Video Games

Quite recently, Microsoft released the official hardware configuration requirements of their Windows Vista OS (Operating System).  The demands are not unreasonable: a mere 800MHz CPU with 512MB of RAM is considered a “Capable” Vista system, and a 1GHz CPU with 1024MB of RAM is considered a “Premium” Vista system.  However, both the “Capable” and the “Premium” system configurations require a DirectX 9-compatible graphics card.  Other suggested hardware is a 40GB hard drive and DVD capability.

Joystiq advises: “If these specs leave you questioning your PC’s prowess, you can download Microsoft’s Vista Upgrade Advisor, which will help you determine the amount of bells and whistles your current system will support. The real question is, will Vista be gaming-ready? Stay tuned for more details on how the latest Vista beta runs today’s games.”

That’s right, Nokia is pulling their N-Gage off the market after its dissappointing market record. Because the sales have been paltry, Nokia will take their focus completely from the mobile gaming marketing sector… at least until 2007. In the meantime, however, Nokia plans on developing mobile music and mobile television. Furthermore, Nokia will be integrating “gaming software into Series 60 phones”, according to Antti Vasara, Nokia’s vice president for corporate strategy. And when 2007 rolls around, Vasara forsees that the improvement in screen-sizes and screen-quality will be great enough to make the mobile gaming a viable option once more for Nokia.

We know quite a bit about the Xbox 360, due to be released in exactly 4 days (Nov. 22), but what we don’t know for certain is even more interesting. Several important rumors, and many more facts, have surfaced concerning the Xbox 360.

1) The Xbox 360 has been rumored to feature in-game ads in order to subsidize costs. This rumor started when Bryan Lee, chief financial officer of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices subdivision, hinted the possibility of partial costs of the Xbox 360 being subsidized by ads, in certain extra-North American markets (yes, it’s quite vague).

2) The Xbox 360 has been rumored to support custom, in-game music . The rumor was specifically that

at any time, during any game, the player could access a custom music selection and stream it into the playing field. However, speaking at Atari’s GoPlay event in Lyon, an Eden Studios representative suggested that developers could control the use of custom music, just like on the original Xbox. He stated that Eden would not allow players to stream in their own music during the studio’s upcoming horror-themed action title, as doing so would ruin the ambience of the game.

This is a smart move for developers, and hopefully they will be equitable in their judgments concerning the extent to which the player is able to control his music.

3) The Xbox 360 will have a high-resolution software emulator, enabling the 360 to be backwards-compatible with many of the original Xbox games. Below is Halo 2 emulated on the Xbox 360:

4) Tying in with the last tid-bit, the Xbox 360’s software-emulator seems to be region specific, with the number of original titles supported on the 360 seemingly proportional to the general popularity of each region:

while the US Xbox 360 will be compatible with over 200 Xbox games right out of the box, […] the Japanese list featured a paltry 12 games. Do these number corollate with the popularity of the console in each region? It might appear that way, especially with the list of European Xbox games compatible with the 360, released today.

The list features 156 games - not as many as the US, but still 13 times the number of BC Japanese games. The list, as with all regions, will be constantly updated as they get more original Xbox titles to work on your 360.

It seems like Microsoft is trying to compensate for their overly generous Japanese Xbox 360 Lounge.

5) Here’s quite a negative rumor, and it’s a bit disappointing. “Every single Xbox 360 launch title is single threaded. Apparently during a talk on multithreaded programming, a Microsoft speaker mentioned that all first generation Xbox 360 games will not take advantage of the Xbox 360’s two other cores. This probably isn’t worrying Microsoft too much, since they’ve given developers plenty of time to perfect their games before the PS3 and Revolution launch sometime next year.” Despite that many preview screenshots of the launch titles are breathtaking, it’s troubling that the games could be, in theory, three times the quality. Here’s a few choice screenshots of launch titles:

Test Drive:

Madden:

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion:

Need For Speed:

6) So while the Xbox 360 seems to be the clear choice for any enthusiastic gamer, the NY Post (via Joystiq) gives 5 good reasons why not to buy the Xbox 360 on the launch day:

1) Too expensive. If you want backwards compatibility a la the hard drive, it’s gonna cost at least $400 bones.
2) Lack of games. Most console launches suffer from a lack of games, the 360 is no different.
3) Wait and see what the competition will do. Before you rush out and buy one, learn a little more about PS3 and Revolution. Also, a mini-price war is eminent.
4) Hidden costs. Don’t forget the cost behind an HD set and your Xbox Live monthly subscription.
5) Older consoles are not dead yet. The GameCube, PS2, and original Xbox still have and will continue to have quality games for at least 6 more months.

