News:  November 6-12, 2000

Sunday, November 12, 2000

Blair Witch Volume 2: The Legend of Coffin Rock reviews - Mikael @ 06:23 EST

Blair Witch Volume 2 has got much worse reviews than Volume 1 and todays 3 reviews are no exception. First up GameSpy which thinks the game has a lot going for it (spooky atmosphere thanks to great graphics and sounds) they still find it dissapointing compared to Nocturne and Volume 1 due to buggy collision detection, too short and below-average voice acting. As said they did like the aural aspects of it:

urally, putting some rather cheesy dialogues aside, The Legend of Coffin Rock features some truly disturbing sound effects and heart-pumping noises. When a creature of the night arrives out of nowhere, right next to you, and you hear some freakish noise (like the snapping of twigs or the clattering of stones), you'll be diving for the nearest light-switch just to get a little bit of pride back. Believe me when I say that this game is best enjoyed in the dark, with headphones turned way up.

Blair Witch Volume I: Rustin Parr review - Mikael @ 05:56 EST

Electric Games has posted a review of Blair Witch Volume I: Rustin Parr done by someone who isn't a fan of the movie but still liked the game. The reviewer also thinks the control and path finding issues found in Nocturne has for the most part been fixed, not enough to avoid being the most common complaint in other reviews. As almost every other review he found the sound design to be excellent:

Sound effects in a game like this should be particularly eerie and the game does not disappoint. In fact, timing of such things as lightning strikes add to the overall spooky setting and made me jump in my seat more than once. The sounds are clear and precise, and add tremendously to the game's mood. Voice acting of the main characters is excellent, although some of the supporting cast falls flat at times.

4x4 Evolution review - Mikael @ 05:52 EST

GamersPulse has posted a positive review of the off-road racer 4x4 Evolution giving it a score of 82 overall with graphics being the best aspect with a score of 90, Concept the worst with 70 (lack of originality) and sound effects quite good with 84:

Sound is also a pretty strong point for Evo, though not as strong as the graphics were. I have no complaints about the sound, but nor do I have exceptionally strong praise for it. The music is definitely rocking, and definitely appropriate to the genre, and to the specific game itself. The effects were also pretty good, though perhaps the impact sounds between vehicles were a tad on the wimpy side

Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2 review - Mikael @ 05:36 EST

GoneGold has posted a very positive review of Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator 2 with only major complaint being weak multiplaying. Here's the sound bit:

I'm not 100% sure what an engine start in a Zero or Wildcat sounds like, but CFS2's are very convincing. Each plane has different sounds. Cannons and machine-guns sound great. Radio chatter is present but rather unimportant. The sounds of battle are fully adjustable in options and, if you like, you can choose to turn up external sounds, turn down your engines, turn off your radio, etc. There isn't any music in the mission and I wouldn't expect any in this type of simulation. Sounds are accurate and appropriate and, as such, score a 90.

Superbike 2001 review - Mikael @ 05:24 EST

GoneGold has posted a review of SuperBike 2001 which they think is a great but perhaps not excellent game. They do note that owners of SuperBike 2000 may not find it to offer much new but for the rest of us it's a good buy, here's the sound snip:

The sound is also nice, featuring the requisite engine noise along with applause from the bleachers and other environmental touches. And, by now, I have become intimately familiar with the effective crunching-metal sound of motorcycles crashing. On the downside, the commentator is a bit lackluster. He doesn't say much, and when he does, it's rather flat and uninspired. The game does offer full EAX and A3D support depending on what sound card you have. The menu music is typically rhythm-heavy and groovin' but, for some reason, even though I had the music turned on and at full volume, I never heard music once in the game. No big loss, but it was a bit strange. I'll give Sound and Music an 80.

Michelin Rally Masters review - Mikael @ 05:20 EST

We have seen both very positive and more negative reviews of this title both overall and when it comes to the aural aspects of it. Haven Games ends up as one of the more positive reviews overall but one of the most negative when it comes to the audio:

The audio department definitely could have used a little work, though. Everything, from collision noises to your co-driver's comments, sounds a little off. Ambient noises were rather well done, but that's basically it, so you may be better off just turning the sound down and popping in your favorite driving music (Cardigans - My Favorite Game is a great choice, by the way).

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force review - Mikael @ 05:14 EST

GoneGold has posted a very positive review of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force with the following nice bit on the aural aspects of the game:

What would a Star Trek game be without the beeps and whines you hear on the show? The sounds from the game are very authentic. When you walk through the door, you will hear the whoosh of opening and closing. How about the phaser fire? Ok, so the arc welder isn't straight out of the show, but the game sounds stay true to form. Of course, an affiliation with Paramount Studios doesn't hurt.

The music is very appropriate for the game, and actually adds to the overall ambiance. With both sounds and music authentic and appropriate for the game, I think this category is deserving of an 88 %.

Midtown Madness 2 reviews - Mikael @ 05:10 EST

A couple new Midtown Madness 2 reviews. First up Gaming Era which says it's a fun game but the review still feels more negative than positive, the sound bit is slighly more positive than most other reviews I've seen:

The sounds are put simply, basically the same as the original's, and accurately portray the generic engine roars you'd expect to hear out of a Mustang or Audi. The basic engine "purring" is basically the same for the sports cars, however - which shows evidence of the developers cutting corners. The San Francisco Rush series has better sound effects, I must say. And what really is very annoying is the cheesy voices and phrases that the announcers have. Whenever you start a race, you're greeted with a cheesy San Franciscan "Cowabunga" dude, telling you that you'd better finish first. And there's nothing more aggrivating then finishing second, and hearing some woman say, "Ok, ok, let's try this again, and this time, less breaking and more gas." Ok, whatever you say. The in-game music is also by default, set to "Off" - quite interesting. When I realized that it was turned off, I turned it on, and was greeted with acceptable background music. I personally prefer to turn the music off, however it does get quite boring sometimes to just hear the same repititive engine noise from every car. I was expecting much more from Midtown Madness 2 in the sound department - brings back bad memories of Motocross Madness 2 - featuring absolutely no music all throughout the game.

