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The Week in
Review: May 13-19, 2002
Last week's features at
3DsoundSurge
Last week's sound news
Drivers and bugs
New games, demos, patches and bugs
- Soldier of Fortune II Has Gone Gold
Activision and Raven Software's Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix has gone gold and is
on its way to manufacturing. The sequel to the award winning Soldier of Fortune, Soldier
of Fortune II: Double Helix drops players into the ranks of America's shadow soldiers in a
gritty and intense battle for survival. The game will feature EAX Advanced HD just like
Raven's/Lucas Arts Jedi Knight II. You can find more details in the
press release. According to Gone Gold the game is expected to be available in stores
around May 22.
- Ultimate Ride Coaster Deluxe features 3D sound
According to a review of Ultimate Ride
Coaster Deluxe by Avault the game takes great advantage of 3D sound. here's the usual
snip:
Sound FX: The improved sound design in this sequel is quite
successful in communicating a sense of authenticity. The noise of the coasters going over
the tracks is absolutely on the mark. Personalized audio, such as bone-chilling screams,
can also be recorded and incorporated into the rides. You may separately adjust the volume
of three elements of sound: sound effects, ambient environment noises, and rider screams.
Although there are not a lot of ambient sounds around you, there are enough present to be
absorbing. The 3D spatial implementation of the audio is excellent, as for example when
your ride takes you near attractions with their own sound you hear the noises fade in and
out appropriately as you whiz by them.
Musical Score: Ultimate Ride Coaster Deluxe contains an assortment of pleasing background
songs that provide useful accompaniment to the building or riding taking place. While you
have the option of disabling the music so that what you hear can be more like that when
riding actual roller coasters and so that you can listen more carefully to the coaster
noises, a wide variety of melodies are available, from the pensive to the bouncy. You can
chose what type of tune plays in the background, or even play your own MP3 music files
instead if you wish. The audio quality of the soundtrack is consistently high.
- Tom Clancy's The Sum Of All Fears Demo
The demo of the recently gone gold Tom Clancy's The Sum Of All Fears has been released. I
have not yet tried it but previous Tom Clancy based games by Red Storm Entertainment has
taken advantage of DS3D and EAX. You can grab it from Avault
- The Music in Asheron's Call 2
An article on the official Asheron Call 2 site titled An Interactive
Symphony: Music in AC2 the developer “spill the beans” on the music
system in the upcoming Asheron Call 2. Here's a bit from the intro
To understand what I'm trying to achieve with the system it's
important to definite a common set of terms, review the problems, and discuss potential
solutions to those problems.
- Microsoft will launch Halo Soundtrack CD
Music For Games
reports that Microsoft will distribute and market the audio soundtrack from Halo.
- Headhunter Soundtrack Composer (Richard Jacques)
Interview
Gamer.TV has done a video interview
(check top right box) about the Headhunter soundtrack by Richard Jacques recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
Headhunter, which was released yesterday in North America, is being showcased at E3 and
Richard Jacques' music is exhibited at The Barbican Gallery in London for "Game On" from 16 May to 15
September 2002. Following the Barbican, Game On will go to the Museum of Scotland,
Edinburgh (12th October 02 - 2nd February 03) and then on to venues in Europe, America and
Japan (full details tba).
Reviews of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3
players.
- Altec Lansing Speaker Roundup
TweakTown has posted a roundup
review covering Altec Lansing's 4100, 2100, 641, and 621 speaker systems. One bit
worth noting is that the fact that a system is not very powerful has absolutely nothing to
do with voices being more defined, contrary to what is stated in the review. One other
surprising comment in their conclusion was they found the vocal quality to be almost the
same for each system despite statements elsewhere in the review that the audio quality is
not as good on the 2100/4100 as on the 621/641.
- Perception Digital PDHercules Digital Recordable
Jukebox II
CNET has done a review
of Perception Digital PDHercules Digital Recordable Jukebox II. It's a digital audio
receiver (DAR) which features a 20GB internal hard drive, a single CD tray with MP3 CD
playback capabilities, PC software for transferring music onto the unit, and other
enhancements over the first-generation model. CNET found it to be pretty good considering
the low price ($500) but had some complaints including slow ripping / encoding and no CD
burner.
- Antec TruePower 430W Power Supply
Envy News has posted a review
of Antec’s silent and power-stable TruePower 430-watt power-supply unit. Here's
one snip from the noise side of the review:
Before we hit the voltage tests, I do want to comment on the Low
Noise technology. When the fans are attached to the “fan only” Molex connectors,
they are under the control of the power supply’s built in thermistor. Without thermal
control, my case and core temperatures average 32/44 respectively. While using the Low
Noise connections, the idle temperatures rise to 34/46 before the fans kick up to full
power. Once the ambient temperature dropped back below 34, the fans returned to low power
mode. The noise difference was amazing, as it would go from near silent to sounding like a
hairdryer in the next room in a matter of seconds. As I like a cool case no matter what
the cost, I have chosen to power my case fans directly from the regular Molex adapters. If
you want a quiet case with cooling that works when you need it to, the Low Noise “fan
only” Molex adapters work quite well.