It should be noted that these reasons are applicable to any new console release in the video-game industry. Given that the 360 is a ground-breaking system, I feel that it would be money well spent for the hardcore gamer.

7) Microsoft has officially released the launch-titles in North America, so no more speculation! Here’s the big 18:

Amped 3 (2K Sports)
Call of Duty 2 (Activision Inc.)
Condemned: Criminal Origins (SEGA Corp.)
FIFA Soccer 06 Road to 2006 FIFA World Cup (Electronic Arts Inc.)
GUN (Activision)
Kameo: Elements of Power (Microsoft Game Studios & Rare Ltd.)
Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts)
NBA 2K6 (2K Sports)
NBA LIVE 06 (Electronic Arts)
Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)
NHL 2K6 (2K Sports)
Perfect Dark Zero (Microsoft Game Studios & Rare Ltd.)
Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Ubisoft)
Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft Game Studios & Bizarre Creations Ltd.)
Quake 4 (id Software and Activision)
Ridge Racer 6 (Namco Ltd.)
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06 (Electronic Arts)
Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland (Activision)

Here is the official European line-up.

8) Joystiq has covered the Xbox 360 allocations for Best Buy by store:

Wanna know how many Xbox 360s are coming to your local Best Buy? Find your store number(s) off Best Buy’s official store locator, then check out the list for the right store for you to camp out next to on the 22nd or 21st.

Of course, knowing how many units have been allotted to the store of your choice doesn’t guarantee you a system on launch day, but it is touching to know that being an official launch sponsor does indeed mean more boxes at launch than the other guys (up to possibly a tenth of total U.S. numbers).

So if these figures are correct, Best Buy’s getting 40,770 systems in the U.S. total, split exactly 70-30 among Pro and Core systems. And as for those few anomalous stores with at least 100 Pro and 30 Core units? Just those among the 12 Best Buys around the nation slated to open their doors at midnight to sell the 360

9) The ninth point on this list isn’t a rumor or detail; it’s a resource. For any fanatic willing to shell out the big bucks, eBay auctioneer richman723 is offering to “fly to your location, camp out for 24 hours in front of your local XBOX 360 retailer, and personally deliver the new game system to your front door on release day next week.” With one day till the auction closes, you’d better hurry down to your bank and make that bi-weekly deposit, because the auction is over $2,100. But if you’ve got the moolah and you’re too lazy to get one for yourself, richman723 is the man…

With all the previous details in mind, we can expect support for our High-Def TVs, control over what we listen (to some degree), and a plethora of other benefits. This will be unquestionably the biggest and most demanded gift of the holidays.

Now the PSP can be used for more than just gaming. For a low price of $19.95, you too can own the Sony PSP Media Manager. The Media Manager will allow any enthusiastic PSP-owner to transfer media to their PSP. Engadget reports:

There’s a two pane interface for viewing your respective PSP and PC files, and you can manage files on both systems, along with the required conversions, right in the app. Not much of the rumored Sony Connect support is mentioned, but you do get 5 free downloads with purchase of the $25 packaged version, which also includes a USB cable for data transfers.

I wonder when the PSP will go wireless.

That’s right, now you can look up the definition of that word that has been befuddling you all day! Operating from a new “touch dictionary” card, the software provides full contents from multiple YBM dictionaries (English, Korean-English, Korean, Korean-Japanese, and Japanese-Korean), supplying a total of 1,630,000 vocab entries. The results of your search utilize both screens of Nintendo DS. Now Nintendo DS has, technically speaking, educational capabilities, a loophole I’m sure that many students will try to exploit in their classrooms.