News:  June 26 - July 2, 2000

Sunday, July 02, 2000

Week in Review - Mikael @ 21:41 EST

We have posted our latest edition of the 3D Audio Week in Review covering June 19-25. We sent it and posted it earlier this week but I think I forgot to mention it on the newspage.

This weekly newsletter covers new driver releases, games, patches and demos that support 3D sound including information on any new bugs, bug fixes and other tips. The newsletter now also includes links to all sound related hardware reviews on the web as well as updates on what we did and what we plan to do in the coming week. The 3D Audio Week in Review is a great way for busy people to be right on top of all latest in the PC audio world.

Diablo 2 review - Mikael @ 18:23 EST

Gamerankings has posted a review of the recently released DS3D with EAX 2.0 supporting Diablo II. Like almost all other reviews they found the game to be fantastic even though graphics isn't that great and failed to work with his GTS2 and Geforce cards. It did work fine with a Voodoo5 though. Here's a bit on the sound:

The sound and music are perfect. The voice acting is nice, and the music in the game matches the tone perfectly. Each enemy grunts and groans and screams satisfyingly, and the spell effects carry a nice sound with them.

Sanity supports 3D sound and EAX? - Mikael @ 18:06 EST

We mentioned previously a preview of Sanity that said there was no 3D sound in the beta he used but a second preview of this multiplayer beta at Betabites mentions that the game recommends a soundcard with 3D support & EAX. I guess they may have simply removed it from the multiplayer beta test since it's network code and not the 3D sound engine they will test.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Icewind Dale patch - Mikael @ 17:24 EST

Interplay has released a patch for their DS3D with EAX supporting RPG, Icewind Dale. You can grab it from 3dfiles.

Off for Vacation! - Mark @ 09:15 EST

Just a very quick note to say that I am off for almost two weeks for a little cottage relaxation with no internet connection so this is my last post until I return. More importantly, I won't be able to get or respond to any email over that time so if you have something that needs to be seen quicker than that, be sure to send it to Mikael. Thanks!

Win a full Dolby Digital 5.1 System - Mark @ 09:13 EST

Just a reminder that there is a really nice contest at the end of our MidiLand MK-01 review. There are a few questions that MidiLand is just dying to get answers for. So much so that they offering up a number of great prizes. Specifically, just for answering the questions on 3DsoundSurge you are entered into a contest with 5 runner up prizes of MK-01 kits, two second prizes of the MLi-490 4.1 speaker system plus a MK-01 kit and a great grand prize that consists of an S4-7100 5.1 Dolby Digital ready 100 watt speaker system, an ADS-2000 Dolby Digital decoder and an MK-01 kit! As it stands right now your odds are quite good so why not take the time and enter the contest.

Weapons Factory Arena review - Mikael @ 04:12 EST

DailyRadar has posted a review of Weapons Factory Arena, a quake3 mod. They think it has a lot of promise saying it has potential to emerge as one of the premier multiplayer experiences on the Net. It's not really anything about the sound in this review but you may recall that prior to the release of Q3A we interviewed Anvil.Chorus, the sound designer for Weapons Factory. The interview may offer some insight into the sounds you will hear in this mod. You can also check out the official Weapons Factory Arena site to download this mod and for more info
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Terminus 1.4 patch released - Mikael @ 04:02 EST

Yet another patch for Terminus has been released bringing the game up to v1.4.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Saturday, July 01, 2000

Icewind Dale and SB AWE 64 issues - Mikael @ 19:02 EST

Baldur's Gate Chronicles spotted the following post by Darren Monahan (IWD Producer) on the Icewind Dale message board:

SoundBlaster AWE64 Bug: We've received several reports of people having trouble playing the game using a SoundBlaster AWE64 sound card. Here are some suggestions to get Icewind Dale to run properly:

1) Make sure you have the latest drivers from Creative Labs. You can find these drivers at http://www.soundblaster.com.

2) Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX installed. Icewind Dale comes with DirectX 7.0a, the latest released version. You can run the DirectX setup by inserting disc 1 into your CD-ROM drive, and when the Autorun menu comes up, press the "Install DirectX" button. If you have disabled Autorun, you can run DXSetup.exe from the "DirectX" folder on disc 1.

3) If this still doesn't fix your problems, some users with AWE64's have reported that turning down Hardware Sound Acceleration Level in the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (usually found at C:\Program Files\DirectX\SETUP) fixes their problems. If you click on the "Sound" tab, you can turn down acceleration.

