Archive for February 14th, 2006
Like your PSP games quirky? We have news of two of the oddest on their way to Sony’s portable platform soon.
First up is LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, the sequel to one of the best-selling video games of 2005 on the PS2.
With a comical take on the Star Wars Trilogy that revolutionized pop culture forever, LEGO Star Wars II follows the Rebel Alliance’s battle to dismantle the Galactic Empire and rebuild a galaxy in pieces. From Darth Vader’s pursuit of Princess Leia aboard her Blockade Runner to a showdown on the reconstructed Death Star, the game includes even more of the family-friendly LEGO action, puzzles and humor that earned the original LEGO Star Wars such popularity and acclaim.
And much more new to offer, it still has. For the first time ever, levels feature vehicles and creatures that players can ride or exit at will. Also, in LEGO Star Wars II’s Free Play mode, gamers can customize more than 50 new playable characters by mixing and matching body parts, to build their own LEGO Star Wars heroes. And on certain platforms, a game save from the first LEGO Star Wars can unlock as many as 56 additional characters for Free Play - that’s more than 100 characters total, plus millions of possible creations! Other exciting additions include the ability to Free Play with vehicles, cool new character-specific attacks and maneuvers, playable mini-kit vehicles, an optional advanced mode for experienced players and more.
If Lego versions of your favourite Star Wars characters isn’t quirky enough for you then look at LocoRoco which was shown at the Tokyo Game Show last year, and as is the way with many a Japanese platformer, seemed destined to not get a release in Europe.
However, Sony has confirmed that the quirky game will get a release outside of Japan in Spring.
It really defies description. The graphics are reminscent of Lemmings, but the object is to roll your jelly-like creatures (the eponymous LocoRocos) from one end of the level to the other by tilting the landscape with the PSP’s shoulder buttons. On the way you pick up objects and other powerups to help you on your way, while avoiding pesky spikes and other traps. At opportune moments you can split your LocoRoco up like some kind of dividing ameoba (with a smiling face) to fit through small spaces.
One to watch.
February 14th, 2006
Specialty PC manufacturer xVx has just put even more power into its most powerful laptop. The company today announced the addition of the brand-new AMD dual-core FX 60 processor to the xVx Monstruo-m A650 laptop
In other words, the Monstruo-m A650 - already a fast machine - is faster than ever. For gamers and those working in digital media, that’s good news. And the FX 60 processor joins an impressive array of features: the Monstruo-m A650 still comes with dual CD-ROM drives and the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX PCI Express 256MB DDR3 - the fastest video card on a laptop to date. For memory, the system offers up to 2GB of DDR400.
Those wanting a little more out of their systems can opt for extra performance in the form of advanced Serial ATA (SATA) technology, which allows for up to 150MB per second. Users can select dual SATA hard drives for RAID 0 or 1 configurations - and with capacities up to 240GB, data is quick to access and even quicker to recover if needed.
A 17-inch ultra-high contrast widescreen display supporting a maximum resolution of 1920×1200 pixels makes the Monstruo-m A650 easy on the eyes as well. Offering the same viewing area as a 19-inch CRT monitor, the display’s fast video response, color reproduction, clarity and contrast are unsurpassed. What’s more, xVx is one of the few companies in the industry to offer a free guarantee of no partially lit or dead pixels during the system’s warranty period.
Just above the display sits a state-of-the-art video camera. Fully integrated into the display, the camera requires no cables, connectors or complicated software and features 640×480 resolution, wide-range shutter speeds, high-quality optics, extremely low light operation capability, auto focus and auto exposure.
As for sound, the Monstruo-m A650 includes four surround-sound ultra-high- fidelity speakers and a subwoofer with Sound Retrieval SystemŽ, or SRS. The system also supports high-resolution virtual eight-channel audio output. As with all xVx products, the Monstruo-m A650 includes xVx’s award-winning, round-the-clock lifetime tech support and customer service.
“This unit is all about speed,” said xVx president and CEO Edgar-Joel Intriago. “The xVx Monstruo-m A650 is powerful and portable, providing the functionality of a desktop and the mobility to go wherever you want.”
February 14th, 2006
Just as the capacity of flash memory is starting to infringe on hard drive territory, Seagate has unveiled a 12GB disc drive which is only 1 inch across. The company has even made it smaller than existing 1 inch drives by removing the connector and packaging, so we now have a 12GB drive that is smaller than its 8GB predecessor.
The drive is intended for use in mobile phones and portable music players. It uses perpendicular recording technology to cram more data onto the same size platter. Normal hard drives store data by placing charges horizontally on the disc. Perpendicular drives place the charges ‘upright’ meaning that more can be placed into the same area. The new ST1.3 Series also has 30% less power consumption than previous models.
“Portable, on-demand video is driving the next wave of revenue opportunity for the mobile phone and entertainment communities. As consumer adoption drives the demand for the availability of video content anytime and anywhere, the need for tiny, high-capacity hard drives becomes more apparent,” said Brodie Keast, Seagate’s general manager of consumer electronics.
However, at the same time as Seagate was trumpeting the ST1.3 at 3GSM in Barcelona, rival firm Cornice was unveiling 8GB and 10GB versions of its Dragon Series drives, which although smaller in capacity than the Seagate offering, have an even smaller form factor.
Look out flash ROM…hard disc technology isn’t quite dead yet.
February 14th, 2006