News:  August 7 - 13, 2000

Sunday, August 13, 2000

UT Issues - Version 428 - Mark @ 22:14 EST

We saw the following two known issues listed for UT v428. The A3D 2.0 bit is nothing new and as I have mentioned before, I think the solution is also overly drastic as if you get an unacceptable performance hit you can disable reflections by entering s_reflect 0 at the console and regain most of the lost fps while still keeping 3D sound. For more on the performance of A3D in UT you can check out our demo benchmarking numbers. Getting back to the known issues, here is what they say:

Using the latest release (July '00) of SBLive Win2K drivers from Creative may cause framerate hitches and distorted sound in UT for some users.

A3D adds a LOT of overhead to the sound occlusion calculations. We recommend you turn off 3D sound because of this, as many users have experienced extreme frame rate stuttering. We are looking into this. You can disable it in Advanced Options.

Xitel MD-Port AN1 Review - Mark @ 11:43 EST

3D Game Force has posted a review of Xitel's MD-Port AN1. The MD-Port AN1 is a device that allows you to send MP3s and CD tracks (or any other audio source from the PC) to your MD recorder analog connection via the PC's USB bus. Like the few other reviews I have seen of this product, the comments are very positive. One comment. I have not tested the unit but I think that you should be able to leave it connected all the time and switch between it and your normal sound card from within the windows multimedia properties.
News Source: Speedy3D

GeForce DVD Tweak Guide - Mark @ 11:30 EST

Speed3D has posted a short GeForce DVD Tweak Guide that of course looks at picture quality, and not sound.
News Source: Hardware Unlimited

Boston Acoustics BA4800 Review - Mark @ 11:22 EST

Hardware Unlimited has posted a review of Boston Acoustics' BA4800 4.1 speaker system. As you might expect, they were very impressed. For more on why you can read their review and for a second, also very positive opinion, you can check out our own review of the BA4800s.
News Source: Blue's News

Baldur's Gate II Hands-On Preview - Mark @ 11:12 EST

Firing Squad has posted a hands one preview of the upcoming role playing game, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Absolutely no mention of audio, but its a slow news day and we now that the first Baldur's Gate game supported EAX (no 3D sound) and this one should support DS3D with EAX 2.0. For more on the aural aspects of the game you can check out a recent interview on Creative Lab's EAX site with Dave Chan of Bioware who is working on Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Here's a snip from that interview:

Q: How are you using audio or audio effects to enhance the gameplay in Baldur's Gate II?

A: Audio is a BIG part of the world of Baldur's Gate II, we are using EAX to enhance the experience and make the audio atmosphere richer. I work with Charles Deenen at Interplay, and we have both said that sound should hit the player at a gut level and that it should enhance and support the rest of the game. To see what I mean, try playing one of the more epic battles in the original Baldur's Gate without sound!

Saturday, August 12, 2000

Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2 Demo - Mark @ 21:26 EST

A 72.4 MB demo has been released Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2. F.A.K.K.2 is a 3D action\adventure experience that merges the twisted visions of the 70s cult classic Heavy Metal with the limitless interactive possibilities of your PC. Powered by id Software's Quake III technology, F.A.K.K.2 delivers detailed renderings of indoor and outdoor settings with stunning realism. Battle your way through surreal landscapes armed with powerful and sinister weaponry against a cast of freakish characters who create unique situations each time you play. You can grab the demo from 3Dfiles. As you may have read in our report from PascaL, the full version of FAKK2 has support for DS3D with EAX 1.0 or 2.0 and A3D but I am not sure what version of A3D at this point. The Q3A engine had A3D 2.0 support but no DS3D with EAX support so we can't assume A3D = A3D 2.0 with wavetracing. I am also not yet sure what support is built in to the demo but will download it tonight to check. If you know the answer for sure on either sound support in the demo or API versions in the retail game, please let us know.

MDK 2 Patches - Mark @ 21:19 EST

Patches are available for the OEM and North American version of MDK2 as well as for the demo. A European patch will be coming next week. Simply hit the "Get Update" button on the MDK2 Launcher to patch your copy of MDK2 or grab it from 3Dfiles. MDK 2 supports DS3D with EAX 2.0

Clusterball Add-on Released - Mark @ 10:44 EST

DayDream Software has made the first Venuepack (a level add-on pack for the base game) for their A3D supporting multiplayer action game, Clusterball, available for purchase. This venuepack contains the three new venues (maps) Metropolactica, Taj Mahal and Antarctica and you can purchase and download venuepack #1 for $14.95. The free base game (which includes to full venues) as well as the new venuepack from www.clusterball.com
News source: Voodoo Extreme

Put a heatsink on the Live - Mikael @ 10:40 EST

I don't think there is any reason to do this but if you are interested you can check out Insane Hardware's article about how they managed to install a heatsink on the Live and what effect it had.

New sound effects for Q3A - Mikael @ 05:53 EST

If you want to replace the Q3A sound effects you should check out Mindgrid Audio which is a complete sound effect replacement for Quake 3 Arena. Worth noting that it won't work in multiplayer mode if you are using a dedicated server unless the server have installed the Mindgrid audio pack.

Judge release the details on the Napster shutdown order - Mikael @ 05:53 EST

Judge Marilyn Hall Patel has released the details of her decision ordering Napster to remove all copyrighted files, something Napster lawyers said would mean a complete shut down of Napster. In case you missed it the shutdown order took place 3 weeks ago but that order was quickly put on temporary hold by an appeals court. Napster will submit its first legal papers laying out why it thinks Patel was wrong next week and the appeals court will then decide if they find Patel's conclusions convincing enough to not grant Napster a stay until the final ruling takes place later this year. According to News.com Patel's documents on why she ordered the injunction "shows that the company will have a high legal hill to climb". You can find more details of Patel's conclusion in News.com's report

Friday, August 11, 2000

AIWA's New DVD Player Can Play MP3-Encoded CDs - Mikael @ 18:24 EST

An upgraded DVD player line debuts from AIWA this month, including a unit that plays MP3-encoded CDs and a compact transportable model. The new AIWA XD-DV370 that can play MP3-encoded CDs retails for $300.