Metal Gear Solid reviews - Mikael @ 04:31 EST

Three new reviews of Metal Gear Solid all quite positive. First up The Mushroom rather short but positive:

The sound is wonderful as well. The music flows seamlessly into and out of the action as needed. There's never a point where it's loud or inappropriate. If the theme is blaring, you're probably running. The sound effects are also great, with echoes in warehouses, feet meshing in snow and rockets shooting from rocket launchers. Most of the story is told through dialogue, and it's safe to say that MGS has the best voice acting in any game, ever.

Icewind Dale review - Mikael @ 04:17 EST

XtremeNetwork has posted a fairly detailed and overall positive review of Icewind Dale with a long nice bit on the sound and music::

The sound in Icewind Dale is great. There is a great sense of atmosphere, especially when you are outdoors, as you can hear the icy wind blowing and hear the townspeople's footsteps crunching in the snow covered ground. At night, wolves howl in the woods nearby, adding an extra creepy effect. The key characters in the game speak to you, but unfortunately your responses are not spoken out audibly so the result sounds like the NPC you are conversing with is talking to himself. All of your responses are canned and you pick them from a menu, so I do not see why another track was not recorded with the player's responses. Now that I think of it, it is probably a good thing they aren't, seeing how big the installation is already without them...

Environmental Audio (EAX) is supported in this game, but AUX is not. I don't know what the reason is behind this, but it may have something to do with the fact that this is a 2-year old game engine behind this game. I do not have EAX equipment on my machine, so I cannot comment on this one way or the other, but I am sure it is probably top notch seeing how well the rest of the sound is done.

The music score is superb! There is no other way to describe it other than truly excellent. It was composed by Jeremy Soule and I would not be suprised if we begin seeing his name in the credits of theatrical movies one day, the score is that impressive.

Much of the sound can be customized through the Options menu. If you go to the Options menu and click on the Sound button, you will be given a menu where you can adjust the volume levels of the Ambient sounds, Sound Effects, Voices, Music, and Movies with sliders. Also there is an on/off toggle for EAX and a Character Sounds button that will bring you to another menu where you can toggle sounds such as footsteps and command responses, among other things.

Baldur's Gate II reviews - Mikael @ 04:05 EST

4 new, all relatively short but very positive, reviews of Baldur's Gate II have been posted the last few days. Here's the sound snips:
Electric Games:

Sound effects are excellent, and the voice acting is very good for the most part. There is still some unevenness in some of the performances, but taken as a whole the acting is great. The voice actor that portrays Minsc is particularly interesting, as he was given the ability to "let go" and it seems as if he had a lot of fun doing it.

News Source: Blue's News

Saturday, November 11, 2000

Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force Updated Demo - Mikael @ 02:56 EST

This new demo of the Holomatch offers all three game play modes of the full game for you to try and enjoy. Several changes were made to Elite Force between the time of its original demo in July 2000 and the release of the game in September 2000. This demo reflects the multiplayer of the shipping version of STV: Elite Force. You can download it from 3dfiles.

PC-DVD Encore Dxr3 - Mark @ 00:24 EST

This is a release of Creative PC-DVD Encore Dxr3 for users running Creative Remote Center Application on Windows 95/98, Windows NT4.0 and Windows 2000 only. User not running Creative Remote Center do not need this update. The only devices that I am aware of with the Creative Remote Center are the new Live 5.1 products. If you have this combo you can grab the update from the Creative Asia new files page.

Creative Application Updates - Mark @ 00:17 EST

No, not for the Live but for a whole slew of other PCI cards from Creative Labs. This is a new applications release for users running Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT4, Windows 2000 and Windows Millennium Edition. Specifically the update supports the following products:

Sound Blaster PCI128 (Model No. CT4700, CT4750 & CT4751)

SB 16 PCI (CT4740)

Creative Ensoniq AudioPCI (CT4810, CT4811, CT4812, CT4815 & CT4816)

Vibra 128 (CT4810, CT4811, CT4812, CT4815 & CT4816)

1370 and 1371-based card models

Sensaura to present at Intel Pavilion at COMDEX Fall 2000 - Mark @ 00:09 EST

Sensaura has announced that they will be presenting at the Intel Pentium 4 Processor Software Pavilion at COMDEX Fall 2000. This has resulted from Sensaura’s engineering efforts, which have been dedicated towards the optimization for the Intel Pentium 4 processor. This Optimization is targeted to obtain maximum performance when running on Pentium 4 processor based systems. Sensaura will demonstrate software applications that have been optimised for the Pentium 4 processor, principally Sensaura’s host based 3D positional audio driver and Sensaura Jamma. Sensaura Jamma is a stereo enhancement software program that will specifically enhances MP3 audio playback on PCs. The software application, which will be launched at COMDEX, is available as a software download from the Sensaura website: www.sensaura.com/jamma

Friday, November 10, 2000

Direct X 8 Released - Mark @ 23:54 EST

While it's likely you have seen this elsewhere by now, here it is anyway. The following is taken right from the Microsoft site:

This latest version of DirectX offers updated graphics, faster frame rates, and support for massively multiplayer games. It also offers more immersive audio when running and displaying programs rich in multimedia elements such as full-color graphics, video, 3-D animation, and surround sound. If you had an earlier version of DirectX installed on your system, you will see little difference in available space on your hard drive following the installation. DirectX 8.0 will overwrite any earlier versions. NOTICE: After installation, the DirectX 8.0 run time cannot be uninstalled. DirectX is a system component. It cannot be uninstalled without reinstalling your operating system.

TeamFortress 2 Interview - Mikael @ 11:18 EST

Gamespot AU has posted an interview with Robin Walker about Team Fortress 2. Here's a taste:

GS: Audio: Pre-Recorded, Real-Time, or Text-To-Speech?

RW: We do real-time voice over the net, so you are able to talk to each other. There's a couple of ways we do that. We do it on a proximity basis so people around you hear it, and we do it in a squad basis, so people in your squad hear you. We avoid problems of people talking to everyone at once, and you can't talk to your enemies and stuff like that because we really do want voice to be something that adds to the game, doesn't detract, doesn't make people more nervous about it. We really hope to be able to do stuff like allowing you to deepen your voice and stuff like that. So we want to preserve the sort of anonymity that people have these days. But we definitely want to do voice. There's a side bunch of us who really hope to get text-to-speech in there, we have a really rudimentary version of it now. It would be really good to get that in. I don't think it will be there initially, but it's something we might roll out in an update.
[snip]
GS: Are there footsteps, and how much of the game has a sound or stealth component?