4) If you are still experiencing problems, send an e-mail to "icewind@blackisle.com" with full system specs (CPU, OS, RAM, Sound card, video card, HD space, etc) and we will try to help you on an individual basis.

Thanks, and happy hunting!

Windows 2000 drivers for PCI64/128 targeted for August - Mikael @ 12:37 EST

The following post popped up in CreativeLabs PCI128 and PCI64 newsgroups yesterday:

Windows 2000 drivers for the ES1371, CT481x, CT4740 and CT5803 models are currently targeted for release in August.

While not previously planned, a decision has been made to produce Windows 2000 drivers for the CT4700, ES1370 models as well. A target date for these drivers has not yet been set.

--
Harvey Fong
Technical Marketing Specialist
Audio Products
Creative Labs Inc.
http://www.soundblaster.com

Vampire: The Masquerade-Redemption Demo (Dark Ages) - Mark @ 09:48 EST

Before your fall, you led a crusade against evil. Now you've become one of the undead creatures you once battled-a Vampire. Inhabiting the World of Darkness, you must face a series of brutal confrontations with your nemesis, Vukodlak, a powerful vampire lord. Your unholy showdown begins in medieval Europe and rages on into the modern day, as you track a soulless enemy in an eternal struggle to destroy him. For this is the only hope of vengeance for your tortured immortality. The 91 MB demo for this A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX supporting game that has received reviews that swing to one way or the other can be downloaded from 3Dfiles. I am not two far into the game but so far I am enjoying it and the sound effects are quite nice which is the general consensus. I also saw (via Voodoo Extreme that a post on the Nihilistic forums indicated that the demo should have most of the upcoming patch features in it. No word on the patch release date though.

Labtec LCS-2514 4.1 Speaker Review - Mark @ 09:36 EST

3DGN has posted a review of the Labtec LCS-2514 4.1 speaker system. This is a low cost system that is up against the $100 and less offerings from MidiLand, Altec Lansing, Cambridge SoundWorks, etc. and like the other reviews I have seen of the system this one is mostly positive. A couple of comments. The intro notes that the speakers offer "Labtec's exclusive Matrix 3D Surround Sound Driver technology, which was made to maximize the LCS-2514 audio with new 4-Channel sound cards, and when fitted with an older 2-channel it will process the output to your rear satellites to give you true rear sound instead of mirroring the output from the front speakers.". When it comes to 4 speaker support I will take that as pure marketing hype and when it comes to the matrixed surround I would expect that it might me nice for music for some people but not really useful for games as there won't be any left/right positioning. Not a big deal when considering this system as it's just an extra but the review did not offer details comments on the feature other than saying that sound quality on a two channel audio card "works as well as advertised giving you a real feeling of surround...". If you are looking for a low cost system then you can check out the 3DGN review for more details.

Friday, June 30, 2000

DVD-Audio Players Available July 1 @ Good Guys - Mikael @ 22:56 EST

Good Guys today announced that Panasonic and Technics DVD-Audio products will be available at all Good Guys locations beginning July 1. Initially, Good Guys will offer the Panasonic DVD-A7 and the Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio players. As you probably know the advantages of DVD-audio compared to CDs are more channels, better quality and the possibility of including video clips. There have been much doubt if the better quality on paper is actually audible and as far as I know all blind tests have shown that it's just better on paper.

For more about Panasonic's DVD-audio plans check out their press release from last month.

Aural Interviews at Creative's EAX site. - Mark @ 22:56 EST

EAX.Creative.Com has recently been updated with three new sound related interviews to go with the one we had mentioned in May with Tony Bennett of Shiny Entertainment, who worked on Messiah. Here's a snip from a very interesting interview with Laurent Betbeder, Sound Programmer (Electronic Arts):

Q: Which sound work do you like the most and which do you not like at all?

A: For movies, Saving Private Ryan is probably the best linear sound design I've ever heard and, just like for graphics, it shows how entertainment is now ready for interactivity. Computers are now too powerful for linear story telling and action movies are ridiculously packed with pre-canned computer-based show-off that just calls for interactivity. Saving Private Ryan was remarkable in the way it immersed spectators right in the middle of the battle mayhem with all those bullets wizzzzzing around, and I couldn't help thinking "this should be a game"... obviously no kid's game.