The transportable model, XD-DV170 retails for $350 and is ideal for consumers who might want a player that's easily moved from one TV to another, or from one house to another @ a vacation home, for example. You can find more details about the XD-DV170 and the XD-DV370 in the press release

13 Exclusive Audio Genre Walkthroughs - Mikael @ 18:23 EST

For everyone who has ever secretly wondered what the difference was between abstract and downtempo but was afraid to ask, Epitonic.com, has launched an exclusive collection of audio genre walkthroughs. For more info read the press release

Audiovox MP-1000 Review - Mikael @ 16:47 EST

Neoseeker has posted a review of Audiovox' $180 portable MP3 Player, MP-1000. The features are pretty much in line with the first generation MP3 players using a parallel port interface, backlit LCD, treble/bass settings and 32MB memory expandable to 64 using a MultiMediaCard. The review doesn't mention if it can update the firmware to support other formats than MP3s but I would guess not. Where the player excels according to the review is the audio quality even when using the bundled earbuds. Not far behind Creative's Nomad II that offers the best audio quality Neoseeker has tried so far. The talks quite a bit of the audio quality, the treble/bass settings and the controls where they complained about lag and non standard reverse function.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Meltdown 2000: DirectX 8 report (updated) - Mikael @ 16:46 EST

Update:Vortex of Sound's David Gasior just let us know that DirectX8 will feature support for I3DL2 even though it is not currently part of the Developer Preview
Sharky Extreme has posted a 5 page report about what they learned about DirectX8 during Meltdown (MS developer conference) this year. It's almost exclusively about new features in D3D with only this short bit about new sound features:

Direct Sound
Direct Sound is the, believe it or not, sound portion of DirectX. There is one major change to Direct Sound.

DirectPlay Voice
DirectPlay Voice is a voice over IP add-on for DirectX. It will enable software developers to standardize on a method of voice communication over the Internet. This should be very useful in online team-based games.

Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2 review - Mikael @ 16:19 EST

3Drage.com has posted their review of Ritual's 3rd person shooter Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2. As several other reviews they think the game play, controls, sound effects and especially the graphics is great or excellent but complain about no multiplayer and that it takes less than 10 hours to play through it and not much replay value. Here's the usual sound snip:

F.A.K.K. 2 compliments the wonderful visuals that you've seen in the screenshots with excellent sound effects and impressive musical score. Audible clues are present throughout the game, giving players who listen to their surroundings an advantage over enemies, as you can prepare for their arrival insread of bring the victim of a surprise attack. Monsters will give an intimidating roar before the initial attack, as well as screech in pain when the player inflicts damage. Juie will occasionally give a little commentary of her own, but it's few and far between. The musical score properly sets the tone depending on the surrounding events and atmosphere, and you'll hear some heavy metal women's band during the menu screen.

Messiah review - Mikael @ 14:34 EST

Womengamers has posted a review of Messiah. Like several others but not all reviewers they found the gameplay difficult and didn't have much fun with the game even though they had some good things to say about the concept, graphics and sound. Here's the music/sound bit:

The soundtrack for this game is screaming! The music was done by Fear Factory, and they did an excellent job of producing a sound that was both intense and invigorating. The programmers also incorporated it into the gameplay wisely. In the event that you suddenly needed to start running or dropping into action mode, the background noise would suddenly turn to music and get you more involved with what was going on. The sounds in the game were also appropriate for what was going on. In addition, there is some dialogue involved, but it is hard to hear and difficult to understand, at best.

TeamFortress 2 chat log - Mikael @ 14:34 EST

TF2Source has posted a nicely edited log of the chat with Valvesoftware about TeamFortress 2 that took place on VoodooExtreme last night. Here's a couple of audio related bits:

Q. Will TF2 have options to play CDs (like HL) and MP3s perhaps?
A. Yes. MP3 are something we think about from time to time. It'd be a pet project for a programmer if we do it. Things like MP3 decoding, though, are a CPU hit that takes careful consideration.
[snip]
Q. Are you going to incorporate the tf2 voice technology in the upcoming patches of tfc to test it out?
A. Hell yes.
[snip]
Q. Will there be a mute option on the voice-over-net?
A. Yes. We think handling voice appropriately requires thinking about a bunch more issues, though, including how many people should talk at one time, and if there's a conflict for channels, who gets cut off. Voice is mostly a game design issue when you think about it that way. Being able to mute individual players is just common sense.

Analog Devices Incorporates Dolby Headphone in New Chipset - Mikael @ 06:19 EST

Analog Devices has announced that it will include Dolby Headphone technology on its new Melody chipset, the ADSST-MELODY-1000. This is the first hardware-based, standalone solution of Dolby Headphone to be certified.

Dolby Headphone, a patented technology developed by Lake Technology and licensed to Dolby Laboratories, is a unique signal processing system that enables any pair of stereo headphones to realistically portray the sound of a 5.1-loudspeaker playback system. The technology can be incorporated into any type of audio or video product normally featuring a headphone outlet. You can find more info about the chipset that is expected to be used in upcoming DVD players in the press release. You can also check out a separate press release where they announced that Dolby has certified Analog devices Dolby Headphone implementation.

In terms of Dolby Headphone, you can also find additional information by going to the search page in our news database

Official Daikatana Pack 2 - Mikael @ 05:32 EST

Ion Storm has released the Daikatana map pack (18MB). The pack includes 11 new multiplayer maps, made by the Daikatana team. Daikatana is supposed to support 3D sound in a future patch but is currently just stereo.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

ESS Technology Adds Enhanced Audio Processing Capabilities to New DVD Solutions - Mikael @ 05:29 EST

ESS Technology has announced the immediate availability of its Swan II® Plus family of DVD solutions with enhanced audio processing capabilities. ESS's Swan family of digital video products includes a highly integrated digital video chip and software solution. In addition to the rich feature-set previous offered by ESS Swan® family of DVD solutions, the Swan II® Plus family offers additional new features such as full DTS® decode, HDCD® decode, Dolby Prologic® backward compatibility, 7-band digital audio equalizer, and CRL® speaker virtualization capabilities. I don't know what features the previous Swan offered but I guess Dolby Digital was one of them.

QSound Reports Second Quarter Results - Mikael @ 05:23 EST

QSound Labs reported second quarter revenues of $1,199,000, up 53% from the same quarter in 1999 and 44% sequentially. For the second quarter, operating profit was $102,000 as compared to a loss of $247,000 in 1999. They also mentioned that their our audio division was profitable for the second quarter in a row. You can find more details in the press release

Thursday, August 10, 2000

MX400 update - Mikael @ 16:26 EST

I tried to ask S3 if this means the daughtercard that was supposed to offer MP3 encoding will never be released and if they have any estimate of when they will stop selling the MX400 at retail. I got the following reply:

S3 will continue to supply and support its OEM customers, channel partners and end-users for the existing line of Diamond Multimedia-branded PC graphics add-in cards, but will cease development of follow-on products. At this time, I do not know when the MX400 will stop being sold in the retail channel.

Xbox System Software Overview - Mikael @ 16:24 EST

Xbox365.com has posted an Xbox System Software Overview article which they say are a leaked document from the XDK. Don't see any major news but could still be interesting to check out. Here's the audio bit:

The audio APIs for the Xbox game system are based on subsets of Microsoft® DirectSound® and Microsoft® DirectMusic®, from DirectX 8.0. Audio streaming will not be based on Microsoft® DirectShow®, however. Instead, an Xbox-specific audio streaming API will be implemented for high quality CD playback without skipping, and without undue CPU utilization. The following features are supported by the Xbox audio APIs:
 WAV files
 MIDI playback
 Interactive music
 Microsoft Windows Media™ (WMA) files
 3D sound

There is no support for Redbook audio or random instruments.