RW: Yeah they're in there, we do footsteps, they are according to the environment. I mean we feel that players should feel like they're a part of the environment at all times. Have the environment react to them, to running across hard ground, or running through mud, that should be reflected. So we have footsteps.

Cubase VST/32 5.0 review - Mikael @ 11:12 EST

The last Cnet review for the day is about the Cubase VST/32 5.0. With a price tag of $400 this music tool is mostly geared toward the professional market.

Harman Kardon SoundSticks review - Mikael @ 11:07 EST

Cnet has also posted a short and positive review of Harman Kardon SoundSticks. It's a small $199 3-piece speaker system with an USB interface designed for the iMac. According to the review it sounds great considering the low price and adds it compares well to "regular home audio system" like that would really give you much of a clue.

Sony MZ-R70PC (MiniDisc with USB) review - Mikael @ 11:00 EST

CNet has posted a short and positive review of Sony's new MiniDisc Player with an USB interface, the MZ-R70PC. The disadvantage compared to MP3 players is that recording process will still be slow (same speed as playback) and the transfer is analog. The review says Sony will soon offer a solution that is completely digital.

New Samsung Uproar MP3 Phone - Mark @ 07:55 EST

Samsung Telecommunications America, Inc. and Voquette have announced a joint development partnership to provide streaming audio playback capabilities to Samsung's new UPROAR MP3 phone. According to the PR, the launch of Uproar marks the first time high quality streaming audio and rich media content is available on wireless phones. Through the Voquette Media Manager, Samsung users can find and record their favorite Web audio -- including Wall Street Journal headlines, ON24 stock updates, RadioWallStreet CEO interviews, CNET Radio headlines and more -- directly to their MP3 phone. The Samsung Uproar comes with 64 megabytes of flash memory and can store up to an hour of music or up to eight hours of spoken word audio formats such as Internet radio, Webcasts, audio books or training sessions. You can find lots more detail in the full press release.

STCC2 Demo - Mark @ 07:46 EST

STCC2 features all the drivers, cars and teams from the 2000 championship. All the STCC tracks are included as well as two extra tracks; Kinnekulle Ring and Linköpings Motorstadium (two well known racing tracks in Sweden). The challenge is to participate as one of the drivers and win this prestigious championship. The demo is of course more limited but it has options to enable DS, DS3D and DS3D with EAX. You can grab the demo from 3Dfiles.

4x4 Evolution Reviews - Mikael @ 02:58 EST

3 new reviews of 4x4 Evolution has popped up. The game so far has received mixed reviews on sound as well as overall. First up GamePro's short review which as several other reviews complain about the physic engine and that the game lacks the feel of speed. They were not that impressed with the sound and music either:

A generic rock soundtrack backs up the sound effects, which consist mostly of engine noise and the crunch of gravel under your wheels. However, a few more loud collision thuds and some licensed tunes would have added greatly to the thrill of the game

X-Com Alliance interview - Mikael @ 02:43 EST

DailyTelefrag has posted an interview with Jeff Skalski level builder about the Unreal engine powered X-Com Alliance. Here's an interesting bit about the sound:

Tolstiy: When we speak about the X-com series such a term as atmosphere pops up. What are the ways to create great atmosphere using level design? (usually, music plays an important role in that, though it is not the only factor, certainly.)

Kevin Boehm: Music is an important part. Also, the simple ambient sounds of the level can make or break the atmosphere. As well as the level look and mood, it all must work together… We have all been very aware of trying to stay true to the X-Com mood. Level builders are building really alien creepy kinda worlds, strange architecture, eerie fog, that sort of thing. But even the best geometry feels empty until the sounds are in then whole thing comes to life.

Starship Troopers Review - Mikael @ 02:35 EST

GameSpy has posted a review of Starship Troopers. The story (and game itself) is drawn from both the novel and 1997 movie of the same name. It's a war against Earth and a race of giant, extraterrestrial insects. Here's a snip on sound:

The screech of arachnids, the ripsaw sound of guns blazing, the satisfying kaboom of a bughole collapsing--these are just a few of the great sounds waiting for you in Starship Troopers. The music is okay; not great, not bad, just okay. The voice acting during the mission briefings is wonderful. The trooper voices are a letdown, however. Every trooper sounds the same, and says the same thing.

Shogun: Total wars review - Mikael @ 02:30 EST

Gmachines has posted a review of Shogun: Total Wars with the following comments of the sound:

Sounds are nice. The pieces sound like they are moving on a parchment map when moved. The sounds for the animatics are graphic, and the sounds of the battles work well. One of the best aspects of the game is the music used when playing the RTS part. With the right combination of oriental and militaristic sound, the music even caught the ear of my fiancé who prefers to turn a blind eye and ear to the games I play.

Deep Space Nine® The Fallen Goes Gold - Mikael @ 02:23 EST

Simon & Schuster has announced that its third-person shooter, Deep Space Nine® The Fallen , has gone gold. It will be available at retail next Monday. The demo had only DS3D support but it uses the Unreal Tournament engine so possible the full game will support EAX and/or A3D 2 with wavetracing as well.
News Source: Avault

Thursday, November 09, 2000

MidiLand Acquires Key Sponsorships For Comdex 2000 - Mark @ 22:58 EST

Although MidiLand is not officially exhibiting at Comdex in the LVCC, it seems that their presence will be made known, nevertheless, as they partnered with over 20 companies to provide a wide range of their speaker systems. MidiLand's 2.1 (S4 3050M, S4 4060M), 4.1 (MLi-490), 5.1 (S4 7100, S4 7100M, S4 8200), and flat panel (FP-21) speaker systems will be featured in the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Expo exhibition areas from November 13-17. You can get more details on who will be using what by checking out the full press release.