For games, I liked the Descent series for the bot sound design, until I came across some well-known (sound) libraries *knowing smile*

I liked Half-Life, System Shock 2 and Thief a lot, but in general, I'm pretty disappointed with the implementation of 3D sound in shooters. I regularly get fragged because I didn't know someone was on my tail or where he/she was shooting from within the first 1/100 second. These are major gameplay issues involving sound. Everybody's obsessed by graphics but sound is more important in terms of immersion. In first (or even, third) person view, just like in real life, sound brings cues about the out of sight part of the environment, which is crucial for immersion and gameplay. Right now, playing shooters is a very frustrating audio joke that people take just because, despite some weaknesses, these games still provide huge adrenaline & fun boosts.

I'd be curious to know how many Quake players know how often they get fragged because of bad sound programming *smile*

Ads will pay for digital Music? - Mikael @ 22:55 EST

That's what Radiate and Soundom seems to think.
Radiate is diving into the MP3 market by offering free ad-supported MP3 players and as the second step in a five tier agenda Radiate recently partnered with MyNetMedia, the engine behind popular player brands SonicBurn, Sony, AltaVista, e-music, www.com, TEAC, Western Digital and Go!Zilla. You can read the press release for a bit more but there's no mention of what the other 3 steps will be.

As mentioned Soundom also thinks this is an interesting idea and today they announced that their Internet site, www.soundcom.com, set for a July 2000 launch, will pay consumers to listen to their music (MP3's, CD's and Internet radio), and provide royalties to the artist and the recording company. This will be done with ads and what they are prepared to pay listeners for some info that can help them target ads better. You can find a lot more details in the press release

DVD Scene Is Set for Confusion - Mikael @ 22:30 EST

That's the title of an article at Yahoo that takes a look at the DVD recording scene, that is if you should buy one that supports DVD-RAM, DVD-RW or DVD+RW.

Anachronox Update - Mark @ 22:28 EST

Andrew Thomas, Production Coordinator" for Anachronox has updated his .plan with some bits on how much he enjoys Deus Ex and the following bit on where sound is at for Anachronox:

We've got sound effects in Anachronox!! Will and Darren have hit Anox at full steam after finishing a long, hard stint of Deus Ex sounds, which, may I say, were top notch. The artists are slapping them into the levels as fast as the sound guys can make 'em.

Liveware 3.0 for Windows 2000 getting closer - Mikael @ 20:20 EST

Thanks to Philipp Esselbach from NT Compatible from forwarding the following post in the Live newsgroup about LW 3.0 for Windows 2000:

The drivers have been received from MS. At this point, it looks like they may be posted some time next week (probably towards the end of the week). This is kind of lousy timing since we are going into a 4 day holiday weekend and won't be back until the middle of the week, but the light is at the end of the tunnel.

--
Harvey Fong
Technical Marketing Specialist
Audio Products
Creative Labs Inc.
http://www.soundblaster.com

Grand Prix 3 preview - Mikael @ 20:15 EST

F1 Racing Online has posted a preview of Microprose upcoming (end of July) Grand Prix 3. They think it's looking up to be the most realistic F1 simulation game ever made. Here's a bit on the features:

There will be also new improved 3d sounds recorded with Arrows F1 team, there has been some rumours that GP3 will not have these new sounds, but most likely this is untrue. GP3 has also some more options in the car setup screen as well as there is totally new menu system in the game. 10 in-car cameras to select point of view. Radio message will be also included as those were left out from F1GP2, they have finally got them included ;) F1GP3 has support for Windows 95 through Windows 2000 and it will support all 3D cards that has support for DirectX or Direct3D. The final addition is force feedback wheel support, which was earlier planned to left out, so this will probably make you finally buy a force feedback wheel, if you don't already have one.

Interview about SWAT3 : Battle Plan - Mikael @ 20:05 EST

Swat3D.de has posted an interview with Rod Fung about the upcoming mission pack for Swat3. Here's the most interesting Q&A:

Which new feature added to Battle Plan do you like most. (Exept for Multiplayer...)
There are quite a few new features in the add-on pack I really like. I really like the new 6 levels. I think the subway and hospital missions are great! Each of these missions are very challenging and incredibly detailed. Both will make great single player and multiplayer maps as well. I also like the new character classes (police officers) and I really like the new gun sounds that we have for all the firearms. My sound designer Evan Buehler did an incredible job recording these new gun shots, they are undoubtedly the best gun sounds ever created in a game. We recorded the gunshots in a CQB environment, using the real gun configurations; MP5, UMP45, G36, etc. Each with the correct ammo, suppressors, mags, etc. The gun sounds are so realistic, I keep ducking my head, and looking for my ear protection when playing the game. :-)

Deus-Ex interview - Mikael @ 20:05 EST

Deus-Ex org has asked Warren Spector 29 questions about their recently released Deus-Ex. Here's some info about the music:

