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 Gameguru Mania News - May,31 2001 - tech 
Matrox Screws Win2k Users - tech
(hx) 09:00 PM CEST - May,31 2001 - Post a comment
Matrox has decided to cancel all development on Win2k drivers for Marvel G200, Marvel G400, and Rainbow Runner G-series capture cards.
"After months of development work, we have come to the conclusion that it will not be possible to offer any stable support for MJPEG under Win 2K due to the complexity of the MJPEG format and the OS itself, and thus we have abandoned the effort. Matrox will provide a suite of display drivers and video tools supporting TV tuning, 2D, 3D, DualHead and DVD..." [more]
All Code DVD Card for PS2 ! - tech
(hx) 02:13 PM CEST - May,31 2001 - Post a comment
An Asian firm has released a new peripheral for PlayStation 2 called All Code DVD Card, which allows PS2 users to play DVD movies from all regions. There are two versions of the DVD Card, one is for PS2 model SCPH-10000 to 15000, another one is for SCPH18000 - 30000. The package comes with a special Memory Card and CD software to bypass the DVD movie lockout protections. [magicbox]
 Gameguru Mania News - May,24 2001 - tech
Xbox Packaging & Peripherals - tech
(hx) 07:31 PM CEST - May,24 2001 - Post a comment
Aside from playable Xbox kiosks, Microsoft had several different displays setup within their booth at E3. One of the more intriguing ones concerned the retail presence of the Xbox including associated peripherals and software packaging designs. A full diagram detailing prospective add-ons and with software cover art was shown. Below are pictures from the display, though pricing details for individual components remains undisclosed. [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - May,23 2001 - tech
Inside the Xbox GPU - tech
(hx) 06:21 PM CEST - May,23 2001 - Post a comment
Microsoft has often emphasized the power of the Xbox's Nvidia-designed graphics chip, code-named the NV2A. However, there have been varying reports as to whether the Xbox chip is derived from the Nvidia's most recent PC graphics chip, the GeForce3 (known internally as the NV20), or a future design, the NV25. Microsoft has previously stated that the NV2A is closely related to the NV25, but Nvidia representatives close to the engineering teams have told GameSpot otherwise.
In fact, the NV2A is a faster GeForce3 with one major addition to the hardware: a second vertex shader pipeline. Since the chip design was recently finalized for production, Nvidia could confirm that it will run at the faster speed of 250MHz. This puts the pixel fill rate at 1,000 megapixels and the texture fill rate at 2,000 megatexels--much lower than the Microsoft's original official spec of over 4,000 megapixels and 4,000 megatexels, but fill rate isn't the most important spec. Fill rate is not a determining factor because, as a console, the Xbox is naturally destined to run at the low resolution of consumer TVs. Also, most of the Xbox's special capabilities, such as vertex shaders or full-scene antialiasing, occur at different points in the pipeline and are not at all dependent on fill rate. More important is the NV2A's bandwidth to the 64MB of shared memory. The memory in the console is 200MHz double-data rate (DDR) SDRAM, which provides a maximum of 6.4GB per second of throughput to both the CPU and graphics chip. The custom CPU uses up to 1GB per second of this shared bandwidth. This leaves less headroom than the GeForce3 has with its 7.36GB per second bandwidth, but again television's lower display resolution means this should be plenty. The shared memory design also avoids the bottlenecks PC developers see when sending a lot of data from a PC's main memory over the AGP bus to the graphics card. [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - May,19 2001 - tech
Olitec Launches V92 Modem - tech
(hx) 11:48 PM CEST - May,19 2001 - Post a comment
Olitec is among the first manufacturers to unleash a V92 ready modem. The Speed'Com V92 ready brings to the V90 standard new advantages like an enhanced upload transfer rate (48Kbps instead of 33.6Kbps for 56k modems), an immediate connection to the net thanks to QuickConnect that reduces connection time (up to 40% faster to get connected than with a 56k modem), and the support for call alert: you can now receive phone calls while you surf the net (while you speak to your correspondent the net connection is pending). Finally due to a new compression algorithm loading HTML pages is up to 30-40% faster than before. The Olitec modem comes with fax support, answer phone machine, and a flash memory so you can update the firmware to add new features to your modem in the future. [more]
GameSpy preview Xbox Peripherals - tech
(hx) 05:20 PM CEST - May,19 2001 - Post a comment / read (1)
Power Pad
Racing Wheel
Light Gun
Before we get specific, while the Xbox proprietary controllers seemed pretty solid, a lot of thought and effort were put into each of these company's upcoming Xbox peripherals. The Xbox is going to dominate, plain and simple. While there will be a core audience for the Gamecube, the Xbox is going to pull a major piece of its audience from the established PC foundation and make a killing. I have no stake in Microsoft (damn), but the game's they had on hand r0cked, and they'll obviously play better if you've got the right stick.