- Noisecontrol Silverado heatsink fan
EXHardware has posted
up a review of the Noisecontrol Silverado cooler. EX Hardware found this headsing base
with 50g of pure silver to be a great option for people seeking good cooling performance
minus the noise.
Other sound news
- Analog Devices Second-quarter Revenues
Analog Devices has announced revenues of $413 million for the second quarter of fiscal
2002, which ended May 4. Revenues increased 5% from the immediately prior quarter. Jerald
G. Fishman, President and CEO indicated that revenues from analog and DSP products both
grew 5% sequentially, with analog products accounting for 77% of the quarter's total
revenues. Revenues from every end market grew sequentially. The strongest growth was in
consumer, computer and wireless communications. Details of the revenues are in the full press
release. In a seperate
press release Analog Devices indicated that the opening comments of its second quarter
earnings call have been re-recorded, since some participants experienced difficulty with
the original audio. The re-recorded version may be accessed on ADI's website by clicking on "Investor
Relations" and then on "Financial Releases."
- The Definitive Guide to Multimedia Audio in
Australia
Hardware Avenue has posted an articled called the definitive guide to
multimedia audio in Australia. As you will gather from the title, the article keys in
to systems available in Australia but the concepts covered on what to look for and why
will apply to any market.
- Microsoft Reduces Xbox Price to $199.99
(U.S.)/$299.99 (CAN)
Microsoft has unveiled its plans for a North American price reduction of the Xbox(TM)
video game system. Effective immediately, Xbox will have an estimated retail price of
$199.99 in the United States ($299.99 CAN). The price reduction will be supported by a
multimillion dollar national merchandising and marketing campaign set to begin this
weekend. Microsoft also announced it is reducing the price of Xbox in Japan to 24,800 yen
effective Wednesday, May 22.* The price cut will put it in line with the PS2 which only a
few days earlier was cut to $199 and the Gamecube which launched at $199. For more details you can check
out the press release.
- DVD-A Surround Music Installations at 25 Century
Cinemas by End of Year
Lucky ticket holders of Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones at the Century
Cinema in Corte Madera, California, have another first in store for them: a pre-feature
DVD-Audio program in 5.1 surround featuring music by stars such as The Corrs, Barenaked
Ladies, Buena Vista Social Club, Eric Clapton, and Dishwalla. The
Corte Madera debut inaugurates a nationwide series of DVD-Audio installations at Century
Cinemas that are designed to transform pre-movie music programs into surround music
showcases. The installations are a joint project of music companies Warner Music Group
(WMG) and 5.1 Entertainment, audio technology leader Dolby Laboratories, and the Century
Theatres chain, designed to introduce a wider audience to the DVD-Audio 5.1 surround music
experience. For more details check out the full press release
- Dolby Surpasses Major Milestone: One Billion
Licensed Products Sold
Dolby Laboratories has passed a major milestone, having sold more than one billion
licensed products containing its sound technologies. From the
first licensees making audio tapes with the original Dolby® noise reduction to the most
recent makers of surround-sound digital products, Dolby's portfolio of licensees includes
manufacturers of everything from consumer products for home, car, and mobile entertainment
to professional movie-making and video equipment, and media such as audio cassettes, laser
discs, video games, and DVDs.
Technologies that Dolby licenses include Dolby Digital, Dolby
Digital 5.1 (surround sound for home and car applications), Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Pro
Logic® II, and Dolby Headphone. You can find more details in the full press release
- NTONYX announces Nylon Fleta Guitar in SoundFonts
and Giga Format
NTONYX, the innovator and leading developer of software based on Performance Modeling
technology now presents NTONYX Nylon Fleta Guitar in SoundFonts and Giga Format. Their new
Guitar sounds apparently delivers excellent quality voices based on the recorded material
of well-known guitarist Gabriel Guillen and composer Jovan Pesec and is intended for use
in parts of acoustic, including strictly academic styles. Find out more about NTONYX Nylon
Fleta Guitar at the NTONYX site where
you can also listen to the MP3 demo files.
For more news from last week check out our news archive.
Upcoming features at 3DsoundSurge
- Reviews that we are currently working on:
Updated Santa Cruz/Sonic Fury and GameTheaterXP reviews
Hercules Fortissimo II
Terratec DMX Xfire 1024
CMedia CM8738 Reference Review
Full Audigy Review
Full Philips MMS305 Review
- There are several other hardware reviews in the pipeline
including, but not limited to the following:
Guillemot Maxi Sound MUSE
Terratec m3po
DigMedia MusicStore
Philips Seismic Edge
Lots of other stuff on the go in including several guides and major site revisions that we
will soon be releasing more details on.
As always if you have any ideas for products we should review or
features we should do, please let us know.
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