>>WS: The music was written specifically to go with the storyline and, like many games since Wing Commander, to change based on what's going on at any given moment. Most of the music was composed by Straylight Productions and, principally, by Alexander Brandon. (Alex has since signed on with ION Austin full-time, as our Audio Director!) Alex rocks -- he actually played the game constantly as he was composing (and managing the other composers) so he was able to make the music fit the locations perfectly. In addition, we got Reeves Gabrels to compose several "club tunes" for us. A lot of people haven't heard of Reeves but most everyone's HEARD him. He's a guitar god with several solo albums to his credit. But he's best known for having played with David Bowie for the last ten or twelve years. He also worked with Bowie on the music for Eidos' Omikron game. He's awesome. Check out Reeves' website at http://www.reevesgabrels.com/. His recent CD, Ulysses, is terrific.

MDK 2 Review - Mikael @ 20:04 EST

Neoseeker has posted a 10 page huge review of the DS3D with EAX 2.0 supporting MDK2. They liked the game giving it an overall score of 90%. Here's a bit on the sound:

The sounds themselves are well done. As I stated earlier, when Max jumps, he barks slightly. Everything else also sounds realistic, from the zoom of the sniper rifle, to the sound of a bouncing grenade ready to explode. The background soundtrack is some form of rock and roll, which helps to add to the hectic feel of the game. The music, which is very much like the Fear Factory tracks that were included in Messiah, really enhances the game when you are about to enter into a room filled with enemies.

D-Link DMP-100 MP3 Player Review - Mikael @ 19:47 EST

Hardwaremasters has posted a 4-page long review of D-Links DMP-100 MP3 player. It's seems to be a rather standard first generation portable MP3 player featuring 32Mb Built In memory (Expandable to 64MB), parallel port interface, equalizer presets and voice recording. The reviewer complained about lack of Windows 2000 software but found the sound quality to be excellent matching his soundcard and diskman CD player. With a pricetag of $130 he found it to be a great buy.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Terminus 1.3 Patch - Mark @ 14:20 EST

Another patch for the just released, and potentially A3D 1.x and DS3D supporting, Terminus has been released. This patch addresses a few new bugs since the 1.2 patch just a couple of days ago. There is a 1.1 - 1.3 patch if you missed it the other day as well as a smaller 1.2 - 1.3 patch. You can grab either version from 3Dfiles.

Dungeon Keeper 2 1.7 Patch - Mark @ 14:17 EST

A new patch has been released for the A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX supporting Dungeon Keeper 2. This version adds the Maiden and Jack-In-The-Box Trap to Dungeon Keeper 2. They have also addressed some problems and further tweaked Dungeon Keeper 2 using user feedback. Please note: This update will affect your saved games. Bullfrog strongly advises you not to use saved games from any previous versions. Grab the patch from 3Dfiles. Here's a bargain for you - you can order Dungeon Keeper 2 online from Gamestop for only $19.99!

Why type, when you can talk? - Mikael @ 08:57 EST

FragPipe.com has posted a review entitled 'Why type, when you can talk?'. It's a brief overview of the beauty of having voice communication for games and three voice communication products for gamers (Roger Wilco, Battlefield Communicator and Team Sound). Here's how he start this one up:

Ever been playing your favorite online FPS (First-Person Shooter) and stop to type out some taunt to your enemies or send a command to your teammates when all of a sudden you're an easy frag for some newbie with a rocket launcher fetish who happens along. It has happened to all of us. I will go over three nice possibilities for you to change all that. How would you like your life to depend on how fast you talk instead of how fast you type? Here's how.

New 10X CD-RW drive features 24X Audio Ripping - Mikael @ 08:41 EST

TDK has announced a new CD-RW drive named veloCD burner that boasts the world's fastest writing (12X), rewriting (10X) and audio ripping (24X) speeds. TDK adds to this the power of fail-safe write assurance technology, which eliminates buffer underrun errors to create the world's first multitasking-compatible CD burner. For more details see the press release

New Pocket-Sized MP3 Jukebox - Mikael @ 08:38 EST

This Summer ARCHOS invites you to ``Think Smaller'' with the introduction of its pocket-sized Jukebox 6000 MP3 player at PC Expo, NY. It features a 6GB hard disk but is still highly portable with a playback time of 5 hours and with a size smaller than a tape cassette player. You can find a few more details in the press release

News Database Problems - Mark @ 05:16 EST

You may have noticed some odd stuff going on with our news the last several hours. I have no idea why it happened but our main news data file got corrupted and I just spent the last 5 hours doing about a 90 percent fix on it. There is still some news missing from about the end of the first week of May to the 22nd of June but you can still find that news in our archives section. The dates may also be a little wacky for a few days until things sort out but the current and future news should be fine.