Echelon will support 3D sound - Mikael @ 15:56 EST

Betabites has done a preview of Bethesda's "3D turbocharged, adrenaline pumping combat flight sim" Echelon. Here's a couple interesting bits:

Combat is fast-paced and pounding. You will be fighting enemy pilots in the air and on the ground. As you complete each mission in a campaign, you'll rise up through the ranks, taking on more responsibility and tougher missions. With some missions you will be the one planning and directing the attack.
[snip]
Sound has not been neglected in this game either. Not only do you hear gun fire, explosions and the computer, but you hear the little touches. Stop firing for a moment, and you will hear cooling rushing into your cannons. Hover over water for a moment, then hit full thrust, you will hear the sound of water being thrusted away. All of this is done in 3D sound as well.

Diablo II MP3 of the Week - Mikael @ 15:47 EST

Blizzard has posted another Diablo II MP3 of the week. This one is titled Rogue' and just like the other weeks the MP3 is released together with some linear notes from the composer.

New VIA 4-in-1 drivers - Mikael @ 14:19 EST

VIA has released Version 4.24 of their 4-in-1 drivers. Just mentioning it because new chipset drivers sometimes fix audio issues like crackling.
News Source: Anandtech

KISS supports 3D sound using DS3D - Mikael @ 14:05 EST

With not a single review even mentioning if KISS supports 3D sound or not I decided to check with the developers (Third Law Interactive) and got the following reply:

His [The audio designers] response was that Psycho Circus supports 3D positional audio through DirectSound 3D. There is not proprietary support for A3D or EAX Environmental Audio in the game.

Rally Masters Patch - Mark @ 12:28 EST

Digital Illusions has released a patch (v. 3.0) for Rally Masters. The last time we checked (more than a year ago) Digital Illusions said the game would support DS3D with EAX 2.0 and A3D 2.0 with wavetracing and the CD music would be mixed in Dolby Surround. The official site mentions support for 3D sound and real time reverb effects. You can grab the 2 MB patch from 3Dfiles. For some more on the sound system you can check out Mikael's post from yesterday.

ZapMedia, Amplified and Muze to Deliver Content and Merchandizing Solutions - Mark @ 12:18 EST

ZapMedia.com, Inc. an Atlanta-based next generation convergence company, has announced agreements with Amplified Holdings, Inc., a leading online business-to-business fulfillment service for entertainment products and digital media services provider and Muze, Inc., a leading independent provider of music and movie information content and merchandising solutions. ZapMedia will integrate Muze's databases of music and movies into the ZapMedia Portal(SM)--allowing customers to research artist, track, title, and biographical and editorial text. In addition, ZapMedia entered an agreement with Amplified Holdings, Inc. to provide a product fulfillment solution that includes a selection of over 250,000 CD and DVD titles as well as the delivery of purchases by ZapMedia customers. Amplified will also license its Audiofile database, allowing consumers to search for their favorite entertainment titles from a full-range of product offerings. The ZapMedia ecosystem defines a new standard for Internet-driven, interactive entertainment appliances. According to the release, the ZapMedia Engine (ZME) computing platform allows consumers to connect to the ZapMedia Portal and use ZapAccess to experience their media content from a ZapStation or any supporting, Zap-enabled device. With the click of a button people will serve up music, movies, television, the Internet, and email using ZapMedia's co-branded products and services. This total solution is portable across a variety of consumer electronics platforms, including home entertainment appliances, car stereos, cell phones, and Personal Digital Assistants, and enables synchronization with these devices. Consequently, consumers can access their multimedia assets anywhere, anytime from a ``Powered by ZapMedia'' device--turning nearly every possible technology appliance type, whether hand-held or installed--into a universal media player. For more details you can check out the press release as well as an article entitled "New music box plays into frenzy for MP3s" over at C/Net News.

Microsoft SideWinder Game Voice Share Software Released - Mark @ 07:51 EST

Microsoft has announced the launch of Game Voice Share, a free limited-feature downloadable version of its upcoming gaming device software. Game Voice Share allows gamers to try out the voice chat functionality well before the product hits store shelves. It is available for download at www.gamevoice.com, the new Web site devoted to the device. In addition to Game Voice Share, the site features the latest news and information, as well as details on the device's technology and voice commands. Voodoo Extreme has a PR posted with the full announcement. While checking the official site I also saw that Microsoft strongly recommends that all Game Voice and Game Voice Share users download a Direct Sound update that they say will greatly improve your ability to use voice chat with most games. I am not sure if that applies to other voice chat technology but if you are using something else and find that your chat audio becomes muted you might want to give it a try. You can find details of the patch at the main Game Voice link above. For a bit more background on Game Voice you can also check out these older press releases:

Plantronics Lightweight Stereo PC Headset Selected to Complete Microsoft's New SideWinder Game Voice Offering

Microsoft in Tune With Gamers' Senses

D-Link DMP-100 Portable MP3 Player Review - Mikael @ 07:36 EST

PCinsight has posted their impressions of D-Link's Portable MP3 Player, DMP-100. 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 a bit about bundled earbuds and that it just like the Cabo MP3 player I reviewed this one has a bug when it comes to displaying the time of MP3s with variable bit rates. Overall he found it to be pretty good even though the audio quality is behind his Discman. Other reviewers have been more impressed with the sound quality and Hardware masters said it matched their diskman CD player (which isn't the best CD player though). Can be worth noting that according to other reviews this MP3 player can be found for less than $150 and it doesn't support Windows2000.
News Source: Anandtech

Shuttle 10x DVD-ROM review - Mikael @ 07:04 EST

BX Boards has posted a review of Shuttle's 10x DVD-ROM drive. The review includes CD-ROM tests, CD-audio ripping speed and some very brief but positive impressions of the bundled PowerDVD. Couple other interesting bits is that the review mentions it features a digital CD output and that it had some serious load time issues using Windows 2000.
News Source: Anandtech

Rio 500 MP3 Player - Mikael @ 07:04 EST

TargetPC has posted a review of Diamond's Rio 500 MP3 Player. The Rio 500 includes the features you expect from a second generation MP3 player including USB port, 64 MB memory (expandable to 80MB according to this review others said 128MB), upgradeable firmware (allows it to support other formats than MP3s in the future), back lit LCD display, supports the audible format, equalizer presets, custom bass and treble. The relatively short review thinks this is the best player available, especially the software, and only complained it can not handle a 32 or 64 MB flash memory card. Most if not all other reviews I've seen also found the Rio 500 to be a good player but many have unlike this review complained about the software.
News Source: Anandtech

Triloka Records selects Music Exchange DRM technology for secure digital music delivery - Mikael @ 06:41 EST

