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The Week in
Review: August 19-25, 2002
Last week's features at
3DsoundSurge
Last week's sound news
Drivers and bugs New (leaked) nForce Drivers
New (v1.12) nForce drivers have been released by or rather leaked out from nVidia. For
some impression and download links you can check
out this forum post on MSI. Thanks to Rob for the pointer.
New Audigy/Live drivers from Compaq
Compaq has again released new (5.12.2.252) Windows XP/2000 drivers for the Live/Audigy.
You can find download links (including one for just the 15MB driver core) and more info on
Fileconnect.
The full 154MB package can also be downloaded directly from
Compaq's FTP Site
New games, demos, patches and bugs
Activision's Street Hoops Will Use Dolby
Digital and DTS
Activision has announced that Street Hoops(TM) for the PlayStation®2 and Xbox(TM) is now
available. The audio for the Xbox version of the game offers Dolby Digital for discreet
surround sound during gameplay. The PlayStation 2 version of the game offers DTS audio for
discreet surround sound during gameplay. This is the first non EA PS2 game I've seen that
claims to use DTS audio during gameplay, that is it encodes into DTS to take advantage of
your DTS capable speaker system when it position sound effects. I would guess they use the
recently announced DTS
Interactive SDK for PS2. You can find more details about the game in the
press release.
- SEGA's Holiday Xbox Line-Up Will Take Advantage
of Dolby Digital 5.1
SEGA of America
Inc. has announced that it's new line-up of titles for the Xbox(TM) including ToeJam
& Earl(TM) III: Mission to Earth, Panzer Dragoon(TM) ORTA, Crazy Taxi(TM) 3: High
Roller, The House of the Dead(TM) III and SEGA GT(TM) 2002 will take advantage of Dolby
Digital 5.1. As you know the Xbox offers Dolby Digital encoding (or Dolby ProLogic if you
only have a Dolby ProLogic decoder) for games to use 3D sound to let you take advantage of
your Dolby Digital or Dolby ProLogic speaker system.
- Breed Interview
Fraglands has posted an interview with the folks from
Brat Designs about their upcoming title, Breed. Here's a snip on sound:
Q: How about the sound, most people have 5.1 systems at home
now, will BREED have full surround sound support, what about the sound engine in whole?
A: The Mercury engine includes specialized audio technology and
routines designed specifically to enhance the player's experience within the game world.
All sound effects and speech samples are pre-loaded into memory at the start of the game,
allowing the technology to mix, enhance, and tweak various sounds in real-time. In terms
of technology, Breed will include the following:
- Different sound effects assigned to different textures.
- Unique and interesting weapon effects, distorted in real time.
- Ambient sound effects controlled by emitters.
- Sounds tied into the AI, allowing enemies to communicate and respond
to noise.
- Realistic reverb and echo, depending on the environment.
- Multi-layered 3D positional audio, using multiple effects to produce
a single sound.
- Spot effects and speech expressed via full 3D positional audio.
- Hitman 2 Demo
The demo of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin that is bundled with PC Gamer magazine is now also
available for download online from Gamer's Hell, 3D Gamers, FileShack and Tiscali Games. The game should support DS3D with EAX Advanced HD. However Eidos Interactive
Producer Neil Donnell sends word of users of Creative Audigy sound cards experiencing
audio glitches need to fix this by turning down hardware acceleration. This will disable
EAX Advanced HD and perhaps also 3D Sound (in case you need to take it down 2 notches in
Windows 2000/XP or just one notch in Windows 9x/ME). Not sure if this apply to all Audigy
users, just some and if so if it depends on what driver you use. Neil Donnell also said if
you use a nVidia graphics card and experience corrupted graphics you need to use drivers
older than the 30-series Detonator drivers (e.g., version 28.32).
- America's Army: Operations Patch
A new patch (v1.2.0) for America's Army: Operations has been released. You can grab the 50MB patch from
the official site or FilePlanet. FilePlanet also
offers a
70MB patch that unlike the 50MB doesn't require v1.1.1 patch as well as the updated version
of the game (260MB)
Reviews
of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3 players.
- Altec Lansing 251 Speakers
PHlux has posted a review
of Altec Lansing 251 Speakers. It's a 5.1 system that according to the review retails
for £90 in UK (in US $100). The review is very positive saying the performance is better
than system costing twice as much. No mention of what other systems he listened to though.
- Altec Lansing XA3021 speaker system
The Australian site Dan's Data has posted a technically detailed review of Altec
Lansing XA3021 speaker system. It's an inexpensive (online you can find it for AUS$209
or in US $70 according to the review) 2.1 system with a rather unique design. Dan's Data
found it to perform well considering the money. The review lacks direct comparisons to
other systems.
- Sound Logic MP3 Player
EXHardware has posted an overall positive review of the Sound Logic MP3 Player.