Friday, June 30, 2000

Mitsubishi Electronics new Sound Processor features QSurround 5.1 - Mikael @ 04:36 EST

QSound Labs and the Electronic Device Group of Mitsubishi Electronics America today announced Mitsubishi's M65857FP sound processor, the semiconductor industry's first chip to incorporate QSound Labs' QSurround(TM) 5.1 technology.

The QSurround 5.1 technology generates a surround sound effect of up to 5.1 speakers from any mono or stereo input signal. Mitsubishi's M65857P sound processor is targeted for home theater, audio-visual receiver, television, MP3 digital player, mini-stereo system, car audio and any other mono or stereo consumer audio application. Samples will be available in July 2000. Check out the press release for more details.

Sonic Foundry's Vegas Pro Crowned as Best Digital Audio Software for Musicians - Mikael @ 04:35 EST

Sonic Foundry today announced that its award-winning multitrack audio editor, Vegas(TM) Pro has received the award for Best Digital Audio Software for Musicians at last week's MP3 Summit 2000. If you want to learn a bit about Vegas Pro read the press release

MP3.com Launches Subscription Program for Artists - Mikael @ 04:34 EST

MP3.com today announced the launch of a new digital subscription channel program designed to create possible recurring revenue streams for content owners by allowing them to leverage the company's engineering, technology and content-management resources. The program gives audio content owners the ability to create and manage on-demand subscription channels. For more read the press release

Yahoo! Launches Yahoo! Player - Mikael @ 04:33 EST

Yahoo! Inc. today announced the official release of Yahoo!r Player, a free streaming media player that provides Yahoo! Music consumers an easy solution for playing all their digital music, including streamed and downloaded MP3 files, as well as CDs. Yahoo! Player also provides video capabilities, access to radio stations, and an integrated Web browser, which delivers relevant music and entertainment content from across the Yahoo! network. The player is based on Microsoft's Windows Media technology and requires you to have Windows Media Player and the Internet Explorer installed. Yahoo! also unveiled an enhanced version of Yahoo! Radio, which provides consumers access to hundreds of broadcast and Internet-only radio stations. Check out the press release for more details. Can also be interesting to read News.com analysis of this announcement.

RealNetworks Launches Music Delivery - Mikael @ 04:32 EST

RealNetworks and BackWeb today announced the launch of Real.com(TM) Music Delivery, a service that offers artists, music publishers and music retailers a powerful new means to introduce and distribute their music to the more than 35 million unique registered users of RealJukebox(TM). Real.com Music Delivery enables consumers to select from 7 different music categories from different music genres (e.g., classical, alternative). Each week, up to 8 new CD quality songs matching consumers' music preferences will be automatically delivered and added to their RealJukebox music collection. Check out the press release for more details.

Diablo II EAX 2.0 - Mark @ 04:31 EST

Just got word from Jeff Atwood over at Game Basement that he can't enable EAX support in Diablo II on his Vortex 2 card with the 2048 drivers and that there is no A3D support. Thats more bad news for Vortex 2 owners on two fronts. First, the game was on Aureal's list for A3D 2.0 support so its yet another game that has shipped without it despite Aureal's now defunct list. The other bit is the fact that he can't enable EAX support more than likely means that Diablo II is shipping with EAX 2.0 support. EAX 2.0 support should be great news for Sound Blaster Live owners as well as people who own cards using Sensaura's latest engine (e.g. Guillemot Maxi Sound Fortissimo, Hoontech Digital XG, Diamond MX400, etc.) as these products all sport full EAX 2.0 support. Creative has a unified EAX driver that is supposed to let EAX 1.0 only cards work fine in EAX 2.0 games but at least in the couple of cases we have seen, its not working that way. There was a new EAX.dll file released in the latest Soldier of Fortune patch so it will be interesting to learn if that one is working any better.

Clusterball Demo - Mark @ 04:31 EST

Clusterball is an online sport, designed to invoke the same adrenaline rush as Quake and Unreal, but replacing the spatter and gore with pure gameplay. By combining the feel and gaming experience from ball, flight and racing games, Clusterball is totally unlike anything you've ever seen before. The base version of Clusterball and your membership are free! The player flies a ship through an open landscape, in which he/she can pick up balls from designated tracks. When balls have been acquired they form a visible chain behind the ship. The chain allows other players to assess the value of another player's ball chain, both in the game environment and on the radar screen. As it increases in length and value, the chain increases the ships drag factor, gradually slowing it down.