J. River, a Digital Rights Management solution provider, has announced a strategic relationship with Triloka Records, one of the leading purveyors of World Music, to enable secure digital delivery of CD-quality music content. Using J. River’s MUSIC EXCHANGE technology, Triloka will make its entire catalog of year 2000 releases available for download, preview, and purchase at a cost of $.99 a track. Downloads are in the form of MusicEx files, which contain cover art and notes, as well as music. You can find more details in the full press release

Napster Hoopla Has Little Effect on Sales of Portable MP3 Players - Mikael @ 06:41 EST

Sales of portable MP3 players remained flat in the last three weeks of July, according to data compiled by OneChannel.net, the Web-based e-commerce measurement and analysis hub for retailers and manufacturers. Despite the increasing popularity of downloadable MP3 music files, data from OneChannel.net's participating retailers indicates that sales of portable MP3 players saw no significant increase during the recent media frenzy regarding Napster's file sharing technology. Some additional data and link to the full report can be found in the press release

Compaq will show off a MP3 player next week - Mikael @ 06:28 EST

News.com reports that Compaq will next unveil its strategy for producing Internet appliances. One of these appliances is a home unit for playing MP3 files, the iPaq music player. In the article you can find some analysis to this but no details about the MP3 player.

Tribes 2 interview - Mikael @ 06:28 EST

Ga-Source has posted an interview with writer Blake Hutchins about Tribes 2. In the interview you will find a short description of the game, the importance of the plot, the number of missions, the environments, the Tribes 2 engine, new multiplay features and a lot more including this bit about the sound:

What part will sound play in the game?

Huge. We're hoping to have 3D sound that will let you triangulate on enemies by the sound of their approach or their weapons. We believe sound is one of the key immersive elements of a great game, so we're putting a lot of effort into ambient environmental sounds, from birds on the lush world to the breathing and armor hum of your own character.

It's official: Eidos has bought the Thief Franchise - Mikael @ 06:14 EST

Eidos has now officially announced they bought the Thief franchise for the PC and PlayStation® 2. Eidos also announced that the Thief franchise will be developed in the Austin, Texas offices of Ion Storm and will be led by Warren Spector, who contributed on the original Thief: The Dark Project. Warren has also produced other highly praised titles including System Shock, Ultima Underworld, and most recently, Deus Ex. I think he left long time before Thief was done so doubtful if many of his ideas went into that game. You can read the full press release over at TTLG.com.

For more Thief 3 news you should check out Gamespot's interview with Warren. It's still very early in development so not much info yet. Here's a taste:

GS: Has it been decided whether the engine that Looking Glass was developing for Thief 3 will be used or if a third-party engine will be licensed for the game?

WS: "Decided" would be too strong a word, but given that the Looking Glass engine team has scattered to the four winds, it doesn't seem terribly likely we'll be finishing the LG engine. And, to date, the Austin office hasn't built an engine team, so we don't really have the desire to get into that - at this time, we're focused on content creation. My guess is that we'll license the engine that gets us closest to what we need for a Thief game and then replace the bits that aren't Thief-like.

Having said that, we're well aware that there isn't an engine in the world that offers the combination of sound propagation, object interaction, and stealth-oriented AI that made Thief work. Anything we license will likely be rewritten pretty heavily in these and other areas. And before anyone asks, we understand that the Deus Ex approach to stealth (just one of many approaches available to players) won't work for a razor-sharp-focus game like Thief. Whatever engine we use, we'll do the work necessary to make the game play the way a Thief game must.

GS: Will any of the former members of the Looking Glass Thief team join the new development effort?

WS: Yes. Some have already signed on. Others have offered to consult, if nothing more. We're still talking to a few ex-LG'ers. Look for more specific information soon.

Boston Acoustics Multimedia Products to be Sold by Best Buy - Mikael @ 05:56 EST

Boston Acoustics has announced an agreement with Best Buy, the nation's leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software and appliances, to display and sell Boston Acoustics' multimedia products. Boston Acoustics multimedia products will be featured in all 365 Best Buy locations throughout the United States by mid-August.

Sensory Science Shipping World's First Clik! Drive MP3 Player - Mikael @ 05:55 EST

Sensory Science Corporation has announced it is shipping its rave:mp 2300 portable Internet media player to retailers throughout the United States. The rave:mp 2300 incorporates Iomega Corporation's Clik!(TM) drive technology as the removable storage solution for the download and playback of music and other data from their PC or the Internet. Competing flash memory expansion cards cost consumers approximately $100 (U.S.) for one 32MB card, while rave:mp 2300 users can purchase inexpensive 40MB Clik!(TM) disks for an estimated price of $9.99 (U.S.) each. You can check out the press release for more details

Wednesday, August 09, 2000

S3/Diamond will also shutdown the Soundcard business - Mikael @ 20:31 EST

Last week we mentioned that S3 will shutdown its Graphics Board Business. I have now got a confirmation from S3's Heather Stanger (PR Co-ordinator for the Multimedia division) that the shutdown of the graphics board business does include the sound cards as well. Not sure how much of a threat Diamond posed to Creative Labs after they split ways with Aureal but at least they had some major retail presence. Of the ones left I think only Guillemot and Turtle Beach are well known brands among gamers.

Rollcage Stage2 1.0c Patch - Mark @ 18:18 EST

Psygnosis has released a new patch for the DS3D with EAX supporting Rollcage Stage II. Nothing audio related and you can see the latest fixes as well as grab the patch over at 3dfiles.

Extended Range Of Videologic Products In Comet Stores Now - Mark @ 18:09 EST

VideoLogic Systems has announced that Comet is extending its coverage of VideoLogic's PC product range following the successful launch of VideoLogic's DigiTheatre DTS in 150 Comet stores. Comet is Britain's original out-of-town electrical retailer and the second largest electrical retail chain in the UK market. As well as the 150 Comet stores now stocking DigiTheatre DTS from their Audio and TV departments, selected Comet stores will also be carrying VideoLogic's DVD Player MPEG2 decoder card, Sirocco and Sirocco Spirit speakers, HomeC@m web-camera and VideoLogic soundcards. DVD Player will be available from 180 Comet stores across the UK and Sirocco Spirit will be available from 134 stores. DigiTheatre DTS, Sirocco, HomeC@m and soundcards will be available from selected Comet Destination and Superstores. For more details you can check out the full press release as well as a separate press release announcing that Comet is carrying the DigiTheatre DTS.

Wherehouse Music and BroadcastDVD Ink Deal to Distribute DVDzine - Mark @ 18:01 EST

BroadcastDVD has signed a deal with Wherehouse Music to distribute 250,000 copies of 750 MPH, its progressive rock DVZINE, as a point of purchase give-away in over 500 Wherehouse Music retail stores in the US starting Jan. 2, 2001. By integrating cutting-edge DVD technology with seamless Web functionality and compelling content and editorial coverage, BroadcastDVD delivers a whole new entertainment medium. The premiere issue of 750 MPH will include over two hours of music, music videos, live performances, interviews and profiles of today's hottest artists. In addition to existing and original footage of showcased artists, 750 MPH will offer new movie trailers, hilarious short films and the latest video game samplers geared to the progressive rock fan. For some additional details on this interesting concept you can check out the full press release.