GameShark's Xbox controllers looked pretty sleek (they come in multiple colors as well as translucent), and boast comfortable rubber grips, vibration feedback (different from force feedback in that it utilizes separate motors in stead of the standard cable-pull system for vibration), six analog action buttons, two analog shoulder triggers and an eight-way digital pad. All in all it's an appealing replacement or upgrade stick that should do you right. They've also got a wheel, a joystick, and a slew of cables ready to go. [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - May,10 2001 - tech
Powercolor: three new graphic cards - tech
(hx) 03:00 AM CEST - May,10 2001 - Post a comment
Powercolor has announced three new video cards based on the Nvidia chipset, one of them being a GeForce3.
GeForce3 GTS3 Chameleon(CGTS3 GeForce3): This is an ordinary GeForce3 based graphics card. The chip is clocked at 200Mhz and 64MB 128bit DDR SDRAM – at 460MHz. The card should start shipping in the nearest future.
CMX6P. This is a PCI card based on GeForce2 MX 400. It is equipped with 64MB 128bit memory. The working frequencies haven’t been revealed however they are supposedly equal to 175MHz and 166MHz correspondingly. There will be also a card version equipped with a TV-Out.
CMX2P. This is a PCI card based on GeForce2 MX 200. It is equipped with 32MB 64bit memory. The working frequencies haven’t been revealed however they are supposedly equal to 175MHz and 166MHz correspondingly. There will be also a card version equipped with a TV-Out. [m3dzone]
 Gameguru Mania News - May,08 2001 - tech
More PlayStation 2 Problems - tech
(hx) 02:21 PM CEST - May,08 2001 - Post a comment
Sony representatives went on record this morning following dozens of complaints regarding supposed defective copies of Gran Turismo 3. Sony claims the majority of the problems being reported are due to problems within the lens of the DVD-ROM drive within the PlayStation 2. Specifically, due to dust and using a variety of harmful cleaning solutions, the lens can become damaged and unable to effectively read DVD-ROMs. Despite the admission, Sony hasn't ordered a recall. Rather, they've offered customers in Japan the opportunity to send in their PlayStation 2 units and have the necessary parts replaced for 9,000 yen ($75). The repair process is said to take approximately one week. [coremagazine]
 Gameguru Mania News - May,02 2001 - tech
VIA C3 roadmap extended to 1.2GHz+ - tech
(hx) 10:59 PM CEST - May,02 2001 - Post a comment
VIA has updated its processor roadmap to confirm the arrival of the successor to Ezra, itself the follow-up to the current C3 - aka Samuel II. The new chip will take the C3 beyond 1GHz by debuting at 1.2GHz. The early details of Ezra suggested that it would be the chip to take the C3 line to speeds of over 1GHz. Ezra is due to ship next quarter at 850MHz, rising quickly to 950MHz and 1GHz. Ezra will contain 128KB of L1 cache and 64KB of on-die L2 cache. It will be fabbed at 0.13 micron. Its successor will not only offer higher clock speeds, but will ship with 256KB of on-die L2 and support for Intel's SSE instructions. It's scheduled to ship at the end of the year or early 2002. [more]
Xbox Hardware Complete - tech
(hx) 01:13 AM CEST - May,02 2001 - Post a comment
Microsoft has been hard at work completing the Xbox hardware and getting updated XDKs into developers hands before E3, and according to this official report, the hardware is ready. Jeff Henshaw, Executive Producer of the XDK committee, states that the "final" Xbox development kits should reach developers before E3 in mid-May. Henshaw's team was responsible for having the development hardware ready before E3 at a recent Microsoft Xbox meeting, and they succeeded. [msxbox]
 Gameguru Mania News - May,01 2001 - tech
New PlayStation 2 Expansion Memory Card - tech
(hx) 08:26 PM CEST - May,01 2001 - Post a comment
HKEms has released a new PlayStation 2 Expansion Memory Card, which allows you to instantly increase the capacity of your 8MB memory card by 2 to 4 times, simply by inserting the Sony 8MB card into the PS2 Expansion Memory Card, and then use the PS2 Expansion Memory Card just like a regular PS2 memory card. There are two models available: 16MB and 32MB.