They have the following to say about sound at the official site:

The A3D sound API is fully utilized to create a stunning audio environment. The engine sounds from the aircraft are modeled with 3D positional sound including Doppler effects. Many sounds are physically modeled and directly linked to the dynamics engine to create, for example, collision sounds as realistic as possible.

LIVE! News from a Musician - Mark @ 04:30 EST

Not really news but interesting none the less. Robert Jansen recently let us know that he recorded a full commercial release CD using the LIVE! for all the
digital audio. He also says that thus far, the recordings have been getting rave reviews and he is very happy with his sub-100 dollar investment. You can check out Robert's work at his page on MP3.com

Music 2000 Review - Mikael @ 04:29 EST

Barry's World has posted a review of Music 2000. According to the review, Music 2000 is a software package from CodeMasters that lets you stick precomposed bits of music together to create something new.

Ask the Experts: Horror - Mark @ 04:28 EST

Machinima.com hgas posted an interesting interview call Ask the Experts: Horror. Here's a snip from their intro

The horror genre is both eternally fascinating and infernally difficult to get right- particularly within the frequently emotionless and unrealistic confines of a 3D engine. However, some people have managed or are managing yet to scare the life out of us within a game- we asked five of them to explain how they do it, both with reference to game and film design.

Soulbringer review - Mikael @ 04:27 EST

Actiontrip has posted one of the first reviews of RPG Soulbringer. Actiontrip considered the game good enough to be a must-have for RPG fans. Here's the short but informative bit on the sound:

The sound is as good as the graphics - it is almost brilliant if it was not for a couple of minor, slightly irritating flaws. Here, I refer to some in game voices I fount particularly annoying. All the NPCs have fully digitized speech, which certainly contributes to atmosphere and playability. The music is very good, but unfortunately, there is not much of it in the game. The game has full support for 3D sound.

StarLancer review - Mikael @ 04:26 EST

T-break has posted a review of the Digital Anvil / Microsoft space combat game, Starlancer. They found it to be a great space combat game but complained about it introduces nothing new gameplay wise to the genre. Here's the sound bit:

The sound blends seamlessly into the game. The whirrs of the enemy ships as they pass by you make you feel like you're actually in the game. Support for multi speaker configuration is also present so if there's a Coalition fighter on your tail you're gonna know exactly where it is. EAX is supported for added realism, and makes the crunches and thuds sound just that little bit more real! Laser and Missile sounds will satisfy any space-sim fanatic, while the explosions will make you cringe at the poor Coalition fighter you just wasted. In-game music is a mixed bag, there are some tracks in the game that suit the mood of battle whilst others seem simply out of tune!

Deus Ex reviews - Mikael @ 04:25 EST

Gamespot has posted a review of Deus-Ex giving it a relatively poor rating of 8.2 compared to most (if not all other reviews). It's very mixed review while you sometime get the impression they think the sucks and other parts that it's great. Here's a bit on sound:

Deus Ex also sounds fairly plain, and though its techno soundtrack shifts when you engage in combat, it's forgettable just the same. But what's more disappointing is Deus Ex's mediocre or at best inconsistent voice acting. It's got a huge script, but you'll find yourself reading the lines instead of listening to them because a lot of the characters aren't convincing. Even J.C. Denton himself speaks in a hackneyed private-eye monotone that never betrays any inkling of emotion. But occasional voice performances in the game, including an especially cold and menacing villain done by Ion Storm cofounder Tom Hall, are good enough that you'll always look forward to hearing from certain characters.

F1 2000 1.09 Patch - Mikael @ 04:24 EST

EA has released a 13MB big patch for F1 2000. The Patch is an update that has been produced in order to improve various aspects of the game based on feedback from both end users and extended quality assurance. You can grab it from 3dfiles. The game supports 3D sound according to several reviews but not sure what APIs.

Wednesday, June 28, 2000

S3's Rio Division Ships Rio 600 - Mikael @ 23:46 EST

S3r's Rio Division(TM) (Nasdaq:SIII) today announced it has shipped the Rio 600 -- the highly anticipated and first member of the new family of third-generation Rio handheld digital audio players. Key features includes support for MP3, Windows Media and thru firmware upgrades other formats such as AAC and Audible (listening to books) and Future-proof Memory Expansion System. For more read the press release. You can also find more details in this news.com story that among other things mentions the 32MB version will retail for $169. The article also mentions some other MP3 players including Iomega's first MP3 player planned for the fall.