'Space Cowboys' Mixed at Skywalker Sound on Euphonix System 5 - Mark @ 17:57 EST

Re-recording of the new Warner Bros. summer release ``Space Cowboys'' was recently completed at Skywalker Sound on a large-format System 5 High Performance Digital Film Console. Designed to handle a wide cross section of applications, System 5 is targeted towards post-production, music recording and on-air broadcast customers that require greater than 100 channel paths of full digital signal processing. Skywalker Sound recently installed a pair of System 5 film consoles; the larger system, used to mix ``Space Cowboys,'' features 320 fully-resourced channels with parametric EQ, dynamics, insert points, auxiliary sends, multichannel routing and multi-format panning in each signal path, plus 96 on-surface faders. For some more details on the Euphonix System 5 and on the impressive Skywalker Ranch you can check out the full press release.

InterVideo Delivers Support for Panasonic 4.7GB DVD-RAM - Mark @ 17:52 EST

Panasonic and InterVideo have announced that InterVideo's complete product line of DVD and MPEG-2 video editing, production and playback solutions support Panasonic 4.7GB DVD-RAM drives and media. With the products users can capture and compress MPEG-2 video, add audio and special effects, edit the materials, and output the video to a rewritable, removable DVD-RAM disc for up to 2 hours of video playback. InterVideo's personal and professional video editing and authoring products include WinDVR, WinDVD, WinCoder and LinDVD. Used with Panasonic's recently announced DVD-RAM drives, completed feature-length (2 hour) business and home videos can be stored on a 4.7GB single-sided bare disc. Videos can be played back on Panasonic's DVD-RAM drives and newer-generation DVD-ROM drives. For details on the various components in the InterVideo product line you can check out the full press release as well as the following related PRs that we have recently posted:

Panasonic to Launch First Consumer DVD Video Recorder; DVD-RAM Technology Produces Next Step in Video Recording

Good Guys to Introduce Panasonic DVD Video Recorder

Panasonic Announces Volume Shipping of 4.7GB DVD-RAM Drives and Media At PC Expo

Creative Audio Solutions Offered in HP Pavilion Home PCs - Mark @ 17:42 EST

Creative has announced that Hewlett-Packard Company will offer the Creative Sound Blaster® AudioPCI 128 in its full range of HP Pavilion home PCs in both mainstream retail and BTO (build-to-order) products. The Sound Blaster Live! Value and Cambridge SoundWorks FourPointSurround FPS2000 Digital will also be offered as an upgrade on specific BTO HP Pavilion PCs. For more details you can check out the full press release. You can also find reviews of the FPS2000 and several SB Live models in our review index.

Intel and Panasonic Introduce Secure Music Solution - Mark @ 17:36 EST

Intel Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., best known in the United States by its Panasonic brand name, announced they have jointly developed a set of software products for securely managing music on personal computers and transferring music to portable music players and storage media. The software is designed to help companies that make consumer electronics devices (such as portable Internet music players) and PC music jukebox applications, as well as electronic music distribution system providers. The jointly developed software solution is now available. In Japan, Panasonic has already started selling two SD-audio player models, which include the new software technologies. Panasonic will use this software with several kinds of SD-Card-enabled music playback devices, such as SD-audio players and mini-DV Camcorders with SD Memory-card slots. For quite a few more details you can check out the full press release. For some analysis to this announcement you can check out this News.com article

Dell Offering Turtle Beach Santa Cruz - Mark @ 17:33 EST

Jeff "wumpus" Atwood from Gamebasement dropped us a line to say that he got a flyer from Dell and noticed that there is an option to select the TB Santa Cruz as an option on their Dimension desktop systems. If you want to see for yourself you can check out Dell.

Rally Masters has gone gold - Mikael @ 17:26 EST

Digital Illusions latest racing sim has, Rally Masters, has gone gold and should be in stores in September according to Avault. I think the game has already been released in Europe so this is just North America release by Infogrames. Digital Illusions was the developer of Motorhead that supported A3D 2.0 with wavetracing and DS3D with EAX. Using the latest drivers both the wavetracing and EAX are broken and EAX never worked on other cards than the Live as far as I know. Basic 3D sound should still work with that game. Last time we checked (more than a year ago) Digital Illusion said the game would support DS3D with EAX 2.0 and A3D 2.0 with wavetracing. The CD music would be mixed in Dolby Surround. A preview by Avault in May 99 had the following bit on the audio:

The concern about audio quality is as high as that about visual quality (certainly not always the case in this genre). First of all, there is full support for both the A3D and EAX 3D sound standards. Special sound techniques employed include: sample tiling, which is randomly combining sounds to give a feeling of greater realism; real-time reverb in tunnels and narrow passages; changing car noises depending on the view selected; special crash and crowd sound effects; and Doppler effects that change the nature of sounds depending on an object's speed and distance from the listener. In addition, there are ten specially written techno-tunes as background music for the game.

Breakneck Review - Mikael @ 17:18 EST

Neoseeker has posted a rather mixed review of Breakneck. The reviewer found the graphics to be excellent and he also liked the gameplay overall despite some complaints about the physics engine's lack of control and reliability. Other parts that got a lot of complaint was the confusing menu system and the below average sound effects:

It appears that all the excess time the developers spent making the advanced graphics engine created a lack in the sound. Car engine sounds appear to have been modeled after a gas powered lawn mower on steroids. With a constant loud buzz from a whiny engine, it wasn't long before I was looking through the menu to lower the engine volume control. The background music was thankfully better, and provided some good tempo music that I found was really easy to get into and do some hard driving.

Doom3 FAQ & sound track article - Mikael @ 16:20 EST

DoomWorld has kicked up an unofficial FAQ for id's upcoming Doom 3. Here's the sound bit:

Unlike previous id Software games, Doom 3 will have a programmer dedicated to the sound code. This suggests that Doom 3 will feature full EAX and A3D compatibility, as well as more nifty features which we can only imagine at the moment.

