Code Retard » Hardware

Nvidia tackles 3D gaming with Geforce 3D Vision

MindysGrandson — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:56:35 +0000

Seeing companies trying to bring 3D imagery from movies into gaming is certainly nothing new. The last contender in the 3D business was Zalman with their ZM-M220W 3D display. ZM-M220W depended on Nvidia drivers to reproduce 3D images, and games had to be individually supported for the feature to work. While it successfully reproduced passive 3D images that may suffice for movies, some kinks that come inherently with passive 3D imagery made the monitor a nightmare for gamers. The reproduced text, HUD, and crosshairs that gamers depend on were difficult to read and often induced headaches.

At first look, Nvidia’s 3D Vision is very similar to other products. The technology still requires rather unfashionable and expensive glasses ($200). Another strange requirement for 3D Vision is a 120hz capable monitor. Knowing how rare 120hz monitors are, Nvidia has released a bundle that includes 3D Vision and a Samsung 120hz capable monitor ($500). Unbearable ghosting ensues when monitor is running at anything less than 120hz.

Nothing else much to say about it without trying it first hand, but word on the street says it is much better than its predecessors. I may be ordering one soon. More to say after playing around with it…

Nyko Frontman Wireless Guitar Hardware Review

adm_snackbar — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:17:36 +0000

The Nyko Frontman wireless guitar is an excellent affordable alternative piece of hardware to first party Guitar Hero and Rock Band wireless guitars, which cost a lot more. For budget shoppers though, you just can’t get a better feature set and play experience than the Nyko guitar for the money. Available in black or white for $20 a pop, it’s over $30 cheaper than either Guitar Hero or Rock Band guitars. This hardware review is for the PS3 platform, but Xbox 360 and Wii versions are expected to be similar. Below is a shot of the back of the box:

The Frontman guitar features an interchangeable pink pick guard in both black and white variations, though the black version ships with a white pick guard while the white guitar ships with a black pick guard. The pick guard is shiny and sturdy and the only complaint is its glossy exterior collects fingerprints easily. This is more noticeable on the black pick guard more so than the white or pink ones. Here is a shot of the black guitar wearing the pink pick guard:

From the picture you can see the white knob on the upper right is actually the direction pad and cut off in the lower right is the effects bar. The strum bar makes a click noise so it’s more reminiscent of the Guitar Hero variety than the Rock Band one which makes no noise. It has a sturdier feel than the Guitar Hero strum bar, however, which is like the Rock Band bar. At any rate, it’s a pleasure to use offering the best features of both Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitars. The three white buttons on the left are the PS3/on/link, start, and select buttons. The neat feature about the "on" button is that it lights up one of four colors (red, blue, orange, and green) to indicate player number. So if you and friend are both jamming out on your same-colored Nyko wireless guitars, there’s no confusion when you come back from a break who’s guitar is who’s thanks to the colored "Nyko" button.

You can see here that this guitar has sensed that it is player 3 (orange). This button is used to link the guitar with the wireless USB receiver. Before playing you must always press this button to link the guitar to the receiver but it’s usually very fast, less than a second, but never more than three. The first time you plug in your guitar to link, though, it does take a little bit longer to establish a connection. While it does this, the "Nyko" button actually pulses white.

This means the button is actually capable of displaying five colors, but it cheats with the white by lighting all red, blue, orange, and green LEDs at the same time. Look closely at the picture near the upper edge of the button and you will see how the white light is made.

The Nyko guitar is compatible with Guitar Hero III and Rock Band 2 (though only through a minor adjustment which is covered later). The included three AA batteries are good for 80 hours of gameplay and the battery housing actually hides a small hex tool that looks cleverly like a guitar pick.

The tool has a hexagon base and allows you to interchange the pick guard plate.

The buttom base of the guitar has a small USB port which allows for wired gameplay if you run out of batteries. Not only that, it can also charge rechargeable batteries if you are use them.

The guitar features a wireless USB receiver unit that looks like an effects pedal. Nyko really paid attention to the details: first the hex tool looks like a pick and now the wireless receiver is disguised as an effects pedal. That is a much better job than the drab treatment the Guitar Hero and Rock Band receivers get. Though it looks like a hefty unit, it’s quite light and only two buttons actually work.