Nokia and RealNetworks Partner - Mikael @ 23:45 EST

Nokia and RealNetworksr today announced an agreement to develop and distribute Internet media technology for future mobile devices. As part of the agreement, Nokia and RealNetworks will implement RealNetworks' RealPlayerr technology in Nokia's EPOC based communicators and smart phones. The RealPlayer for the first Nokia EPOC products is scheduled to be available in 2001. You can find a few more bits in the press release. For some analysis to this deal and the Mobile phone companies attempt to enter the Music player market check out this News.com article.

Rio 300 review - Mikael @ 23:45 EST

Gamingin3D has posted a review of Diamond's now rather old MP3 player the Rio300. The reviewer gave it a rating of 75% but while it may look like a nice score he wasn't very happy with this player even having problems with it skipping when moving around. For the price mentioned in this review ($170) this player is a lousy choice but you should be able to find it for way less in which case it can be an interesting option if you can live with the slow transfer rate of a Parallel port.

MP3.com's Little Box Opens Global Retail Music Market - Mikael @ 23:27 EST

MP3.com today introduced a new little box called the MP3 Media Server 1.0 (MMS 1.0), which the company believes will help it capitalize on a multi-million dollar global retail music market.

MMS 1.0 is the in-store hardware component helping to drive MP3.com's (www.mp3.com) new Retail Music Program, which can provide business-to-business music delivery solutions to grocery stores, fashion outlets, shopping malls, restaurants and other retail establishments. This Linux-based device includes a built-in phone line or Ethernet cable data connection that allows retail stores to provide their customers with customizable, world-class caliber music content, at a substantial savings over traditional music delivery systems. Once installed, the subscriber never needs to interact with the MP3 Media Server 1.0 again. Instead, they use a web-based management tool. You can find more details if you read the rest of the press release

MP3 and Audible player in one - Mikael @ 23:26 EST

Audible and Digisette, L.L.C. today announced an agreement whereby Digisette will develop and distribute, under exclusive license from Audible, the Duo-MP3 digital audio player that will be AudibleReady when it debuts in fall 2000. You can find a lot of details about Audible part of the player in the press release but nothing of what MP3 features it will have.

Bright Future Forecasted for Digital Music Players - Mikael @ 23:25 EST

The market for digital music players will grow to $6.4 billion in 2005 -- more than 34 times 1999 shipments, according to Digital Audio Player Chip Sets and Systems 2000, a new report from Mercury Research.

In the short term, Mercury Research forecasts the market for digital audio players will nearly triple in 2000, to nearly $550 million. Unit shipments also will nearly triple, to 2.8 million units from approximately 1 million units in 1999, according to the report. You can check out the press release for more details.

THOMSON Plans to Offer Internet Radio Products - Mikael @ 23:25 EST

THOMSON multimedia yesterday announced an agreement with Kerbango, Inc., paving the way for a new category of home audio products that utilize the Internet to access streaming media files and deliver thousands of new radio channels to home listeners.

Thomson's first new Internet Radio product will be sold under the RCA brand in the United States and will use the Kerbango Tuning Service. The AM/FM/IM (Internet Modulation) radio connects through an ethernet connection on the tabletop product, allowing listeners to find thousands of different channels of entertainment. Initially targeted at consumers who already enjoy broadband DSL or Digital Cable Modem access the high-speed connection on the RCA Internet Radio will insure digital-quality playback of programming. The RCA Internet Radio also features traditional AM/FM circuitry and can be used to receive regular over-the-air broadcasts as well. A later version of the Internet Radio is now in development and will have a dial-up modem for direct Internet access as well.

Diablo II Ships World Wide - Mark @ 22:45 EST

Free Shipping on Klipsch ProMedia - Mark @ 22:37 EST

If you have been considering ordering the Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400 now might be the right time as they are offering free UPS Ground shipping for continental US deliveries and if you order two system they are throwing in a pair of WB-1 wall brackets. You can check out the following page for details.

Terminus In Stores, 1.2 Patch and Demo - Mark @ 22:28 EST

A 1.2 patch that address a few problems includiing adding a force software mixing option, snd_force_softmix, to work around bad soundcards (that's what they said..."bad soundcards" ;). They have also released and an updated 1.2 demo for Terminus has been released. The last time it was up the game was on Aureal's list for A3D 1.x support and it will also support DS3D, but I am unsure if the demo will support either. I am trying to download the updated demo right now to find out. According to Voodoo Extreme, the game should be in stores right now. Terminus takes place across our Solar System 200 years in the future. Space colonization has just begun and both Earth and Mars enjoy unprecedented prosperity. Then, it happens! Ancient alien technology is discovered which allows instantaneous travel among far-flung destinations, and the course of human history is changed forever. Players fly, trade, shoot, or steal their way through a single or multiplayer campaign bumping into hundreds of independently-acting characters and ships controlled by Artificial Intelligence (AI), and interact with 19 fully-equipped and schematically accurate space stations.

