According to The Taiwan Economic News, the first 65 nm GPUs for Xbox 360 are leaving production lines. Xbox 360’s using the 65 nm technology are expected to ship this August. Also there are rumors that a “mid-cycle refresh of the Xbox 360″ should come in the fall of 2009. The Xbox 540, as it is being called, will use the Valhalla chip. The Vahalla chip is believed to be of a “system-on-a-chip design” allowing the console to fit into a slim case.
The Xbox 360 is scheduled to ship in an “all 65 nm” package (Jasper platform) this August. Consumers won’t notice the refresh, unless Microsoft decides to put a Blu-ray drive into the Xbox 360. We were not able to receive a confirmation either way, and we keep digging to find out if the Asustek subsidiary Pegatron will manufacture regular Xbox 360’s or units with an integrated Blu-ray drive. In any case, Celestica, Pegatron and Wistron will have a busy summer cranking out millions of refreshed Xbox 360 consoles.A more dramatic and perhaps visible change will happen next year: TSMC plans to begin producing the Valhalla chip, which will be the foundation of the mid-cycle refresh of the Xbox 360, thus called ‘Xbox 2.5’ or simply ‘Xbox 540’ (360+180), in fall of 2009. We learned that this new chip is apparently much more than a die-shrink and end up as a system-on-a-chip design. This change is likely to enable to redesign the Xbox 360 casing and go towards a slim-design, much like what Sony did with the Gen1 and Gen2 PS2. We believe that TSMC will use a 45 nm process for this Multi-Chip-Module package (CPU+GPU+eDRAM).
There are also some interesting pieces of information that Microsoft is shopping for a more efficient cooling solution – efficient in more ways than just one: Several people close to the cooling industry told us that Microsoft approached them and asked for better and cheaper cooling than what is used in the Xbox 360 right now. Some may claim that the current Xbox 360 cooler design is already as cheap as it gets, but we have no doubts that Microsoft will find a way to drop the cost once again.
Ghostbusters is one of those nerdy properties that when reissued, will never please all of its fans. Even in a brief demo with a few other writers, questions — and follow-ups — circled around “crossing the streams” and even geekier topics. I’m not at that level of spirit-stopping enthusiast, but I’m cautious about the new version, probably because it shows so much promise. I hate to get behind something, especially a beloved property, only to see it crumble.
The Ghostbusters animation, graphics, settings, and physics look great. The original cast has reassembled to record for this game. It’s even being written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. But the biggest thing I didn’t see was that story, and that narrative is an important part of Ghostbusters. We’ll find out how well the script and setting hold up with its October, 2008 release.
Grand Theft Auto needs no introduction to anyone remotely familiar with video games. But for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 entry in the series, Rockstar has upped the ante, creating a startlingly realistic reinterpretation of New York City as backdrop to a violent crime epic. In it, damaged goods Serbian war vet Niko Bellic ventures to Liberty City in search of closure, all the while coming to terms with the harsh realities of The American Dream. People die, others find happiness, the dream fails to deliver on its promise, and players join Niko on a journey through a world where everyone is flawed, where it seems everyone is consumed by their own obsessions.
It’s a brutal ride for almost everyone in Niko’s journey from off the boat yokel to mass murderer, but what is the Grand Theft Auto IV experience like for the player?
Sales tracking group NPD has announced the results of a new gaming study, showing that 72 percent of the U.S. say they played games, online play still lagging behind offline, and an overwhelming minority owning more than one next-gen system.
NPD says the number of game-players has grown from its last study, up from 64 percent the year prior. More than half of that 72 percent, says NPD play games online, but relative to “total U.S. population,” online gamers have only risen slightly from 40 percent in 2007 to 42 percent.
90 percent of online gamers said the PC was their platform of choice, compared to 19 percent for console and portable systems, and 3 percent for cell phones. Younger players make up a good percentage of online players, with 40 percent of online gamers between 2 and 17, with 18-24 year olds only making up 10 percent.
As for online console players, 50 percent were Xbox 360 gamers, who spent the most time per week playing online compared to PC and PS3 owners. Finally, NPD says only three percent of respondents said they owned two of the three next-gen consoles, and only 2 percent said they owned all three.
Said NPD analyst Anita Frazier, “Despite the buzz in the industry regarding online gaming, it is still relatively small compared to offline gaming. There is still a large, untapped market for gaming in general and online gaming in particular.”
War rages on in the fourth edition of Activision’s acclaimed war game. For the first time in the series, Call of Duty moves away from WWII to the modern battlefield. Armed with an arsenal of advanced and powerful modern day firepower, players are transported to treacherous hotspots around the globe to take on a rogue enemy group threatening the world. As both a U.S Marine and British S.A.S. soldier fighting through an unfolding story full of twists and turns, players use sophisticated technology, superior firepower and coordinated land and air strikes on a battlefield where speed, accuracy and communication are essential to victory. The epic title also delivers an added depth of multiplayer action providing online fans an all-new community of persistence, addictive and customizable gameplay.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game of the Year Edition includes a token to download the Variety Map Pack, a series of four multiplayer maps exclusively for Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.
Developed by Ubisoft Shanghai, Tom Clancy’s EndWar will arrive on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 within the company’s next fiscal year, which runs April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009.
Grand Theft Auto needs no introduction to anyone remotely familiar with video games. But for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 entry in the series, Rockstar has upped the ante, creating a startlingly realistic reinterpretation of New York City as backdrop to a violent crime epic. In it, damaged goods Serbian war vet Niko Bellic ventures to Liberty City in search of closure, all the while coming to terms with the harsh realities of The American Dream. People die, others find happiness, the dream fails to deliver on its promise, and players join Niko on a journey through a world where everyone is flawed, where it seems everyone is consumed by their own obsessions.
Sales tracking group NPD has announced the results of a new gaming study, showing that 72 percent of the U.S. say they played games, online play still lagging behind offline, and an overwhelming minority owning more than one next-gen system.