AudioReQuest MP3 Home Jukebox Wins Popular Science Magazines "Best of What's New Award" - Mark @ 22:49 EST

ReQuest Multimedia has received the 2000 Popular Science Best of What's New Award Grand Award in Electronics for its AudioReQuest MP3 Home Stereo Jukebox which plays, records, and stores over 350 hours of music in its built-in Quantum Quick View for Audio hard drive. AudioReQuest was selected from thousands of new products and innovations by the editors of Popular Science, and an advisory panel selected by the magazine, for innovation and technical achievement. Winners must in some way improve the quality of life as a part of the criteria for the award. AudioReQuest will be on display at the 13th Annual Popular Science Best of What's New Technology Expo in New York City on November 9, 2000. You can find additional detail on this unit in the full press release.

All Your Music, Everywhere You Go... - Mark @ 22:44 EST

SSI announced today that they would be showcasing at Comdex their NEO 35, the first available system that allows users to download what they term as "their entire music collection" (81GB of storage/up to 34,000 songs) onto a single device and giving them the opportunity of choosing where to listen to them. With the NEO 35 and two available docking stations, one designed for a car's dashboard and the other designed for a home stereo, the NEO 35 can easily be swapped from one location to another giving the user the ability to carry and listen to their music in various locations. The home stereo bay for the NEO 35, connects via RCA outputs. With the car-docking bay, the consumer may install the NEO 35 into the dashboard, or with the included remote control can install the NEO 35 into the trunk. In addition to the 81GB version, the NEO 35 is available in 10GB, 20GB, and no hard drive versions. Each version includes a car docking bay, PC docking bay, remote control, carrying bag, and extensive manual. SSI includes several optional products; including a home stereo docking bay, remote display control panel, and additional hard-drives. MSRP: No hard drive $ 299.00, 10GB - $ 389.00, 20GB - $409.00. 81GB - $599.00 and is now shipping. For additional info you can check out the official website.

Sharp Delivers Portable DVD Player With Eight-Inch Screen - Mark @ 22:32 EST

Sharp Electronics Corporation has announced the availability of the new DV-L80U portable DVD player with the world's largest LCD screen available. Measuring just 8.3`` (W) X 6.1'' (H) X 1`` (D) the unit is only slightly larger than a paperback . With Virtual Dolby Surround sound (Q Surround), Digital Theater Sound (DTS) compatibility and a built-in Dolby Digital Audio Decoder (5.1 channels and Dolby Pro Logic), Built-in Stereo speakers and 24 Bit/96 kHz Linear PCM Audio Capability via an optical output, the DV-L80U should provide an impressive listening experience when connected to a full-size system or headphones. The DV-L80U is available now for a suggested retail price of $1,599.99. For lots more detail you can check out the full press release and for product information on Sharp's full line of DVD and home entertainment equipment you can visit the Sharp Web site or call 1-800-BE-SHARP.

Microsoft Announces Release of DirectX 8.0 - Mark @ 20:09 EST

Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of the final version of Microsoft® DirectX® 8.0. With DirectX 8.0, Microsoft offers many new features and feature improvements for multimedia application developers. From an audio perspective they are listing the following:

Consolidated DirectSound® and DirectMusic® interfaces simplify application development.

DLS2 audio synthesis support improves instrument realism.

DirectPlay IP voice communication support is provided.

DirectShow® Editing Services APIs provide real-time compositing and editing of audio/video timelines.

DirectShow supports reading and writing Windows Media(TM) Audio and Video (WMA and WMV).

QSound Labs Reports Third Quarter and Nine Month Results - Mark @ 19:57 EST

QSound Labs, Inc. reported third quarter revenues of $1,201,000, up 41% compared to $855,000 in the same quarter in 1999. For the third quarter, operating profit was $100,000 or $0.01 per share as compared to a loss of $239,000 or $0.01 in 1999. Net loss for the quarter, after deducting acquisition-related costs of $760,000 and other non-operating costs in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, was $818,000 or $(0.03) per share as compared to $1,902,000 or $(0.08) per share in 1999. In 1999, the Company incurred a one-time charge of $1,489,000 for purchased, in-process research and development. Revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2000 increased by 32% to $3,236,000 as compared to $2,446,000 for the same period in 1999. The operating loss was $68,000 as compared to $454,000 in 1999. Net loss for the nine month period, which includes one-time charges of $ 897,000, was $2,436,000 or $(0.09) per share as compared to a net loss of $2,200,000 or $(0.09), which included one-time charges of $1,489,000, for the comparable period in 1999. You can find lots more detail in the full press release.

ABIT’s AU10 Audio Card with WinDVD Receives Dolby Certification - Mark @ 19:54 EST

We missed this one from a few days ago when Abit announced that their Fortemedia FM801-AU based AU10 Audio Card in conjunction with WinDVD has received official Dolby Certification. The ABIT AU10 Sound Card is available seperately as well in a package with 2 different 5.1 ready speaker systems and a remote control. You can read lots more about the systems in the full press release. We are just wrapping up testing of the Abit SP-50 system and I can say that it's a good entry into the market.

InterVideo Launches WinRip MP3 Player/Encoder With Data Injection Capability - Mark @ 19:47 EST

InterVideo, Inc. has unveiled WinRip, its new MP3 player/encoder containing its exclusive, patent-pending InterVideo Data Injection (IDI) technology.
WinRip's unique data injection features give OEMs, content owners, and content aggregators broad new opportunities to extend MP3 music tracks with lyrics, links to URLs, promotional offers and much more, greatly enhancing the user experience for any fan of digital music. WinRip, which debuts this month in a Lite version at Fall Comdex, also serves as the first audio component in InterVideo's new WinCinema(TM) integrated all-software suite for PC multimedia users. Intervideo says that the suite brings a full complement of multimedia applications into one easy-to-use package, giving users a complete and robust multimedia solution that can control virtually all recording, editing, encoding, and playback needs. The full-featured version of WinRip, offering MP3-to-CD/R-RW burning capability and other feature enhancements, will be available in January 2001. Trial versions of WinRip will be available as a free download from the InterVideo site. For full WinRip product information, trial downloads of other WinCinema modules, or more information on any of InterVideo's full lineup of multimedia products, visit the InterVideo Web site at www.intervideo.com. You can also find quite a bit more detail in the full press release.