Weapons Factory Arena v1.1 released - Mikael @ 15:48 EST

A new version (1.1) of the Q3A mod Weapons Factory Arena has been released

Vortex2 drivers update - Mikael @ 14:42 EST

When I posted about the 2046 drivers from Turtle Beach I said I didn't think any of the other Vortex2 board makers released their own 2048 drivers either. It turns out that was only correct for Terratec. Xitel has chosen to simply point to Aureal's servers when it comes to drivers while VideoLogic and Absolute Multimedia both offers drivers based on the 2048 reference drivers. I have not tried the new drivers from VideoLogic or Absolute Multimedia but based on previous releases I would guess VideoLogic drivers only differs when it comes to the user interface while Absolute Multimedia just like the other Vortex2 board makers use the exact same interface as Aureal except changing the name of the Vortex control panel. You can find VideoLogic's drivers under support and Absolute Multimedia's from their ftp site

Week in Review - Mikael @ 14:25 EST

We have posted our latest edition of the 3D Audio Week in Review covering July 31 August 6. Links to the previous 3 weeks that we forgot to post last week when we sent it are all available from our Audio Week in Review index page.
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.

New drivers from Terratec - Mikael @ 14:01 EST

Terratec just sent us the current drivers for all their products. Here's what's new since the April update

1. AudioSystem EWS64 L/XL/XXL
   
   1. Windows 95/98: vxd 2.7, drv 2.15, firmware 2.514.2.16
      
   2. ASIO 2.0: v1.1 rc 1
      
   3. SetManager: v3.15
      
   4. Ed!son Instrumenteneditor: v1.9
2. AudioSystem EWS64 L/XL
   1. NT 4.0: v1.8
      
   2. Windows 2000: v1.8
      
   3. Software for Windows 2000 & NT4: v3.0
3. AudioSystem EWS64 S
   1. Windows 95/98: vxd 2.7, drv 2.15, firmware 2.51.
      ASIO 2.0: v1.1 rc 1
4. Xlerate
   1. WIN95/98: 4.05.00.1187
      
   2. NT 4.0: 1.17.01
5. M3PO
   1. Firmware: 2.07

Cambridge SoundWorks Kicks Off Retail Store Expansion - Mark @ 13:07 EST

Cambridge SoundWorks has announced the grand opening of a new retail location in North Reading, Massachusetts. In addition to its North Reading store, Cambridge SoundWorks plans to open other store locations in various regions of the United States in the coming months. Cambridge SoundWorks manufactures over 60 different models of home stereo, home theater, computer speakers and assorted electronics products. It is the largest factory-direct stereo and home theater manufacturer in the US, selling its award-winning stereo speaker products and sound systems in its retail locations operating throughout the United States, at 800-FOR-HIFI and online via sister site www.hifi.com. For additional details you can check out the full press release.

Coming soon...Maxi Sound MUSE - Mark @ 13:00 EST

That's a headline on Guillemot's home page. It's referring to a new $29 card that they will be offering based on the CMI-8738 chip. That's a chip we have never tested before but the specs list support for Central Research Laboratories (Sensaura) HRTF-based 3D positional Audio with support for Microsoft® DirectSound™ 3D, EAX 1.0 and A3D 1.0. It's surprising that a card using Sensaura's tech does not say "Sensaura" and does not show support for EAX 2.0. Thanks to Oreo Cookies (Kevin) for the pointer.

Palm m100 Announced with Snap-on MP3 Feature - Mark @ 12:50 EST

As part of a series of announcements today introducing its new fall product line, Palm, Inc. premiered the stylish, versatile and low-cost Palm m100 handheld computer. The Palm m100 handheld features a small, durable, modern design which enables use of interchangeable fashion faceplates, as well as a full line of accessories and peripherals for further customization. It includes a new Note Pad application that captures handwritten notes, a clock application and a new HotSync cable for connecting and sharing data between a desktop computer and the handheld. The m100 handheld debuts worldwide today at an estimated street price of $149, the company's lowest introductory price point to date. Third-party companies such as Kodak, Northstar Systems and Singapore Shinei Sangyo Pte Ltd. have also announced support of the Palm m100 handheld through snap-on cameras, backup modules, MP3 players and modems. According to the release, the Singapore Shinei Sangyo Group of Companies will be developing a MP3 add-on for the m100, but no word on pricing. For additional details on feature you can check out the full press release.

LW3 & Win2k for SMP machines - Mikael @ 07:42 EST

Thanks to Paul for forwarding the following message posted in Creative Labs Live Newsgroup:

Through received information and testing Creative Technical Support has found the following:

Some users with Live Ware 3.0 for Windows2000 have been experiencing difficulties with Direct Sound and EAX applications using Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) systems. At this time, Live Ware 3.0 for Windows 2000 does not support multi-processor systems.

Creative Labs has verified this situation and is currently researching possible solutions for future Live Ware releases.
Finally, the FAQ at http://www.soundblaster.com/liveware/w2kfaq.asp is in the process of being updated to reflect the current status. Thank you to everyone who supplied Creative Labs with information to assist us in our research.

Mark Kahrs
Creative Tech Support
mkahrs@clok.creaf.com

28 states file suit against the major record labels - Mikael @ 07:31 EST

News.com reports that a coalition of 28 states have filed suit against the major record labels, alleging that they and several U.S. retailers have illegally conspired to prop up the prices of compact discs. The suit follows an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into a similar accusation of CD price fixing. The states claim the major record labels have tried to impose a minimum retail price by levying financial penalties on discount retailers that undercut this minimum price. You can find more details in the News.com article

MPAA lacks evidence in DVD cracking case - Mikael @ 07:31 EST

News.com reports that final legal briefs have been filed in the case against 'zine 2600 and publisher Eric Corley which posted a software program online that allows protected DVDs to be decoded and watched on computers. Hollywood studios say the case could determine the future of the DVD industry. Attorneys for 2600 say that MPAA has not been able to prove that the software has ever been used to copy software and distribute it illegally. They further also claim that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is treading on freedom of expression rights in its efforts to protect its copyrights. You can find more details in News.com's report. According to Reuters the Studios hope the DVD hacker case will be decided in a week.

Still Searching for MidiLand Contest Winners - Mark @ 01:11 EST

Can you believe this one? There were eight winners of the contest the MidiLand sponsored and four of the winners either have a dead email address or have yet to respond to the emails sent to them! Go figure...Anyway, if Charles Worlton, Louie Perkins, Paul Casson or Robert Killingsworth are reading this please contact Gina C at MidiLand right away to claim your prize. Contact details are on the winners page where you can see the full list of winners and prizes as well as find a link to MidiLand's news page for additional MidiLand contests.

SoundWorks Digital Review - Mark @ 01:09 EST

Planet Hardware has posted a review of the Cambridge Soundworks SoundWorks Digital 2.1 speaker system. They had somewhat mixed impressions of the system. I was very surprised that they reported distortion at low volumes as that is definitely not something that ever happened with the system when I tested it for our review. It makes we wonder if they were using MP3s with software equalization (which can distort the audio quality) to do their testing, especially since they say that the sound was crisp and clear for gaming! For more of their impressions of this 2.1 system you can check out the full review and for more of my impressions you can check out our review of the system. Thanks goes out to 703 for the pointer.

