CyberLink reveals its product line-up for CeBIT 2006, including software for burning and playing high-definition Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD content, products for sharing media within the digital home, premium content protection, and a world cup digital TV solution.
“As one of the world’s preeminent IT events, CeBIT is a great opportunity to demonstrate how our latest next-generation disc and digital home solutions can greatly enhance the user experience for video and TV on the PC,” said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. We offer easy-to-implement software that handles the key user requirements for digital home entertainment,Xrecording, playing, and sharing,Xusing sophisticated technology that we’ve developed over years of experience in this area.
With its growing range of software supporting high-definition video, CyberLink is demonstrating a diverse suite of products allowing burning and playback of HD DVDs and Blu-ray Discs.
Next-Generation Disc Solution
CyberLink PowerDVD is the world¡¦s leading software player that plays both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.
CyberLink Decoder Pack Enables Accelerated High-Definition H.264 video playback.
CyberLink Power2Go is the all-media burning software supporting Blu-ray Disc burning
CyberLink PowerBackup enables archiving of valuable data to Blu-ray Discs.
InstantBurn is a packet-writing software for burning data to Blu-ray Disc and HD DVDs.
CyberLink PowerProducer is an intelligent disc authoring software that supports Blu-ray Discs.
As a leading software developer for video, DVD, and TV playback on the PC, CyberLink¡¦s complete digital home solutions support the sharing of media entertainment via a home network.
Integrated Digital Home Solution
CyberLink PowerCinema 5 is the leading TV entertainment solution, supporting multi-tuner, Twin TV (Picture-in-Picture), DVB-S-IP, Teletext EPG 2.5, TV/radio time-shifting, direct TV burning to DVD, and more.
CyberLink TV Server™ for sharing TV content on a UPnP network.
CyberLink DRM technology, ensuring premium content captured and stored on hard drives remains secure.
CyberLink SoftDMA™ the software-based DLNA media player for accessing media files from a server on a UPnP network.
CyberLink Media Server™ ¡V a DLNA software solution — for sharing media content on a UPnP network.
CyberLink’s World Cup digital TV solution features a newly styled football version of all-in-one home entertainment center CyberLink PowerCinema. The software enables the automatic location of the best moments from recorded football programs, letting users quickly view goals and skip through the main scenes of each match.
Digital TV Solution for the World Cup
CyberLink MagicSports ¡V a PowerCinema plug-in ¡V is the first sports analysis software especially designed for sports fans to record, analyze and play their most exciting game moments.
CyberLink PowerCinema 5 is the leading TV entertainment solution, featuring new skins that enhance the flavor of the World Cup experience.
CyberLink MakeDVD ¡V a PowerCinema and MCE plug-in supports the burning of data, music, photos, videos and recorded TV programs. DVD menu’s featuring football styles let users burn their ultimate World Cup magic moments to disc.
March 3rd, 2006
Game: Madden NFL 06
Platform: PSP
Publisher: EA
Price: £29.99 (Amazon.co.uk)
Reviewer: Jay Neill (TechSmec.com staff)
American football has never really caught on in the UK. Channel 4 made a concerted effort to get us all talking about gridiron in the mid 80s and for a while it worked, but then the viewing figures started to decline and once again we Brits claimed back the term ‘football’ to refer to a game where the primary way of controlling the ball is actually with your feet rather than your hands.
Of course we have a vaguely similar game in rugby to get excited about (being World Champions and all that - yes, US readers, that’s the whole world, not just the ‘world’ that the NFL ‘world’ champions reside over) so the chances of American football games hitting it big in Europe are slim.
Still, this reviewer must admit to an gameplaying pedigree in this genre. Back in 1988, when the peak of gaming hardware was the Commodore Amiga, I owned Mirrorsoft’s TV Sports Football. This was a game of all style and very little substance, but I loved it, so it was with a tear of nostalgia that I prepared to dive back into the world of gridiron and fired up Madden NFL 06 on my PSP.
First impressions are that the game is slick, benefiting from EA’s usual great presentation. The visuals are reminiscent of the Channel 4 graphics of old and presumably those of current US television coverage. There is the usual pumping EA Trax soundtrack, although the bias is heavily towards rap in the playlist which isn’t necessarily the only music genre I would associate with American football, so it grates after a while.
Starting a game can be as simple as choosing ‘Play now’. If you have already chosen your favourite NFL franchise then you’ll be dumped straight into a game involving that team. You can even select to play as one of the great teams of the past, although as I was playing as the Minnesota Vikings that didn’t leave me with many options (sorry Vikings).