Sound & Vision Says EdgeAudio is 'The Real Standout' - Mark @ 19:43 EST

TSET, Inc. has announced that the home theater speaker systems produced by its subsidiary, EdgeAudio.com, Inc., received favorable coverage in the October 2000 issue of Sound & Vision magazine in a two-page analysis in the feature article, "Home Theater Roundup." In this article, Sound & Vision selected televisions, DVD players, receivers, and speakers from a wide variety of established manufacturers. The article's author, Al Griffin, assembled his recommended components for full home theater systems at four price points, from budget to deluxe. EdgeAudio's speakers were Mr. Griffin's choice for the deluxe system. You can find lots more details in the full press release and the article (link above).

MidiLand S4 3050M 2.1 Speaker System Review - Mark @ 12:44 EST

Anandtech has posted a review of the MidiLand S4 3050M 2.1 speaker system. They found the sonic quality to be a strong selling point in comparison to similarly priced ($69.95 est. street price) systems making them a good choice for a basic computer audio system.

Counter-Strike 1.0 Released - Mark @ 07:51 EST

CS 1.0 contains new weapons, a number of gameplay fixes, as well as enhanced maps, models and animation. Counter-Strike 1.0 will be available from a variety of gaming sites in two varieties: As an update for existing CS players and as a full Mod for existing Half-Life owners. Based on prior releases it should just like Half-Life work with A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX (possible that you have to go into audio config and unselect and reselct the audio option but not checked yet). You can get more information and download information from the offical Counter-Strike site. I have not read this at all yet but Firing Squad has posted a new Counter-Strike 1.0 Impressions article. They played a preview version the day before the release, and now have a quick write-up of what's changed including reports on the new weapons.

Baldur's Gate II Demo - Mikael @ 06:24 EST

If you have the bandwidth you can download the 600MB demo of Baldur's Gate II from Fileplanet.
News Source: 3Dfiles

Wednesday, November 08, 2000

New Win2K Drivers for Hoontech Digital XG Cards - Mark @ 19:23 EST

Hoontech has posted updated Win2K drivers for their Digital XG series of sound cards. They have different drivers for versions based on the Yamaha YMF744 and 754 chips. They indicate that the digital input now works in all conditions, a special 4 channel mode to output signals on Front & Rear speaker has been added (sounds like the option already in the VXD drivers), a driver uninstall utility was added and some other "minor bug fixes". These drivers are version v.2234. Note that if you have a 744 or 754 card that's not from Hoontech you might want to give these a try if your own manufacturer is not offering similar updates. The WDM driver version on Yamaha's site is still 2228.
News Source: Our Fourm

Media Jukebox Beta 6.0 Adds TV, DVD Playback and P2P - Mark @ 18:41 EST

J. River, Inc. has announced the beta release of version 6.0 of its popular Media Jukebox software. The beta includes a peer-to-peer home networking solution that allows remote access to media files from multiple PC locations. New features include broadcast or cable TV playback, DVD support, digital playback for audio CD's, an internal DSP feature for improved sound quality, and faster media library access for large numbers of files. Improved file organization has also been implemented. Additional features in the beta include Media Editor for mixing and editing of MP3, WMA and other files. This allows modifications such as track-splitting or adding DSP effects to individual tracks. A Media Scheduler feature lets MJ users have greater control of the jukebox for helpful tasks like setting a time for the jukebox to begin playing, or to begin recording from a source of the user's choice. It also lets MJ reclaim file types that have been grabbed by other applications. Other improvements are new support for Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox and other MP3 hardware players, and a greater choice of plug-in options. Media Jukebox plays all popular music formats, including MP3, QuickTime, Audible, Microsoft Windows Media, LiquidAudio and RealAudio. Support for secure MusicEx files allows e-commerce opportunities for owners of music and other digital media. Media Jukebox can be downloaded at www.musicex.com. Some additional details and quotes can be found in the full press release.

Another Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Review - Mark @ 18:28 EST

Firing Squad has posted a very positive review of the Santa Cruz. As you will know if you read our own review of the Santa Cruz there are known issues with the VXD drivers that we consider to be quite significant when it comes to gaming. These issues are not identified in the Firing Squad review so I will assume they did not test any EAX 2.0 games or any of the games with the volume issues we identified. It's worthing noting for when you read their review that there are negative aspects of using the cards Virtual 5.1 feature with DVD playback . You can find more details on the VXD issues and also DVD playback by checking out our review or our review of the SonicFury if you are outside of North America. As of a few days ago Turtle Beach was not sure when the VXD issues would be addressed but they do have new WDM drivers that should be released in a week or so. Thanks to Collin "Boston" Schaap for the pointer.

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz A3d fix - Mikael @ 09:02 EST

We missed this one but BabyJesus[D.C.] just let us know that Turtle Beach late last month posted an A3D fix for the Santa Cruz WDM drivers. It's just a register fix and they say without it you get no sound in A3D games. I just checked my register and it seems the Windows2000 WDM drivers I got for the SonicFury already include this fix. I am also almost certain A3D games worked fine using the Santa Cruz WDM drivers I downloaded. Anyway if you have problems with A3D games using the Santa Cruz WDM drivers you should download and install this patch.

Santa Cruz review - Mikael @ 08:53 EST

G-Machines has posted a short review of Turtle Beach's Santa Cruz. Only major complaint was the poor software bundle, other than that they found it to be an excellent card. They mention the sound quality may match the $200 Live and while I think that's likely (if not better) it's worth noting the $100 Live offers the same sound quality as the $200 Live. One other thing worth noting is that the Santa Cruz doesn't offer full A3D 2.0 support - no card that's really an option anymore does. One bit where they come to another conclusion than us is the following statement:

This sound card had perfect sound quality in both Quake 3 and Crimson Skies. I knew exactly where every shot was coming from, and it felt as if I were right there with it. I could even play my favorite MP3s during the game without my system lagging at all!

MidiLand 3050M Speakers review - Mikael @ 08:41 EST

Inside Hardware has posted a short review of MidiLand's recently announced $90 2.1 system, MidiLand 3050M. He found them to be better than MidiLand's 4.1 system MLi-490 for music.

EAX - Learning Center: Not Hearing the Sound Effects - Mikael @ 08:34 EST

Creative has posted a new article on the EAX - Learning center titled Not Hearing the Sound Effects". Here's a taste:

Many gamers mistakenly believe that all sound effects must be heard consciously in order to truly enjoy their games.