Nvidia moving into new market segments - Mark @ 00:31 EST

Electronic Buyer's News has a nice article that takes a look at where Nvidia is going with future product development, including audio and potentially audio on the X-box. Here's a taste:

While a spokesman said the company has no plans to enter the highly competitive consumer graphics-card market, he didn't rule out the possibility that Nvidia could offer more highly integrated boards in the future. Indeed, as it seeks to diversify its product base, the company is actively working on projects to integrate more functions into its graphics chips.

Nvidia clearly is aiming to parlay its Microsoft design win to move its technology into new areas, according to Richard Doherty, an analyst at The Envisioneering Group, Seaford, N.Y. “They're using X-Box as a linchpin to extend their reach into the PC market and to expand into other new applications,” Doherty said.

[snip]

The company is looking for ways to combine graphics with north-bridge logic functions now contained in the microprocessor's core-logic chipset. In the future, Nvidia could integrate the southbridge I/O with audio functions in another chip that would be tightly coupled with the graphics controller.

“You can expect that Nvidia is working on an integrated chip with audio functions,” the company spokesman said.

Tuesday, August 08, 2000

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force interview - Mikael @ 17:43 EST

PlayNOW! has posted an interview with Raven's Project Administrator Kenn Hoekstra about Raven's upcoming game, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Only sound related bit in the interview is this bit about the voice acting:

PN!: It was interesting to read that Kate Mulgrew did all of her takes for the game in one shot. Did you work with the cast directly, or was that done at Paramount studios? Have any of the cast given you any feedback on the game so far?

KH: The voice acting was handled by Activision and Paramount, for the most part, with some direction by Raven's Mike Gummelt, the script writer, and other Raven team members. The team leads listened to the voice auditions for the non-bridge crew and we made our own choices from there. Kate Mulgrew has given us her personal thumbs up on the project and Tim Russ has been heavily involved in promoting the game. Everyone seemed to like what they saw when we showed them the game.

2046 drivers for Montego II Plus, Quadzilla and Home Studio - Mikael @ 13:00 EST

Turtle Beach has posted 2046 beta drivers for Montego II Plus, Montego II Quadzilla and Montego II Home Studio. The 2046 drivers for the Montego II and Montego II VoiceXpress were released mid March as we have previously mentioned.

I have no idea how the 2046 drivers differs from Aureal's 2041 reference drivers other than that the 2041 drivers don't support the daughtercard that ships with the cards mentioned above. Compared to Aureal's 2048 drivers I know the 2046 drivers lack support for EAX, I3DL2 and A3D Geometry reverb. Considering this is the first driver update since the Quadzilla was released more than a year ago I don't think Turtle Beach has any plans to release drivers based on the 2048 reference drivers. Not sure if they went with the 2046 drivers because they started before the 2048 drivers were released or if they just considered the 2048 drivers too buggy. I don't think any other Vortex2 board maker released drivers based on the 2048 either but all other Vortex2 cards including Turtle Beach Montego II work fine with the reference drivers. The other Montego II cards will also work with the reference drivers but you won't be able to use 4-speakers or the digital in/out then.

Lava! Extends 3D MusicVideo Experience to Winamp - Mark @ 06:55 EST

LAVA.com has launched a new version of its LAVA! Player, available as a free download at www.lava.com. The new version offers Winamp users the ability to experience LAVA!'s hypnotic interactive 3D visuals synchronized to the popular Nullsoft Winamp audio player. In addition, users are able to view LAVA! with the wide variety of audio formats supported by Winamp including CD audio, MP3, .WAV and MIDI. This latest release also includes a new installation Wizard, dynamic scaling and performance improvements to broaden the LAVA! experience to more mainstream PC platforms. I have not checked it out yet but it looks like some features that were in beta (like Winamp support) and some features that were only available on the Live have been extended to other sound cards. For details on the new features you can check out the press release and for more on LAVA you can check out our interview with Mike Barnes and Alan Seefeldt. Mike is the Senior Brand Manager for LAVA! and Alan is the LAVA! Engineering Technical Lead.

Hitachi Introduces 64-MByte MultiMediaCard - Mark @ 06:42 EST

Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc. has introduced the industry's largest-capacity Flash MultiMediaCard(TM)(MMC) device: the HB288064MM1. This very small, lightweight, 64-MByte module stores enough digital data for a full hour or more of recording and playback in voice recorders and portable music players such as MP3 players. For applications that require less storage capacity, Hitachi is introducing a 32-Mbyte MMC device, the HB288032MM1. In addition, the company currently offers a 16-MByte version, the HB288016MM1. The 64-MByte MultiMediaCard (Hitachi part number HB288064MM1) is $140 in 10,000 quantity, and the 32-MByte MultiMediaCard (Hitachi part number HB288032MM1) is $70 in 10,000 quantity. These MMC devices will be available in sample quantities in August 2000. Volume shipments will begin in 4Q2000. For more details you can check out the full press release.

Looking for sound effects on the web? - Mikael @ 04:13 EST

Just saw that there is a new search engine that lets you search the Web for sound effects and sample sounds, Findsounds.com.

friendlyway AG Presents the First MP3 Computer Column - Mikael @ 04:09 EST

friendlyway AG in Munich presents, in co-operation with Netrecord-Z AG and Samsung, the first MP3 computer column at the PopKomm 2000 in Cologne. The MP3 computer columns allow customers to gain direct access to music titles that are not stocked on a sound carrier in retail outlets. At the moment additional contents such as video clips and animation can be presented on the screen via an internet direct line, however, in future it will also be possible via satellite by means of broadband transmission. The integrated USB interface allows the connection of a standard MP3 player, onto which music can easily be directly downloaded from the station. You can find more info in the press release

Sound Blaster Live! MP3+ and X-Gamer Review - Mikael @ 04:08 EST

GameForces has posted a Sound Blaster Live! MP3+ and X-Gamer Review. The focus of the relatively short and very positive review is the software bundle. They have a couple major errors in the review. The Emu10k1 does NOT accelerate the MP3 encoding and the MP3+ and X-Gamer are identical when it comes to the hardware. It's also worth noting that you can now download a free version of MusicMatch that supports up to 320kbps bit rate so other than the integration of Environmental Audio effects there are really no reason to use the Digital Audio Center (customized version of MusicMatch) bundled with the MP3+ and Live!Platinum. You can check out Mark's review of the two cards for a second opinion and more details.
News Source: Anandtech

Panasonic Launch First Consumer DVD Video Recorder - Mikael @ 03:47 EST

We mentioned last week that Good Guys will soon have Panasonic's new DVD video recorder in their stores. This week it was time for Panasonic to announce its new DVD video Recorder with a lot more details about it including the $4000 MSRP. J&R Music and Computer World has announced they will have it in stores late August for $3000.