GeForce 3 (ELSA Gladiac 920) Review - tech
(hx) 08:14 PM CEST - May,01 2001 - Post a comment
EuroGamer has written an in-depth review of NVIDIA's new GeForce 3, in this case an ELSA Gladiac 920 card. "Having used the GeForce 3 for quite a while now, along with a similar system using a Radeon 64Mb DDR, I can quite honestly say that I have noticed a difference, and disappointingly, it’s in the Radeon’s favour. Although the GeForce 3 definitely handles matters a lot better than the Radeon (and is the first graphics card on our testbed to run 3D action monster Tribes 2 flawlessly at high resolutions), its competitor from ATI just looks slightly sharper at times, and that sort of distinction is important. Using identical settings (1024x768x32 with 4xFSAA) and running Quake III Arena as a common example, the definition of the scene was simply superior on the ATI Radeon. Of course performance was in the GeForce 3’s favour (the Radeon was almost unusable with those settings in Quake III). Whether this makes a difference will have to be decided on a personal level, but if you need a more common benchmark (after all, most potential GeForce 3 buyers will already own NVIDIA cards), the visuals of the GeForce 2 GTS are pretty much of the same quality under certain circumstances as the GeForce 3. In terms of performance though as we have seen, the GeForce 2 gets beaten black and blue." [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - Apr,23 2001 - tech
VIA Issues – IDE and SoundBlaster Live - tech
(hx) 08:17 PM CEST - Apr,23 2001 - Post a comment
You may have read reports recently stating that there are issues with the VIA 686B Southbridge chip when using two ATA/100 hard disk with both set as Masters on the Primary and Secondary IDE ports. These reports also have indicated that this may involve the Creative SoundBlaster Live (SBL for short) or the SBL Value (SBLV).
The first reports seemed to come from the Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/) - a publication viewed by some as a ‘tabloid’ due to it’s sensationalism and quite often a lack of hard facts to back up their ‘news’ – but in this case pointed to an article located here: http://home.tiscalinet.de/au-ja/review-kt133a-1-en.html. This article did a pretty good job of pointing out what they had found, but still left quite a few questions unanswered. There have also been numerous posts on a number of newsgroups and sites around the Internet discussing the topic. What I haven’t seen is any data to back up the original article, but have noticed (and participated in) some heated discussions on the topic. One trend I have seen is that most are just passing judgment without having all the necessary information. Quite frankly I don’t feel that without a background in mainboard and/or chipset design we just can’t place the blame, particularly without all the data needed to do so. But we can look and see if it is truly an issue and what configurations cause it, also what might cure it. [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - Apr,15 2001 - tech
GeForce 3 and 3DMark2001 Performance Benchmarks - tech
(hx) 09:08 PM CEST - Apr,15 2001 - Post a comment
NV News has published a new set of GeForce 3 and 3DMark2001 performance benchmarks. "I've updated the GeForce3 preview to include benchmark results from MadOnion's 3DMark2001 benchmark. As you will see, the Game 1 and Game 3 tests are very processor intensive. However, in the Game 2 test, the GeForce3 is an equalizer and brings the performance of a measly Pentium 3-700MHz up to the level of a 1.3GHz Athlon" [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - Apr,02 2001 - tech
RumbleFX Forcefeedback Headphones Review - tech
(hx) 10:00 PM CEST - Apr,02 2001 - Post a comment / read (1)
The serious gamers are always looking for small and large ways to improve their gaming performance, notably the FPS crowd. The first person shooter game is particularly taxing on the reflexive abilities and impulsive accuracy of the player. We buy GeForce3s, PC150 memory, an optical mouse, all to make the gaming environment respond better to us through better frame rates/input. But there’s still something missing, since less is done to make the player respond better to the gaming environment through output. The goal of RumbleFX Force Feedback Headphones is to respond to low frequency sound with heavy vibrations that the user will feel on their ears and head, thus utilizing another human sense in the gaming environment. It's all another move towards realism. The press release explains that in gaming we already use two main senses, sight and hearing. They figure if we add "feeling" to the equation, it will make the user of the device respond to the environment a lot quicker and more accurately. [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,30 2001 - tech
Xbox Broadband Adapters - tech
(hx) 02:47 AM CEST - Mar,30 2001 - Post a comment
IGN has learned that the Microsoft booth will be putting an elephantine emphasis on broadband connectivity, with large amounts of signage highlighting the system’s ability to connect to the outside world. While few details were given regarding the actual usage of broadband, Microsoft was showing off two types of broadband adapters. Xbox users will be able to select from either ADSL or Optical Broadband models, which come in black and gray, respectively. The Optical model is marked with a 10 Mbps upload/download speed, and both bear colored lights for Power, Fiber, LAN, and Alarm. [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,24 2001 - tech
PlayStation2 Net-Z Unveiled - tech
(hx) 02:42 AM CET - Mar,24 2001 - Post a comment
Proksim Software has begun exhibiting a PlayStation2 version of their networking engine for multiplayer online games, Net-Z, at the Game Developers Conference. Built upon Proksim's patent-pending, cell-based Duplicated Objects technology, Net-Z includes a number of features for increasing the overall performance of a networked game, including advanced data extrapolation and anticipation techniques for optimizing the use of bandwidth, by sending less data over the network. Net-Z also provides game developers with tools for effectively combating the effects of latency, a prime cause of slower play on the Internet. [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,21 2001 - tech
SharkPort In-depth - tech
(hx) 04:04 AM CET - Mar,21 2001 - Post a comment
How can kids download GS codes from a site and use their SharkPort to upload them to their Dongle?