Not quite true. Some advanced sound effects in games actually work best when they're "not heard".

Unreal Tournament 436 patch - Mikael @ 08:31 EST

Epic has released a new patch (436) for Unreal Tournament. You can download it from 3dfiles where you will also find the full list of fixes.

Microsoft SideWinder GameVoice Interview - Mark @ 08:06 EST

Tech Extreme has posted the results of a chat with Stone Chin, PR buff for Microsoft where they asked about all of the new GameVoice product. Here's a taste:

Q: Just what issue exactly prevents the Game Voice from working properly with a set of USB speakers? I know there is a workaround, but it only works for users that also have a sound card on their system. Granted, almost all users have a sound card on their systems, but what about the people that don’t have one?

A: There are 2 parts to this: First, the speaker/headphone switch on the puck is for analog audio connections only - USB speakers transfer the audio stream as digital data over USB. If your USB speakers have a headset jack on them, it may be possible to get the speaker/headphone switch to work (never tried this, so it's a maybe) by using the headphone jack on the speakers.

Second, most systems that have USB speakers and no traditional sound card don't have any microphone input capability, or only a built in microphone with no external jack. That defeats the purpose of Game Voice.For the audio output part, it's not so much that it won't work properly; it's just that the speaker/headphone switch doesn't do anything, and the audio stream will only come out the USB speakers. The Creative FourPoint Surround Digital speakers have the same problem since they're using the digital output from the SoundBlaster Live! cards.

Creative Playcenter 2 for Sound Blaster Live! - Mark @ 07:49 EST

We had mentioned that this upgrade was available on Creative's Nomad site a few days ago and now it's officially out for Sound Blaster Live! users as a Liveware update. You can get the full feature list of Playcenter 2 as well as download the update from the official Playcenter 2 Liveware page. Thanks to Lionel Lam for the pointer.

Introducing version 3.4 of the professional MP3 DJ system "BPM Studio" - Mark @ 07:43 EST

According to the accouncement from ALCATech, the DJ market are standing on the threshold to a new age of professional DJing thanks to their latest release. Requiring neither CD's nor vinyls the MP3 system "BPM Studio" offers a flexibility and freedom you have never even dreamed of before. MP3 is the magic word in the music branch. MP3 and BPM Studio relieves the DJ's and entertainers from the ballast of CD cases and the wearisome search in growing music collections. Play any track from the archive in seconds. Mix using realtime BPM counter, pitch, pitch bend and master tempo more professional than with common double CD players or let complete programs run automatically. Multi user systems and music networks for discotheques, dance schools, hotels, theme parks and numerous other locations can be set up in the blink of an eye. You can get a full list of the advantages they say BPM Studio has when compared to a common CD double player by checking out the full press release.

Sonic Foundry Develops Proprietary Audio Codec - Mark @ 07:39 EST

Sonic Foundry Inc. has announced Perfect Clarity Audio(TM), its new proprietary audio compression codec. According to the announcement, this technology allows users to compress music in a format that will not sacrifice the fidelity of the original source audio recording. While most audio compression technologies such as MP3 and WMA are considered ``lossy,'' Perfect Clarity Audio delivers audio output that is identical to the original source and supports both 16 and 24-bit audio. During the editing process, Perfect Clarity Audio files can be modified and re-compressed without degradation that lossy codecs add to every generation. Test files have shown compression ratios of 2:1 and as high as 5:1 with no loss in audio quality. Perfect Clarity Audio is currently included in Sonic Foundry's SIREN Jukebox 2.0 and will be incorporated into all future Sonic Foundry product releases. There is free download of the demonstration version of SIREN XPress, with the Perfect Clarity Audio encoder included at www.sonicfoundry.com. You can also find more details on the other ways the codec can be used along with some quotes in the full press release.

Spatializer Audio Laboratories Inc. Reports 3rd Quarter Revenues Increase - Mark @ 07:35 EST

Spatializer Audio Laboratories, Inc. has announced its seventh consecutive quarter of profitability and financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2000. Spatializer reported net income for the quarter of $104,000; $0.00 basic and diluted per share, compared with net income of $33,000; $0.00 basic and diluted per share in the comparable period last year -- a 215 percent increase. Net income for the nine months ended September 30, 2000 was $386,000; $0.01 basic and diluted per share, compared to net income of $47,000, $0.00 basic and diluted per share, in the comparable nine month period last year. Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2000 were $630,000, compared to revenues of $324,000 in the third quarter of fiscal 1999 -- a 94 percent increase. Revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2000 were $1,666,000 compared to revenues of $977,000 in the comparable nine-month period last year. You can find lots more detail in the full press release.

Philips' RUSH! Portable Digital Audio Player Introduced - Mark @ 07:30 EST

A major online advertising campaign to support the introduction of Philips Consumer Electronic's new pocket-sized RUSH! Portable MP3 digital audio playe has just started. You can get more details on the campaign in the full press release. More importantly you can now find full details on the RUSH player on the Philips new web site dedicated to the player.

Tuesday, November 07, 2000

Boston Acoustics BA7500 Review - Mark @ 22:16 EST

Daily Radar has posted a very positive review of Boston Acoustics' BA7500 Dolby Digital speaker system. Their main complaints are the lack of an optical input (it has a COAX SPDIF in) and lack of a headphone jack. Other than that they really like the system. Here's a taste:

Sound quality is almost poetically crisp -- especially for such slender speakers. The clarity and detail is virtually astounding. The well-regarded 6-1/2" bandpass subwoofer is properly gauged to provide warmth and depth at lower frequencies, but will output pure, fat bass when so instructed. Having it under your desk requires restraint with the sub volume control.