SiS introduces new chip for Athlon that will feature 3D sound - Mikael @ 03:45 EST

SiS has presented its SiS730S chipset which optimizes the performance of AMD Athlon(TM) and AMD Duron(TM) CPUs with Integrated Core Logic, Graphics and Connectivity Technologies. When it comes to sound they mention it will have built-in 3D positional audio. There is no mention of what 3D sound technology, API support or number of 3D streams it will offer. I doubt it will be impressive, probably more just a check list feature for them. You can read the press release for more details about the chipset

Singapore Shinei Sangyo will release MP3 player for the new Palm m100 - Mikael @ 03:26 EST

Singapore Shinei Sangyo has announced the development of two new accessories for the brand new Palm m100 handheld computer - a modem and a MP3 player. Both products will be available in the Fall. No details about the MP3 add on yet but you can check Palm's press release for all the details about the Palm m100.

Evolva Bumpmapping Update - Mikael @ 03:18 EST

You can grab a new patch for the DS3D with EAX supporting Evolva from the official site. It will enable diffuse bumpmapping on high-end 3D hardware, such as the NVidia GeForce, GeForce2 and the ATI Radeon.
News Source: AGN

KISS UK patch - Mikael @ 01:48 EST

The official KISS Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child site has posted a new patch for the UK version of KISS that will crashing problems some people experienced. You can grab the 803 Kb file right here.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Monday, August 07, 2000

Porn Music: No One Lives for Ever - Mark @ 13:26 EST

FGN Online reports that Monolith lead game designer Craig Hubbard told them that they turned to Euro-porn to find an appropriate soundtrack to its upcoming actioner No One Lives Forever! For some additional details check out the FGN Online story.

Back in July, in Stomped's third installment of their No One Lives Forever interview series, they chatted with the game's lead engineer, Monolith's Kevin Stephens and the game's AI engineer Brian Long. This is what they said on sound:

Direct Music: The music in No One Lives Forever responds to what's going on in the game. Multiple music states and motifs weave a truly dynamic soundtrack based on where you go and what you do in the game. In addition, cinematic musical cues underscore important events or hint at dangers ahead.

Messiah Review - Mark @ 13:11 EST

3D Gaming Net has posted a review of the DS3D with EAX and A3D 2.0 supporting Messiah. Overall they had some very mixed impressions. They found that the game had a good story, decent graphics and was sometimes fun to play but had a steep learning curve, frustrating gameplay and uninspired puzzles. Here's our usual snip on sound:

While meandering through the world that is Messiah you'll be hearing lots of different stuff. Ambient noises ring throughout each level and on occasion even succeed in scaring the crap out of me. Stuff like guards chattering back and forth about the latest gossip, the rumble of a nuclear reactor, and the running of elevators all add to the experience.

Stuff blowing up is pretty cool, the sound will boom through your speakers. Guns blazing, people dying, sometimes it can get pretty wild. In normal mode though, while nothing is happening it can get a little quiet. There is no background music, but when the action heats up and a gunfight ensues, an upbeat, hard rock tune starts blasting through the speakers (as long as the game CD is in that is). It probably won't get you pumped up, and sometimes it only proves to be an annoyance as you try to figure out where the enemies are hiding.

The voice acting is done well; each social class has a different tone and speech pattern.

Creative Nomad II MG Review - Mark @ 13:03 EST

T-Break has posted a review of Creative's Nomad II MG portable digital audio player. Overall they found it to be a good performer but did not like the placement of the controls, finding that the original Nomad II was set up much better in that regard. For details check out the full review.

Thief 2 review and Thief 3 news - Mikael @ 07:11 EST

3Dgaming.net has posted a review of Thief 2. They found the game to be excellent with every category except graphics and interface got an A+ grade, graphics got a B- and interface got an A-. Here's a snip from the sound section:

You will read this in every single review of the game. The sounds are the best ever used in a shooter. You will see this in every single review, and it isn't an exaggeration. The sounds you hear are just as essential as the graphics. You will be relying more on your ears for direction than your eyes. That is how important the sound is. I can't think of any other game where sound effects are so absolutely crucial.
[snip]
Sometimes you will find yourself confronting the inhabitants of the netherworld, and when you hear the gasping words drift from their jaws, I guarantee that every hair on the back of your neck will stand at attention. This is the only game that has forced me, on more than one occasion, to turn on the lights, just because my ears were freaking my shit out in a creepy get-me-the-hell-out-of-here-kinda-way

Interview about Santa Cruz - Mikael @ 06:56 EST

Ga-Hardware has done an interview with Seth Dotterer, Director of Marketing for Voyetra/Turtle Beach. Here's an interesting bit:

Q6: The Santa Cruz is said to support either 5.1 digital stream output or six-channel analogue output (5.1). But we will need a separate Dolby Digital decoder amplifier - which units are still rather expensive - to take full advantage of this sound system. Don't you plan to implement such a unit into your future cards or release an add-on card supporting AC3 decoding?

A: It's possible, but definitely not a certainty at this point. We're always willing to consider enhancements to cards based on customer demand. However, we also have to take into account the additional costs - licensing, engineering, support, etc. - that adding such functionality would create, because we don't want to makes our cards too expensive for customers.

Kiss review - Mikael @ 06:29 EST

Avault has finished KISS: Psycho Circus The Nightmare Child and posted a review of it. They had a relatively negative impression of the game giving it a 3 out of 5 stars for every category except graphics, where it got 4 (mostly thanks to excellent level design) and Intelligence & Difficulty where it got just one. They do think some people will have a lot of fun if they are looking for full-bore action without any trimmings and with more monsters on the screen than any title in history. However they think it will disappoint anyone that hopes this is Doom with much better graphics since it "lacks the tactical fortitude and subtle intelligence that an all-out action shooter needs". They had the following to say about the sound effects:

Accompanying the hundred creepy crawlers that can appear on the screen at any one time are an equal number of sound effects. The creatures that comprise the enemy make the sounds that you'd expect from mindless minions and hellspawn. The result, however, is actually fairly well received, but not as frightening or nerve-wracking as it could have been. Ambient noises are pretty good, and KPC: The Nightmare Child does a nice job of using sounds to forewarn players of impending doom. In terms of voice acting, the old woman gypsy narrative is well done, which makes up for the Elder's voice acting, which is painfully bad. Overall, there are an equal number of good and bad sound effects, and a lot of average ones as well

Q3A Classic CTF .99c released - Mikael @ 05:22 EST

Classic CTF for Q3A beta .99c (final beta) has been released.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

New JDoom Released - Mikael @ 05:20 EST

A new patch for JDoom has been released. JDoom supports OpenGL, D3D and most importantly 3D sounds and reverb effects with DirectSound3D and EAX 2.0 or A3D 3.0
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

News from July 31 - August 6, 2000

Search 3DsoundSurge News

Looking for a particular story or issue?   Why not search our news archives. 

All content, design and work is © 2001 - 3D Sound Surge Please respect the copyrights of the articles and writers herein. All copyrights are enforced by 3DSS.  
View the 3DsoundSurge Privacy Statement