official online service, but I'm betting that a consistent approach to system naming will be included when it matters.
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(Sunday 10 February 2002 19:48 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Decapsulating Xbox chips
>> Bunnie has updated his page with some new info. He has pictures of the dies of several Xbox chips:
My girlfriend and I spent friday night in the lab together (so romantic--she's cool like that :-) and have now decapsulated three of the chips on the xbox: the southbridge (MCPX-1), the GPU (NV2A), and the Celeron. They all look like...very modern chips (unfortuneately). In other words, the high-level metal power busses criss-cross the entirety of the chip, obscuring any of the otherwise "interseting" features underneath. I don't really feel like removing the passivation and metallization, so I'll leave them as such. I don't really see an obvious high-level metal ROM structure on the MCPX, but that was just a hope. :P The overlay ROM that is currently foiling efforts at decrypting/modifying the BIOS ROM is probably buried in the M1 or poly layers of the chip. Ah well...it was fun taking them apart anyways. Next step: tap the LDT bus...going for the minimum path of resistance with maximum enjoyment/fun factor... although tapping the SDRAM busses might be a more direct way of getting to the decrypted code, I really don't feel like soldering hundreds of wires to the board :)
I've had a request to trace the JTAG wires out to the nearest convenient holes or resistor pads. The image on the left shows the key JTAG pins broken out to a set of resistors near the processor. Unfortuneately, the TRST# signal is permanently tied to ground, at least on the board I have. I'm not too familiar with the JTAG spec, but this "optional" pin seems to cause the JTAG state machine to go into its reset state. It needs to be pulsed low on power-on, but pulling it permanently low (as it is on the XBOX) should permantently disable the JTAG bus. Perhaps this was intentional? Who knows....but near the JTAG pads I had called out in the left image, on the flip side of the board, there is this mysterious "hole" in a poured polygon plane which looks like someone deleted a test point or via at the last minute...perhaps Microsoft put some thought into making the box more hack-proof than first thought. You can see this "hole" on the right hand side image below. If you would like to use the JTAG bus, you could just drill out the TRST# signal (it's connected directly to an internal ground plane). This would disconnect the TRST# signal from ground; perhaps the JTAG state machine comes up in a recoverable manner upon power up even if TRST# is not pulsed low. ...good luck JTAG hackers...
Check Bunnie's Page for the full article & pictures.
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(Sunday 10 February 2002 19:44 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Tom Takes a Looks at Xbox
>> Tom's Hardware has an article up on Xbox in case you want to check it out.
Very constructive article , with alot of hardware specifications ... nothin' new thought.
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(Sunday 10 February 2002 19:37 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Nike Fights Sega
>> Nike Inc. has a message for video game publisher Sega of America and its recent basketball ads: Just don't do it.
The world's largest maker of athletic shoes and clothing, filed suit in federal court on Thursday against Sega and its advertising agency claiming their television ad featuring a shattering dunk shot was an unfair copy of an earlier Nike campaign starring basketball legend Michael Jordan.
In the suit filed in federal court in Oregon, Nike alleges that the commercial produced by Sega and Leagas Delaney Inc. to promote Sega's ``NBA 2K2'' basketball game is too similar to a Nike ad called ``Frozen Moment'' that depicted Jordan in slow motion.
``Sega has seen Nike's press release. However, to our knowledge, we have not yet received an official complaint from the company. Therefore, we can not discuss this legal issue at this time,'' a spokeswoman for Sega said.
A spokeswoman for San Franciso-based Leagas Delaney was not immediately available for comment.
Nike's suit claims copyright infringement and unfair competition. The Beaverton, Oregon-based company is asking for an injunction barring the ad from further airplay, an order impounding copies of the ad; and either damages for the alleged infringement or a royalty on every copy of the game sold.
Sega, a unit of Japan's Sega Corp. , released the game for Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 in January. A version for Microsoft Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) Xbox is set for release in March.
Nike's ``Frozen Moment'' ad, which ran from November 1996 to April 1997, shows Jordan in slow-motion as he drives to slam-dunk over the flat-footed Los Angeles Lakers defense.
In the ad, the world of onlookers is reduced to a kind of awe-struck slow-motion visual as they watch the amazing shot.
In fact, they became oblivious to events around them, returning to normal pace reality only when Jordan completes the dunk and the game returns to full speed.
A Nike-produced parody called ``Frozen Penny,'' depicting basketball player Penny Hardaway, appeared in late 1997.
Nike claims that Sega's ``NBA 2K2'' ad is ``a virtual scene-by-scene reenactment'' of ``Frozen Moment,'' including a slow-motion dunk by an animated ballplayer.
Instead of runners watching the game as they trot on treadmills, the Sega ad shows a hamster on a treadmill, transfixed by the televised game, Nike said.
Video game publishers have increasingly promoted their latest games, particularly sports titles, as being virtual mirrors of the real thing.
In a similar twist, Fox Sports has used Electronic Arts Inc.'s hit football game ``Madden 2002'' to illustrate plays on their Sunday morning pre-game NFL show.
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(Sunday 10 February 2002 19:26 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Amazon Sell Out of Xbox For Japan
>> In contrast to the FT report that Xbox is not setting the Japanese market on fire, Amazon.com has reported that the company has sold out its preorder allotment of Xbox for the Japanese launch in just a couple of hours - strikingly similar to the US launch in November.
Although no official number has been reported Amazon are also reporting brisk sales of DOA3 and the ever popular DVD kit.
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(Sunday 10 February 2002 19:16 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Microsoft Fired up For Console Wars
>> The FT are reporting that with just 15 days until a showdown with Sony and Nintendo on the game champions' home turf, Microsoft has launched a publicity offensive for its Xbox console in Japan. Immediately, it was apparent that the US software giant faces a battle in the world's second-largest games console market.
Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer, who flew in from Redmond for the occasion, says he is "super happy" with the reception Xbox is getting from Japanese gamers. But shop assistants say they have not been overwhelmed with orders for Microsoft's machine since they began taking reservations last weekend.
"Nobody really knows much about it," concedes one at Bic Camera, an electronics store in central Tokyo.
It is a far cry from the fervour met by Sony's Japanese launch of the PlayStation2 two years ago, when gamers flooded the company's website with so many orders that the server was overloaded. Within three days, Sony had shipped 720,000 units and it distributed 1m in the first two weeks.
The contrast could prove a telling indication of the challenges Microsoft will meet in Japan - home to one-third of the customers and a significant portion of the software developers in the $20bn global video game market.
While Microsoft needs to win over Japanese gamers to call its foray into gaming a global success, Sony, which has sold 25m PS2s, and Nintendo, which has sold 2.5m of its GameCube console, will not relinquish their lead without a fight.
Microsoft has come prepared. Its surprisingly strong US debut has left executives flush with confidence - it sold 1.5m machines by the end of the year, and 3.2 software titles for each box.
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(Sunday 10 February 2002 19:16 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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