Let’s get one thing straight. It helps if you understand the rules of American football and I don’t just mean the basics. This is a very detailed simulation and you will be lost within seconds if you don’t know your linebackers from your quarterbacks, or your 4th downs from your field goals. Madden NFL 06 pulls no punches when it comes to the terminology, the avalanche of statistics and the myriad of subtle plays. Assuming you get past the kick off stage without having a touchdown scored against you, then you are immediately asked to choose a formation and then a play. Having not a clue what to do at this point I called upon the soon-to-be-heavily-overused function of the game - ‘Ask Madden’. Yes, this is the eponymous Madden of the game title, who seems to be a sort of American Jimmy Hill, only still on TV. Hit the square button and he will immediately suggest the best tactics for the next down, backed up with a remarkably small selection of supporting phrases such as “this’ll stop’em for sure” and “the smart coach would choose this play”. It’s not great commentary and it doesn’t add much to the game.
Once the tactics are chosen you are taken to the field of play. If you are playing offense you control the snap using the cross button. Watch out for the play clock which counts down from the moment the previous play finished. Exceed the allotted time and you will be penalised. Once the ball is snapped back you have control of the quarterback. If you are aiming for a running play he will automatically toss the ball out to the back at which point you take control of that player and it’s time to barrel up the field using all the tricks in the Madden armoury (stiff arms, diving, spinning) to avoid being tackled. If you chose a passing play your quarterback will step back and you have to quickly scan the field for an available receiver. This all happens incredibly quickly and if you don’t make a quick decision you will find yourself being sacked. Each receiver is assigned a PSP key which is indicated beneath them as they look for space. To make the pass hold down the appropriate key and the quarterback will toss the ball in that direction. The longer you hold it the harder he will throw. All being well the receiver will make the catch (there are some things you can do to influence the success or otherwise of the catch, but generally it will either happen, or it won’t) at which point you have control of that player and it’s time to head off towards the end zone for a potential touchdown.
Of course, you can also choose to punt the ball or try for the field goal and these use a control system reminiscent of golf games with a balance to be struck between power and accuracy.
The gameplay in Madden is fairly easy to get into and it won’t be long before you find yourself winning matches. However, there seems to be an imbalance between the ease of playing the running game and that of the passing game. It would be natural to assume that running would be easier, but the scales are heavily weighted in favour of the defence and it’s pretty hard to make good yardage. The passing game suffers from being almost too easy. Bizarrely, passing short can be tricky, but choose a long pass of over 30 yards and it becomes almost impossible to miss - the wide receivers totally outclass the defenders and make catches even when outnumbered. This somewhat removes the satisfaction of winning, especially when the opposition doesn’t seem to be blessed with the same infallible ability to score at will.
The in-game graphics are excellent. The players are exceptionally detailed, but the range of movement demonstrated during play is astonishing and the ragdoll physics are the best seen yet on the PSP. Players bend and twist on impact in a very convincing way. Alas, the stadium graphics are not as good with the crowd apparently composed of grey cardboard cutouts. Mind you, this is an improvement on FIFA 06’s colourful cardboard cutouts that jump up and down and is less distracting, so maybe no progress is a good thing. The game sounds are good with the crunch of tackles being very realistic. However, again the crowd lets the side down with a dull hum of noise except when thew home team does something good (highly pitched hum) or bad (low pitched hum, with a hint of ‘boo’).
The game mode that you will probably play first is ‘franchise’ where you take control of a team and guide them through training camp, pre-season and then regular season. If you choose to go down this route then one thing will start to dominate the game - load times. They are certainly the longest I’ve yet experienced on the PSP and the disc seems to be accessed at every conceivable opportunity. Heaven knows what this is doing for battery life, but at the very least it makes the game disjointed.
Madden NFL 06 is a decent game, solid in most aspects. It saw a surprisingly long amount of playtime in our review PSP, but a lot of this could be accounted for by the rush of enthusiasm when I started winning before I realised that the ‘throw and hope’ tactic was a guaranteed route to success. Once the game was mastered then the desire to return disappeared, unlike other sporting sims like FIFA where the pleasure of playing keeps the UMD close to hand. This could be because of a lack of familiarity with the sport, but is more likely to be because it became repetitive too quickly. Old Madden is repeating his stock phrases before the first game is finished and the after touchdown celebrations only seem to come in one or two flavours. If you are a fan of the NFL then this is a good way of getting your fix on the handheld console, otherwise Europeans may like to borrow a copy in case they get hooked, but certainly don’t buy a copy on the off chance.
Graphics
Player animation is out of this world and TV-style visuals are nice. The only let down is the stadium crowd that looks like a painted wall 8/10
Sound
Good crunching tackles, but stadium noise is a boring hum and the commentary is repetitive - 6/10
Gameplay
Addictive at first, but once mastered there is very little to come back for. The non-expert will find that the game sometimes seems to be happening around them rather than their being a full part of it - 7/10
Verdict
Madden NFL 06 is a solid title that wouldn’t be a bad buy, it just isn’t a great one either. If you’re an NFL fan then this is a must-have, otherwise borrow a copy before you hand over the cash. It may not be your cup of Gatorade. - 7/10
March 2nd, 2006