The parent company of Sound Logic, Sze Ling Enterprise has been producing various MP3
players for many different companies and has recently decided to market the players that
they produce under their own Sound Logic line, one of which as noted is the subject of
this review.
- iRiver ChromeX (iMP-150) MP3 CD Player
Hardware Zone has posted an overall positive review of the
iRiver ChromeX (iMP-150) MP3 CD Player. A couple of general comments. One is the
96kbps WMA = 128kbps MP3 quality statement made by Microsoft (via 3rd party testing) is
totally dependent on the quality of the encoder used to make the MP3 and in my opinion
does not hold true when the better (e.g. LAME, Fraunhofer) MP3 encoders are utilized.
Secondly, I just want to emphasize that the native sample rate of CD audio where MP3s are
typically coming from is 44.1 kHz. As such, an inability to play upsampled 48 kHz MP3s is
to me not seen a con (as stated in the review) of the units capabilities.
- Pioneer DVR-A04 DVD-RW Drive
Ars Technica has posted a review of
Pioneer DVR-A04 DVD-RW Drive. It features specs of DVD-RW 1x, DVD-R 2x, CD-R 8X and
CD-RW 4X. The review is rather mixed and clearly negative about the bundled Sonic MyDVD
software. In the end they think most will be better to wait another year before buying a
DVD-RW or DVD+RW drive. The detailed review also covers the DVD-RW standard and how it
compares to DVD+RW.
Other sound news
Spatializer Audio Laboratories and
MediaTek Partner
Spatializer Audio Laboratories and MediaTek, the world's leading provider of optical
storage and digital consumer semiconductors, have announced a strategic partnership that,
they claim, will make Spatializer N-2-2 Ultra(TM) and Spatializer VBX(TM) vastly more
available to the global DVD Player market. Under terms of the
first licensing agreement between the two companies, MediaTek will feature Spatializer
Audio Laboratories audio enhancement technologies in their new digital signal processor
(DSP) semiconductors that target low-to-mid priced DVD Players, the highest unit volume
segment of the global DVD Player market. You can find more details in the press release.
Sensaura™ and Intrinsic Graphics Working
Together
Sensaura Limited and Intrinsic Graphics, Inc. are working together to ensure that the
GameCODA API and toolkit and Intrinsic Alchemy game development platform are fully
compatible. Sensaura and Intrinsic Graphics have developed advanced software that enables
game developers to integrate audio and graphics into their titles. You can find more details in the
press release.
- NVIDIA nForce Lands Design Win With HP
NVIDIA® has announced that its NVIDIA nForce(TM) Platform Processors have been selected
to deliver performance and stability to the new Compaq D315 Business PC from HP. You can find more details in the
press release.
- Klipsch ProMedia 4.1 at half original price
Klipsch Matt Sommers let us know that you can now get ProMedia 4.1 at half original price.
It's factory refurbished and comes with a warranty. You can order it directly from Klipsch online.
- Altec Lansing to Showcase Speaker to Latin
American Market
Altec Lansing has announced its widespread participation in LatinChannels IX, where the
Company will unveil gaming solutions tailored for introduction within the Latin American
marketplace. The newly introduced product offerings are expected to significantly increase
the Company's presence in Latin America over the next year. Altec Lansing will
specifically highlight the new XA Video Game Speaker line, which they say is uniquely
satisfying the unmet demand for better console video game sound. In addition to the XA
line Altec Lansing will also feature the 4100 and 641 4.1 systems. Additional detail including descriptions of the systems can be found in the full
press release.
- Harman International Reports Record Fourth
Quarter Results
Harman International Industries, Incorporated has announced results for the fourth quarter
and full fiscal 2002 year. Net sales for the quarter were $501.4 million, a 12 percent
increase over net sales of $447.7 million in the same period last year. Net income for the
quarter was $26.1 million compared to $19.4 million in the fourth quarter last year, an
increase of 35%. The Consumer Systems Group reported net
sales of $389.4 million for the quarter, an increase of 18 percent over the same prior
year period. Sales to automotive customers increased a dramatic 28 percent. In North
America and Asia, Mark Levinson digital audio system shipments to Lexus and sales of JBL
audio systems to Toyota were higher than the fourth quarter last year. You can find more details in the
press release.
- RipFlash DX, MP3 Player WMA Player/Recorder
Launched
PoGo! Products has launched RipFlash DX, the world's first encoding player to allow WMA
recording. Direct WMA encoding allows users to record music directly to the RipFlash DX
from virtually any audio source without the use of a computer, and then play them back
immediately. The files can also be uploaded from the recorder to a computer (or the
reverse). The RipFlash DX comes with 128mb of internal memory with an expansion slot to
allow the addition of more memory in the form of MMC cards or Secure Digital cards.
RipFlash DX is now available for $219.00 and will be available at all outlets that carry
PoGo! Products players. For additional details you can check out the full press release.
For more news from last week check out our news archive.
Upcoming features at 3DsoundSurgeReviews 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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