"They'll simply come to www.gameshark.com, find the game title they wish to acquire new codes for and look in the "Code Save" section of that title. After the code save is downloaded, they will simply need to click the "Import" button and choose "Browse For Game Saves" using the SharkPort software. When the user selects the newly downloaded code save, it will be immediately imported to their GS2 dongle. Codes and titles are not overwritten, they are merely updated to the GS2 Dongle. EXAMPLE: If I have codes 2 codes for Tiger Woods 2001 already entered into my GS2 and I download the most recent Tiger Woods 2001 code save file, the 2 codes entered into my GS2 will not be lost. Instead of having 2 codes, I will have the 2 codes I entered previously plus the latest codes from the imported .gsc file. Also, if I entered Tiger Woods PGA 2001 into my GS2 as "TW PGA 2001", and I imported the .gsc file from www.gameshark.com, I would end up with 2 entries for Tiger Woods PGA 2001. The first would be "TW PGA 2001" (the one I manually entered), and "Tiger Woods 2001" (the way it was named in the .gsc file). " [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,19 2001 - tech
Gamestock: Controller/Console Analisys - tech
(hx) 12:38 AM CET - Mar,19 2001 - Post a comment
The controller has certainly been a source of debate since it was first shown at the CES earlier this year. Concerns were raised about its size and shape as well as the buttons layout and feel. For simplicity's sake, I will be talking about these one at a time.Size/Shape:"Comfortable! Both the outside curves of the controller as well as the depth of the handles fit my hands perfectly. The first time I held the controller I immediately noticed that my thumbs fell perfectly over the left analog stick and right buttons without any need to adjust or contort my grip. As for any complaints about its size (considering the target audience's age and that modifications will be made for Japan) I noticed no reason to be alarmed as it in no way feels bulky and the weight was correctly balanced. In fact, once I started playing, I had to remind myself to take note of the controller for this review because there was almost no adjustment time." [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,16 2001 - tech
KYRO II Preview - tech
(hx) 04:31 PM CET - Mar,16 2001 - Post a comment / read (8)
Sharky Extreme has posted a preview of Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 KYRO ,the upcoming all-caps KYRO follow-up. For the past few years, Imagination Technologies has been employing a different means of delivering dashing 3D. However, problems have plagued various iterations of their PowerVR architecture up until recently. Be it buggy drivers, forgettable performance or tardy hardware releases, PowerVR was simply not compelling for the gaming enthusiast (unless you own a Sega Dreamcast - equipped with a second generation PowerVR processor). Determined to overshadow the bad press received by these previous products, VideoLogic and STMicroelectronics teamed up for the third incarnation of the PowerVR series, named KYRO. Clocked at a paltry 125MHz, nobody expected much from KYRO other than buggy drivers and poor availability. To the hardware community's surprise, KYRO gave NVIDIA's GeForce 256 a run for its money using nothing more than "old school" single data rate memory and that highly efficient rendering architecture. The phrase "work smarter, not harder" had been embodied.