The big black button is part of the link process, so the first time you sync up a guitar, you need to press this button and the "Nyko" button on the guitar. After the initial sync you don’t need to touch this button ever again when you power on your PS3 again. Simply touch the button on the guitar. The second functional knob is the one in the center, which you merely need to turn to Guitar Hero or Rock Band to play. There is a small issue which we covered previously for Rock Band 2 players, which is an incompatibility between the Rock Band mode and the Rock Band 2 game. To keep the story short, for Guitar Hero and Rock Band 2 players, use Guitar Hero mode. For Rock Band 1 players, use Rock Band mode. If you want to know the full details, you can read the post. There is one small problem with the effects pedal wireless receiver and that is the USB cord. It’s pretty short and can be a problem if your PS3 is stacked on the edge a shelf with no room to hold anything else. Then again, this is a problem with the Rock Band USB port as well. You may need to consider a USB extension cable if you have this problem. Also, there was no problem plugging in the wireless receiver into the Rock Band supplied USB hub.

Remember how Nyko paid attention to the details? You’ll be surprised again when you glance at the bottom side of the USB receiver to discover five LEDs. These light up when the corresponding button is pressed on the guitar. While you’re playing, your receiver will likely be flashing a veritable Christmas light show.

The most brilliant thing? The lights correspond exactly to the color keys on the guitar. Now that’s called paying attention to the little things! For reference, the buttons on the guitar:

Gameplay-wise, the Nyko Frontman wireless guitar plays most similarly to a Guitar Hero guitar and it’s a real joy to use. The buttons are somewhat small and don’t cover the entire key like the Rock Band and there are no separate keys for solos. The middle button even has a small bump so you can feel what position your hands are in without looking.

Here is parting shot of the Nyko Frontman wireless guitar between Guitar Hero (left) and Rock Band (right) guitars.

The positives:

Affordable price
Cool LEDs galore
Attention to the details: tool that looks like pick, receiver that looks like effects pedal, LEDs light up when you play
Colored button indicates player number
Interchangeable pick guard
Quick to link after initial sync
Auto power off
Batteries are included and are good for 80 hours of gameplay
25 foot wireless range
Wired gameplay option
Recharges batteries

The negatives:

Incompatible with Rock Band 2 in Rock Band mode, needs to use Guitar Hero mode (then effects bar won’t work, but not a big deal)
Pick guard attracts fingerprints easily
Small buttons

In summary:

Despite a few negatives, the positive features far outweigh anything lacking on the Nyko Frontman wireless guitar. It comes with just as many features are first party hardware and then some. Nyko really put in the time and effort to design a solid guitar. Considering what you are getting for such a low price point, it’s easily the best wireless guitar out there for the money.

Fix Nyko Frontman Guitar on Rock Band 2 for PS3

adm_snackbar — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:44:06 +0000

The Frontman wireless guitar from Nyko is a great alternative hardware (check out our review) that is compatible with both Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero 3 games on the PS3 up to firmware 2.52. If you are running on PS3 firmware 2.52 and later, you’ll discover that your Nyko Front Man wireless guitar will no longer work with Rock Band 2 since, according to Nyko, the "latest firmware may be causing the input mechanism of the Frontman guitar to malfunction." Symptoms include no response from key presses. Instead the effects pedal wireless receiver sends its own ghost key presses to the PS3 which causes Rock Band 2 to go crazy, even when the guitar isn’t on.

Fortunately the fix is simple: after firmware 2.52, users can switch to the Guitar Hero mode setting on the faux effects pedal receiver which will allow complete functionality of the guitar with Rock Band 2. The Rock Band mode can still be used with the original Rock Band game, however. Gamers who use the Front Man guitars are in luck since Rock Band 2 included new compatibility with Guitar Hero hardware so there is no need to send it back to Nyko for a replacement. Just let Rock Band 2 think you are playing with a Guitar Hero guitar and all is well.

Image/Code Retard

New Zune 3.1 Video

Son Riku — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:42:52 +0000

new Zune video to support the 3.1 software release

G1 Supports Multitouch

Son Riku — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:19:06 +0000

PS3 Sales fall in Japan, Xbox 360 and PSP doing good!

Son Riku — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 07:55:17 +0000

sony ps3 ps logo

According to new weekly data from Media Create, the PlayStation 3 had its worst sales week of 2008 in Japan, being outsold almost 2-to-1 by its rival, the Xbox 360.

The launch of the new updated PSP-3000 model helped boost sales of the handheld and it topped the sales chart by a hefty number.

The Xbox 360 continues to sell well, as does the ever-popular Wii yet the PS3 keeps seeing its sales fall.