Philips Acoustic Edge 5.1 Review - Mark @ 20:08 EST

Gamer's Depot has posted a review of the Philips Acoustic Edge 5.1 sound card. A number of comments. First, the Sound Blaster Live 5.1 has the same 6 channel analog output option as the Acoustic Edge. The Gamer's Depot reviewer claims the Live 5.1 only offers 5.1 output via it's DIN connection to the DTT3500. If they are only looking at the DTT3500 then it's true as that speaker system only offer 5.1 input for games via the DIN connection. However, the Live 5.1 can work with any 5.1 ready speaker system and that's a rather critical difference from what they claim in the review. I also think their suggestion of 3 ProMedia 2.1 systems as the ulitmate speaker setup for this card won't work very well as the 5th and 6th channels are just subwoofer and center channel outputs. I am not sure how they propose to pull that off effectively with a 3rd 2.1 system that does not offer a discrete subwoofer input. You would be much better off considering other proper 5.1 speaker systems. The $600 that it would cost to buy 3 ProMedia 2.1s would go a long way when considering other 5.1 options. Moving along, they have mixed up the QMSS support when it comes to DVD. The feature they are describing is the QMSS DVD enhancement and it's designed to be complimentary to Dolby Digital decoding rather than a replacement to Dolby Digital decoding. When it comes to QExpander technolgy the reason why they report having to turn off 3D sound to get it to work in games is because it's not meant for games that support 3D audio. It's a stereo expansion technology and it does not pick up on the locational information contained in DS3D. After all of their introductory material they only mention testing the card with one game! In the end they really like the card and award it a 5.5 out of 6 and think it's the best card they have used. We will reserve judgement until we have had a chance to put the card through our own paces but I can say that based on our first very positive experience with QMSS on the Aztec 368DSP it does not surprise me that they are so impressed with the stereo to multichannel vituralization for music. If all goes well we will have early impressions this week and a full review a week or so after the early impressions go up. Thanks to Michael "Micmar" Marchant for the pointer.

Unofficial Release of New Beta Vortex 2 WDM Drivers - Mark @ 13:16 EST

The A3D Fan Site has gotten a hold of the latest beta WDM drivers for Vortex 2 based sound cards. You can get the full list of features and limitations on their site along with the download links. From their list it appears that there are still significant issues with this release. For what it's worth (with Aureal out of the picture and Creative mum on what they are doing with the existing Vortex technology base) keep in mind that this is an unofficial driver release that will not be supported by your particular Vortex 2 card vendor. Thanks to w3master for the pointer.

Philips Acoustic Edge Soundcard review - Mikael @ 07:16 EST

SoundcardCentral posted a review of Philips new 5.1 soundcard, Acoustic Edge. They think the card offers excellent sound quality and a good alternative to the 5.1 Live's. Only major complaint was some static they got while playing EAX games. In the review they compare the price to the Live Platinum 5.1 which is really unfair, more correct is to compare it with X-Gamer 5.1. One error in the review is that they say "The best part about this card is that in ANY A3D/EAX game you get Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio". What they should have said is you get 5.1 audio, it has nothing to do with Dolby Digital.

ACS45.2 review - Mikael @ 07:07 EST

SoundcardCentral has posted a short review of Altec Lansing's $69 2.1 system, the ACS45.2. They found the system to offer good sound quality and powerful bass for the money.

Turtle Beach Montego II Review - Mikael @ 07:04 EST

SoundcardCentral has posted a review of Turtle Beach 2-speaker Vortex2 based Montego II. The short review complained about weak bass, noise when using PowerDVD and lack of built in amp but was still overall positive giving the card a 7.5 score. The noise issue they complain about is caused by PowerDVD and the A3D option in that player is IMO useless. The lack of built in amp is true for almost every PCI soundcard. When it comes to bass I haven't noticed this with other Vortex2 based cards but never tried TBs. The major issue with buying a Vortex2 card is Aureal's demise makes it's unlikely we will see any future drivers and the amount of A3D games will probably go down while EAX 2.0 games will continue to increase.

Sound problems with Rune using the Live - Mikael @ 05:35 EST

We have mentioned that several reviews complained about sound issues in Rune, a recent review at gaming-age described it as "sound effects suddenly becoming extremely loud and then extremely soft for no reason". Most reviews that have complained have said they used a Live while the rest have not said what soundcards they used so may be a Live driver issue. James Harrison (a reader) let me know he has the same problems using a Live and gave the following more detailed description:

I myself have experienced this problem. 3D sound cuts in and out suddenly, with no building up or down of sound. Example: you will be walking towards a river in relative silence and when you reach a certain point the sound of the river suddenly kicks in full bore, as if someone had just turned on a faucet. It can be very distracting. The only fix that I have found is to disable Direct Sound in the Rune.ini file, but you lose all 3D effects and the sound becomes very flat, so I prefer to leave Direct Sound enabled. The patch does nothing to correct this, by the way.

Guillemot Maxi Sound MUSE Soundcard review - Mikael @ 05:19 EST

Avault has posted a review of Guillemot's $30 Soundcard Maxi Sound MUSE. They spend 7 pages telling you why you shouldn't buy this card. Complaints includes poor configuration options, lack of bass, DOS support spotty, poor 3D sound, high CPU usage and stuttering playback of wave/mp3 files at times. I don't have this card but I don't think other reviews been this negative. What I found most odd is that they could barely hear if the sound come from behind you or not when playing Unreal Tournament and Half-Life. Makes me wonder if they actually managed to enable 3D sound. I disagree with the reviewers opinion about the Live's 4-speaker implementation, I have no problem to tell from what side the sound comes from.

MP3.com aims for wireless devices - Mikael @ 04:59 EST

fusionOne has announced a partnership with MP3.com, allowing MP3.com visitors to instantly synchronize their audio collection and event listings from MP3.com to all their devices, anywhere, at any time.

As part of this alliance, MP3.com will provide fusionOne's 1-Click Sync(TM) technology to its millions of users, enabling the instant synchronization of mp3 audio files and event listings from the MP3.com site to a user's collection of online and offline devices, including PCs, PDAs and mobile phones. Now, when an MP3.com visitor selects a song, file or event to download on MP3.com's Artist Pages and Station Pages, fusionOne's 1-Click Sync automatically syncs the song, file or event to any fusionOne-enabled device that supports that class of content, whether it be a PC, handheld device, mobile phone, or web application. If the user is not currently a fusionOne subscriber, fusionOne software can be downloaded quickly by way of MP3.com - free of charge. You can find more info in the full press release

Universal won't join Napster pact/Bertelsmann may list Napster - Mikael @ 04:51 EST

News.com reports that Universal Music Group has no plans to join the alliance that Napster formed last week with Bertelsmann, an executive of the U.S. company told a French newspaper. Universal also said they don't think the current Napster users will flock to the new service. You can find a bit more info in News.com's short article.