Now, nearly a year later, STMicroelectronics has prepared the successor to the KYRO, aptly named KYRO II, and teamed up with graphics veteran Hercules to manufacture the 3D Prophet 4500. We flew to Phoenix, Arizona to cover the launch of the KYRO II and listen to what Hercules had to say about their newest product. Now, we've got one of these deceptively simple-looking boards in our lab to compare against the other mainstream solutions from the likes of NVIDIA and ATI. [more]
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,14 2001 - tech
3D Mark 2001 Released - tech
(hx) 01:42 AM CET - Mar,14 2001 - Post a comment
3D Mark 2001 has been released for your benchmarking and eyecandy needs. You will have to install DirectX 8 to run it. 3DMark2001 is a diagnostics tool for measuring the 3D game performance of PCs. It is entertaining and easy to use, which makes it "must have" software for all home PC users interested in 3D games. Even a beginner PC user can get a game performance measurement with 3DMark2001. For the more advanced users, 3DMark2001 offers a wide range of display settings and testing options for the benchmark run. The most skillful performance tweakers can get the latest news on PC performance upgrading through MadOnion.com's on-line services. There you can also challenge the fastest PCs in the world and get good performance tuning advice in the discussion forum or the on-line chat. [download 39MB]
 Gameguru Mania News - Feb,28 2001 - tech
Geforce Tweak Utility 3.0 released - tech
(hx) 12:08 AM CET - Feb,28 2001 - Post a comment / read (1)
This program lets you make a lot of modifications to the registry settings of your Geforce. See the screen shot to get an idea of what you can tweak. This program works with the NVidia reference drivers: version 5.08 and later, ASUS drivers: the 5.16 or later drivers or, ELSA drivers: the latest drivers are based on the 5.xx NVidia drivers. [download 248kb]
 Gameguru Mania News - Feb,27 2001 - tech
GeForce3 Review + benchmarks - tech
(hx) 11:53 PM CET - Feb,27 2001 - Post a comment
Digit-Life has published a massive GeForce3 Review that includes benchmarks. "So, we have examined the latest GPU - the GeForce3 - from NVIDIA and tested several cards based on it in real and synthetical conditions. Yes, the GeForce3 based cards are samples but they 99% coincide with production cards, which will appear on shelves very soon. Of course, we are going to properly examine production boards as well, and of course we are waiting for release drivers for the GeForce3. Later, we are going to publish some more reviews on the GeForce3. And do read our 3Digest where now you will find also the NVIDIA GeForce3" [more]
3D Prophet III announced - tech
(hx) 09:42 PM CET - Feb,27 2001 - Post a comment
Hercules is proud to unveil today a major milestone for hardcore gamers - the release of 3D Prophet III. This latest graphic card from Hercules offers the most powerful and most fully featured graphics processor – NVIDIA’s GeForce3™. Hercules uses its expertise to push the new chipset architecture to its highest level. This new performance monster gives the most demanding gamers the opportunity to take advantage of professional graphics rendering. 3D Prophet III will be available in March for $ 529.99 (USD). [more]
John Carmack Q&A - tech
(hx) 12:51 AM CET - Feb,27 2001 - Post a comment
Edgegaming has a couple of quotes from The Carmack discussing the GeForce3.
Q: Do you think that the Geforce 3 has reached the limit where we can't get any better in quality? What is the next step?
John: We desperately need more color precision at each pixel. A typical rendered pixel in the new engine may be a composition of 20 textures, and every multiply in a graphics algorithm loses some precision in the final output. It is often possible to get output granularity worse than from a 16 bit image. Moving to 64 or 128 bits per pixel calculations is the most important thing for the next generation of cards.
Q: How does the GF3 compare to all other video cards on the market right now?
John: I haven't evaluated other aspects like 2D and video playback, and cost is definitely a factor, but from a pure 3D standpoint, it is just plain better at everything. [edgegaming]
 Gameguru Mania News - Feb,25 2001 - tech
GeForce 3 preview - tech
(hx) 06:48 PM CET - Feb,25 2001 - Post a comment
EuroGamer has posted a a preview of the recently announced GeForce 3. The truth of the matter is that the GeForce 3 is the true successor to GeForce. It’s a wholly new chip architecture, unlike the GeForce 2 GTS and latterly the GeForce 2 Ultra, which are effectively padded out versions of the original cards. The third iteration offers improved speed, stability and coming back to John Carmack again, “a ton of new features for programmers to play with”. GeForce 3 is powered by the new nVidia nfiniteFX(TM) engine, which allows programmers to write to and from the GPU using the Pixel Shader and Vertex Shader processor. In English, it allows them to create a virtually infinite number of special effects and custom looks, without having to rely on a preset palette of ideas. [more]
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