Archive for March 6th, 2006
If it was April 1 we would be consigning this story to the “round up of wind ups”. Rockstar Games, famous for producing the controversial Grand Theft Auto series are to move onto a more gentle pursuit for their next title - Table Tennis.
Table Tennis is expected to ship to North American retailers on May 22nd, 2006 for a MSRP of $39.99 and will hit European retail shelves on May 26th, 2006 for a price of EUR 39.99 and GBP 29.99 in the UK.
“Our goal was to create a game that is perfectly addictive in its focused simplicity, a game that showcases the true possibilities of a next gen experience, not just in looks but in feel and pace,” stated Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games. “We wanted to use the power of the new hardware and the resolution of new televisions to give the game an immediacy, an intensity and a sense of physicality and reality, resulting in a purer, more visceral experience that simply was not possible previously.”
Houser continued, “It is a distillation of game design philosophy, focusing on removing the traditional areas of compromise inherent in managing size and scope and concentrating the hardware’s entire power on one activity, with the aim of doing that better than it’s ever been done before.”
TechSmec.com remembers teenage games of Ping Ping being pretty violent affairs so maybe there will be a twist in the tale. However, it’s hard to see how even Rockstar can shake up the table tennis world, so a pure sim is probably on the cards.
March 6th, 2006
Alcatel today announced that it has successfully completed contract negotiations with BT, confirming Alcatel’s participation as one of the preferred suppliers to the operator’s next-generation network transformation program - the 21st Century Network (21 CN).
Alcatel will provide its 7750 Service Router and 5620 Service Aware Manager for 21CN’s Metro node. The Metro node is a critical part of BT’s 21CN and is the point at which traffic is intelligently managed, directed and delivered over the MPLS core. “Service and subscriber aware” switching is provided by these Alcatel solutions whereby traffic is assigned Quality of Service priorities based on the service to which it relates.
The Alcatel 7510 Media Gateway and the 1300 Convergent Network Management Centre are also included in today’s announcement. This will be critical for BT in providing the essential connectivity needed as traffic is migrated from the PSTN to the new IP network.
BT Wholesale chief executive Paul Reynolds said: “With 21CN, BT and our suppliers are leading the world in next generation networks. Where we go with 21CN, others will follow, and the experience gained and expertise developed in this transformation of BT’s network will set the standard for other NGN deployments. We’re moving forward strongly with world class suppliers, and the first customers in the UK will start enjoying services over 21CN within 12 months.”
Jacques Dunogué, Alcatel Executive Vice-President Europe & South said: “By choosing Alcatel to provide them with part of their enabling telecoms infrastructure, BT is taking our long-standing relationship to new levels. Combined with our rapid rise to the number two position in the IP edge aggregation market, Alcatel starts 2006 with a strong market momentum in the IP network transformation arena.”
Alcatel’s sales and support operations based in Newport and Maidenhead in the UK will work with BT and the other selected vendors to deliver 21CN.
March 6th, 2006
Media Made Easy, a manufacturer of digital entertainment systems for the consumer, today announced their next generation media center offering, the Media Made Easy HDTV Server.
Featuring an ultra-quiet fan system in a slim tower design, the Media Made Easy HDTV Server is designed to drive the living room entertainment center. The system comes complete with Media Made Easy’s value-added applications for recording audio sources (including music, FM radio and Internet radio) and for converting proprietary media center recorded TV files into standard video formats with the commercials removed.
“Our customers were asking for a high-end, multi-tuner entertainment server,” said Ronald Schwab, CEO of Media Made Easy. “They wanted to see movies, recorded television and music delivered using the latest video and audio technology available.” He added, “We’ve engineered the server using Intel’s most powerful media motherboard and the latest technology from nVidia to power high-definition video for today’s HD displays and surround sound systems.”
Featuring one and a half Terabytes disc space, Intel’s Pentium D hyper-threaded processor, two high definition tuners, two standard definition tuners, Asus’ GeForce 7800 GTX video, 8 channel 7.1 surround sound and cordless operation by finger-mouse, keyboard and remote control, the Media Made Easy Media HDTV Server offers powerful performance at an affordable price. Powered by Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition software the enhanced features include HDTV quality recorded television, DVD playback, online movie rental, faster music encoding, rich digital photograph slideshows and Internet radio.
The Media Made Easy HDTV Server is now available via the company’s website. For further details, please contact Media Made Easy directly or visit the company website at: www.mediamadeeasy.net.
March 6th, 2006