In related news Bloomberg reports that The Financial Times Web site has posted a report that says Bertelsmann may sell shares in online song-sharing service Napster after turning it into a legitimate business but it won't happen anytime soon. No official announcement has been made yet so just rumours.

S3/SONICblue Acquires empeg - Mikael @ 04:43 EST

S3, which recently announced its name change to SONICblue(TM), has announced that it has completed its acquisition of U.K. digital audio equipment manufacturer, empeg, which will be part of SONICblue's Rio Division. One of the first companies to design and bring to market digital audio players for automobiles, empeg has established itself as the early leader in hard-disk-based digital music products. The deal will allow Rio to immediately leverage empeg's car and home MP3 player technology to provide an array of automotive solutions. Rio plans to introduce empeg's current product to U.S. consumers, distributing it widely under the Rio brand in coming months, and intends to develop a wider range of future Rio car products using resources in both the U.S. and Europe. You can find more details in the press release.

Monday, November 06, 2000

Star Trek Bridge Commander Interview - Mark @ 18:49 EST

Star Trek Creative has posted an interview with Larry Holland & David Litwin where they chat about the upcoming Star Trek Bridge Commander. Holland is the Lead Designer at Totally Games and Litwin is the Project Leader for Bridge Commander. Lots of interesting questions but just one on sound:

Q: What about the sound system (ie. featuring A3D, ...) ? - How will it work (ie. Imuse) ?

A: A number of sound and music issues are still being considered, but we will definitely have music and 3D sound.

New Soldier of Fortune EAX Enhancements - Mark @ 18:43 EST

Creative has released EAX enhancements for the Mission levels in Activision's Soldier of Fortune. You can also get the prior EAX enhancements for Soldier of Fortune from Creative's site.

Severance: Blade of Darkness Demo Review - Mark @ 18:37 EST

3D Action Planet has posted a review of the Blade of Darkness demo. They conclude that it might be worth waiting for a more complete demo, especially given that this one is over 100 MB and mostly in Spanish. They did have a bit to offer on sound. Here's a taste:

Sound effects work well, even if some did get annoying after a bit. Sargon's grunts and pants especially, as they seem a bit too overdone, but also the clinking of metal armor can get on your nerves after a while. As for speech, what little is in sounds good (even if it is entirely in Spanish).

Blair Witch volume 2: Coffin Rock - Mark @ 13:06 EST

XGR has posted a review of Blair Witch volume 2: Coffin Rock. This is the first time I have seen a review say that this game is better than Volume 1: Justin Parr, with most preferring the first game. Nothing on sound other than they consider voice acting to be a strong point and think it's not a bad game overall.

Over at MPOG they have a very different opinion. They think it's a bad game and are not really impressed with the sound. Here's a snip:

The sound in LoCR isn't quite so impressive. There are some serious sound glitches at times, which could really have used some cleaning up. The voice acting isn't too bad in some spots, but most of the time, it crosses over the line and becomes totally unrealistic. The characters often put far too much emotion and drama into their speech, making it sound like a sappy play or soap opera.

Rune Reviewed - Mark @ 12:57 EST

The Outer Edge has posted a review of the UT engine powered 3rd-Person viking action game Rune. They think its a good game worthy of 88/100. They also liked the sound and unlike most reviews they dedicated quite a bit of space in the review to talking about it. Here's a small taste:

RUNE's sound is by no means spectacular, but is still good. The sound effects lack any kind of originality and seem to have come off a monsters best compilation. Each enemy just growls or moans, with no real uniqueness to them. The splatters from killing them are weak and offer no effect. You could actually do without the sounds as they do not warn you of enemies approaching or impeding doom. You will occasionally hear an enemy around a corner when you get real close, but you most likely have already seen it if you are sneaking that close.

4x4 Evolution Review - Mark @ 12:49 EST

Review Vortex has posted a review of 4x4 Evolution, a game that has received mixed reviews on sound as well as overall. This one falls on the positive side where they like the game and award it 4/5. Here's a taste:

I liked the sound during the menu screen and during the race. The music was fitting and the effects were up to today's standards. Whether it was dirt chunks (the triangles) flying towards the camera or driving through fences, the sound effects were all appropriate. It would have been nice if the programmers had included a sound for when my truck went off high cliffs and landed - no shock sounds or metal or ground? Sound was respectable, but not over achieving.

Labtec Edge-418 Flat Panel Speaker Review - Mark @ 07:52 EST

Gaming Era has posted a review of the Labtec Edge-418 2.1 flat panel speaker system. This is a system using a similar concept and offering a similar price as the Sonix S2000 speakers we reviewed a while back in that both combine SLAB flat panel technology with a cone based subwoofer. I mention this as while I don't doubt that the subwoofer that Labtec uses with the Edge-418 is more effective at producing deep bass than the S2000 subwoofer, I don't belive that the current SLAB panels (at least the ones in the S2000s which look the same as the 418s) are good enough to make this system the best in its price range as suggested in the review. Certainly there are many other systems in the range that will allow you to tell the difference between 128 and 160 bps MP3, a feat that impressed the reviewer. They also think that the sound quality was "nearly as good as my several thousand dollar home theater system in my main room". They either got ripped off on their home theater system or have been playing with the volume too loud for too long as even the best mulimedia speakers will not rival a several thousand dollar home theater system. One other bit worth mentioning. The review correctly notes that offering a wall mount option for this type of flat panel is silly as the speakers need space behind them. What they missed is the space is not to prevent damage to the speakers, rather it's necessary so as to not create acoustics that are damaging to the quality of sound generated by the speakers. Mikael recently got this sytem so we will be offering our own hands on impressions in the future.
News Source: Blue's News

Sound Card Lineup Added to Philips Website - Mark @ 07:31 EST

Just a quick note to point out that Philips US has updated their website with info on their new sound cards including the 6 channel Acoustic Edge. We should be offering some early impressions of this Acoustic Edge some time over the next few days. Thanks to Micmar of System Velocity for the pointer.

News from October 30 - November 5, 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