The data for the week:

PSP – 60,467
Wii – 24,292
Nintendo DS – 22,965
Xbox 360 – 7,844
PlayStation 2 – 6,962
PlayStation 3 – 3,931

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/15827.cfm

Proof that a Nintendo Wii with a Hard Drive Exists

adm_snackbar — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:13:57 +0000

If you live in New York and happen to wander into the Nintendo World Store you’ll be greeted with this–an ordinary looking Nintendo Wii but with some sort of extraordinary hard drive storage solution rigged up to it. As you can tell from the video, it’s got a huge library of full version Wii games that you can summon at the touch of a button. Browsing is simple and elegant. This is just the sort of thing that gamers have been clamoring for, and the fact that this special Wii demo unit can support a hard drive and works so wonderfully well with it tells us that the Wii is fully capable of working with an external hard drive. And you can only reason that it’s not on the market is because Nintendo wants it that way, not because they can’t do it.

Griffin AirCurve Acoustic Amplifier for iPhone

adm_snackbar — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:52:24 +0000

Griffin Technology has developed an interesting product for your first or second gen iPhone – the AirCurve. Without any electrical or moving parts, this “acoustic amplifier” does exactly that, amplifies through its curvy design the acoustics from your iPhone speaker at the base. By “snapping” in your iPhone onto the AirCurve, the sound from your iPhone speakers are output directly into the AirCurve and the volume is magnified as the sound waves travel through the translucent polycarbonate amplifier.

Griffin Technology touts this as a great way to turn your iPhone into an energy efficient alarm clock or sound system. With many companies nowadays “going green” or offering green products, the AirCurve could not have come at a better time.

AirCurve is a cleverly-designed acoustic amplifier that turns your iPhone into a no-power-drain alarm clock on your nightstand, or a mini sound system that never needs batteries or adapters.

AirCurve looks like a simple, elegantly minimal stand for your iPhone. But inside is a cleverly designed coiled waveguide that collects the sound from the built-in speaker of your iPhone, amplifies it, and projects it into the room. AirCurve’s waveguide has been engineered to deliver amazing amplification — you’ll swear there are full-sized speakers in there.

AirCurve is designed with a pass-through slot that allows you to charge and sync your iPhone by inserting a Griffin Dock Cable (available separately) or the dock cable that came with your iPhone. And AirCurve’s see-through translucent polycarbonate body lets you appreciate the graceful curves inside that do all the work.

The AirCurve will retail for $19.99 but there’s no word on when it will go on sale except “soon.”

Image/Griffin Technology

Apple to Replace All Faulty iPhone 3G Power Adapters

adm_snackbar — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:13:42 +0000

Apple announced the creation of the Apple Ultracompact USB Power Adapter Exchange program to replace potentially dangerous power adapters that have been shipped with each 3G iPhone. The safety risk can occur when the power adapter’s metal prongs break off when being pull from a power outlet, remaining attached to the outlet and posing a threat for electrical shock and fire. Though no serious incidents have been reported yet, Apple has received enough reports of breaking prongs to warrant the exchange program. If you bought the iPhone 3G or standalone adapter in the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, or South America, then you may be affected.

Apple will replace your adapter with a new redesigned one (pictured above) which looks to have more rounded and sturdier prongs compared to its predecessor and can easily be identified by a green dot. If your power adapter already has a green dot, then you don’t need to worry as you already have the latest, safest hardware.

If you believe you are affected, you can simply fill out the web form or visit any Apple store after October 10, when the new power adapters will start shipping. Meanwhile, Apple recommends charging your iPhone through your computer.

Image/Apple

T-Mobile’s G1 Site has Phone specs!

Son Riku — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:25:33 +0000

Those of you that cant wait to see what Google Android has in store for us will be happy to read about the new specs.

What’s known so far:

In-store, immediate sales only available in stores within 5 miles of a 3G covered area. If a store is beyond that range, representatives will walk customers through a T-mobile.com purchase
One touch access to: Search, Maps, Gmail, Youtube, Calendar, and Google Talk
Gmail account and data plan required
GPS
3.1 mp camera, no video recording
No stereo bluetooth (A2DP)
Dimensions: 4.6 x 2.16 x 0.63 in
Weighs 5.6 ounces
480×320 65K color screen
5 hour talk time, 130 hour talk time
Expandable up to 8GB

More to come as more news comes in…