New Half-Life Patch Released - Mark @ 21:54 EST

Valve has released a 1.1.0.0 to 1.1.0.1 patch (1.6 Megs)as well as a new 1.1.0.1 from anything patch, both of which you can grab from 3Dfiles. This patch addresses a number of issues but unfortunately the sound issue is not one of them. If you are having problems getting 3D audio with Half-Life subsequent to the latest couple of patches the temporary solution from Sierra Tech support is very simple. Each time you start the game you have to go into the audio configuration options and unselected then reselect your audio mode of choice then resume the game and you will have working 3D audio. If you want to discuss this problem you can Palm Brand Products to Feature Secure Digital (SD) Card Slot for Expansion - Mikael @ 09:00 EST

Palm yesterday announced that it will include the SD Card slot in future Palm(TM) branded products in early 2001. Users will be able to plug in cards to make backup copies of their data; to access digital media like electronic books, maps or MP3 files; or use an SD Card with Bluetooth for wireless connectivity.

The SD Card, established by leaders Matsushita Electric (Panasonic), SanDisk, Toshiba and supported by a 60+ company consortium, is the fifth type of hardware expansion technology the Palm OSr platform will support. Since the SD Card is also compatible with existing multimedia Cards (MMC), customers will be able to use these cards in SD-equipped devices when they debut. SanDisk released their own press release of this deal as well

It may sound not like an exciting or even surprising announcement but according to a CNET story Palm risks alienating two of its leading partners (Sony and Handspring) since this new format isn't compatible with the Memory Stick technology that Sony introduced or Handspring's proprietary expansion slot.

New MP3 players with Built-In Clik! Drives - Mikael @ 08:44 EST

Iomega Corporation yesterday announced that the first Clik!(TM)-based portable digital media player (RaveMP 2300) from Sensory Science Corporation (AMEX:VCR) will begin shipping next month. The major advantage with Click! Drives is that one 40MB Clik! disk costs about $10 (when you buy a 10-pack) while a 32MB flash card is closer to $100, according to Iomega. Sensory Science released their own press release about the player which includes a lot more detail of the RaveMP 2300.

Iomega also released a press release about other companies that decided they will use Iomeaga's Click!Drive. To make the day complete Iomega announced their own MP3 player that will ship this fall.

New Global Interactive Portal For Musicians - Mikael @ 08:44 EST

mp3Collaborator announced yesterday it will launch the Internet's first global interactive music portal for all musicians, engineers, DJs, writers, producers, agents, fans and others at http://www.mp3Collaborator.com. mp3Collaborator.com will enable artists worldwide and across all genres to safely and securely create music online for free using the mp3 compression format no matter how much digital music experience they have. Collaboration requires no extra software. You can find more details in the press release

New Midiland MK-01 Review & Neoseeker's Giveaway - Mark @ 08:12 EST

Neeoseeker has posted a review of MidiLand's excellent industry standard speaker wall mount, the MK-01. They have also launched a big reopening contest with some excellent prizes includes sound systems from MidiLand so be sure to check that out as well. While you are at it don't forget to enter our own contest where you can win a Dolby Digital system from MidiLand and a whole lot more.

Flatland removed Aureal A3D support - Mark @ 08:06 EST

Not sure how many people use the Flatland Rover rich media player that uses Flatland's web publishing format, 3DML (Three Dimensional Markup Language) but there appears to be one less reason to use it now. Travis Howell (formerly of A3D Central fame) reports that when he upgraded to Flatland Rover 1.5.2 he was imformed that Aureal A3D support had been removed in 2.0 due to performance reasons. Maybe the performance reasons were no one at Aureal to do the code for them as it seemed to work just fine in previous versions...

Half-Life Patch Coming - Mark @ 07:46 EST

I saw the following over at Voodoo Extreme courtesy of Valve's Doug Lombardi:

Valve will release HL Update 1.1.0.1 tomorrow at 11 am PST. The update includes improvements for graphic card issues, connection problems, game rules exploit problems, as well as resource and performance issues. Players can update their version via Half-Life's Auto Update feature or traditional download.

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