The Official Technodrome E3 2005 Thread

[ThirdMarioBro]

Sorry, but Press releases are long and I didn't want them getting mixed up.

[JameO]

That is facking awesome. Me and peanut must find a hotspot or something so we can all go on Animal Crossing. w00t!

[Kid Icarus]

My problem with the Xbox controler is the fact that Gates claimed they spent tons of money and man hours in research to make the perfect controler.... then they had to go and fix it. Yes, the S controller is great, but the first one is horrible. the buttons are too close, the start button's too far away from the main clusters, and it's just too bulky.

On the new controler: the track ball looks like an afterthought. "Hey, woulden't it be cool if we did this!" type of thing, much like the D pad and Z button on the Gamecube controler. The buttons seem farther apart, spaced just about right. The rest of it just looks like a generic PC controller, IMHO.

DS online's going to be fun... I've heard bad things about IGN's service thingy though... so hopefuly Nintendo keeps a close eye on that.

As for hotspots... you can get an 802.11b router for about $30 now. For the price of one game, you can get online with the DS, and still use your wired computers (it was recently brought to my attention that the majority of wireless routers have 4 or so ethernet ports on them). I'm also hoping we'll get some kinda deal like Japan, where Nintendo gets some gaming store chains to carry wireless routers at no cost to the store.

No Rev at E3's a bad bad idea. I assumed that since Nintendo was going last, they were going to make damed sure the other 2 coulden't quick change their shows to combat what ever funky new things Rev's going to do, but if we just get to see some video footage, what's the point?

[ThirdMarioBro]

Remote News post
_____________________________

Holy. Fu*king. Sh*t.

http://www.gamerlounge.com/demo_news.php?grab=144

Originally Posted by Gamer Lounge

Nintendo Revolution will have four 2.5Ghz IBM G5 cores
12 | May

Rumors are stating that the console will boast four 2.5Ghz IBM G5 Custom cores, with 128KB of level 1 cache and a 512KB shared level 2 cache, while the graphics will be powered by a dual core ATI RN520 chipset, with 16MB of on-board eDRAM for the frame buffer.

MoSys previously provided the 1T-SRAM memory technology used by NEC for the GameCube's memory, and speaking in a live conference call following the announcement of the firm's Q1 earnings, CEO and CFO Mark Voll said that it would again be fulfilling this role for Revolution.

"During the quarter we announced that NEC Electronics will now use our 1T-SRAM embedded memory technologies on their advanced 90nm process, and that the initial designs to be incorporated in SoCs will be used in Nintendo's next-generation game console, codenamed Revolution," he said.

The most interesting part came next, however, when Voll commented that: "We are excited to be a participating member of the Nintendo team once again as Nintendo will roll out its successor game console to the GameCube in mid-2006."

If that proves true, then I will sh*t my pants in a few days. BUT this is just a ruomor as of now. Here's the hardcore stuff. NEW PATENT.

Originally Posted by Nintendo Revolution Patent

1. A video game playing method comprising: loading a pre-determined environment-mapped image having multiple planar projected images and associated multiple depth map images; at least in part in response to real-time interactive user input, compositing at least one additional object into said mapped images, said compositing using said depth map to selectively render at least portions of said object into said mapped image to provide a composited mapped image; and panoramically rendering said composited mapped image using a desired viewing angle and frustum to provide interactive video game play.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the environment-mapped image comprises a cube map.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said mapped image is pre-rendered.

4. The method of claim 1 including performing said compositing step with a home video game system, and further including displaying rendering results on a home color television set.

5. The method of claim 1 further including receiving interactive real-time user inputs via at least one handheld controller, and defining animation of said object in response to said inputs.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said rendering step comprises applying said post-composited mapped image to a mesh, and rendering said mesh using a current projection matrix to apply desired viewing angle and frustum parameters.

7. The method of claim 1 further including testing whether said object intersects any of multiple faces of said mapped image in at least two dimensions.

8. The method of claim 1 further including performing Z comparison and removing hidden surfaces in response to said Z comparison.

9. The method of claim 1 further including performing said rendering using a frame buffer.

10. A storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a home video game system or personal computer, provide interactive real-time video game play on a display, said storage medium storing: at least one pre-rendered cube map; at least one pre-rendered depth map corresponding to said cube map; and instructions which, when executed, composite at least portions of said pre-rendered cube map with at least one dynamically-generated object, said compositing based at least in part on said pre-rendered depth map, and generating pre-rendered panoramic image therefrom.

11. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein said pre-rendered cube map comprises six images as if looking through faces of a cube with the viewpoint at the center of the cube.

12. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein said compositing includes rendering a real-time object into a frame buffer storing said pre-rendered cube map using dynamically defined view port and/or frustum parameters.

13. A video game playing system comprising: means for loading a pre-determined environment-mapped image having multiple planar projected images and associated multiple depth map images; means for at least in part in response to real-time interactive user input, compositing at least one additional object into said mapped images, said compositing using said depth map to selectively render at least portions of said object into cube mapped image to provide a composited mapped image; and means for panoramically rendering said composited mapped image using a desired viewing angle and frustum to provide interactive video game play.

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...RS=AN/Nintendo

Read the rest of it on the real page. It's confusing as hell, but it sounds very similar to the Unreal 3 mapping technique. Techically it could make Revolution the most powerful console in terms of performance while still being cost effective. That sounds exactly like Nintendo thinks so I'm beliving this is going to be true and they're patenting junk before E3 which possibly leads me to believe that we'll see more of Revolution than we've been led to believe ths far. Anyway, Nintendo will NOT be a techinal slouch this generation by ANY means.




On the Microsoft front.....>Rare's still got it.

[Peanut]

One big Holy Sh*t for the specs. I don't know enough about that technical crap to understand the second part. So hopefully someone will come along and tell me what's what.

[Barkworm]

2.5 Ghz?! I hope that's a joke, both X-box 360 and PS3 have a LOT more.

[Peanut]

It has four of them...

[Barkworm]

Oh yeah, I'm stupid... Wow, that's just...wow...

[Mecha Cow]

I have no clue what all that means, but since everyone seems excited about it I'll just jump on the bandwagon. Yay!

TMB - What's that pic? Perfect Dark Zero?

[Peanut]

Yeah, that pic is Perfect Dark Zero.

[ThirdMarioBro]

The thing has 4 synced up processors that when combined, have the ability to possibly kick the other console's ass while still being cost effective because those processors have gotten really cheap.

The rendering engine Nintendo has apprently devised should allow for something simlar to the results of the Unreal 3 Engine which basically means they should be able to match/beat anything on any console, PC included.

All in all, from a Techinal perspective, Revolution is looking to be a powerhouse. I haven't got a clue in hell what the other stuff means though.

[Mecha Cow]

Yeah, that pic is Perfect Dark Zero.

What ever happened to the (IMO horrible) 'Anime' look the game was going to have?

This looks a lot better though.

[Peanut]

There isn't anything known about the game. It could still have that horrific anime type look for all we know. We can't even be sure that's what it was going to look like in the first place. That's just a random publicity shot by the looks of it. I guess we'll find out very soon though!

[愛]

After looking at the second part, it looks like there will be no loading times whatsoever in this generation. Gamecube kind of did that already, but this time it's being done with the newer graphics engines. There are certain "mappings" that require an extensive amount of time to load, but they're getting rid of that. It's become fairly common in more recent PC games, such as Half-Life 2 and World of Warcraft. I suppose they're just bringing that technology to the console.

[XERO]

They might as well download Skynet...

This is too advanced even for me...

[Kid Icarus]

Some big Revolution news, in the Nintendo thread. Since this is the E3 thread, and it's quite possible Rev will be there, here's the linkage to the info...age? lol.

http://thetechnodrome.com/forums/sho...postcount=1279

[Demented Utrom]

No load times, I don't believe that one since most game machines, need to load the games.
It depends how large the game is. ThirdMarioBro check Konami's and Capcom's booth thanks.

HDD DVD Rom discs how much game information, will that hold.
No more 2 Discs games, then.

[Kid Icarus]

Double layer DVDs hold about 9GB, Blu-ray holds about 50GB, and I'm not sure about HD-DVDs.

Most games today don't even surpass 3GB, and I'd be amazed if they go past 9. The storage space on the Blu-Ray discs just seems to be a total overkill.

[Mecha Cow]

Hey guys, check this out.

Apparantly it's a 'leaked' Revolution video. It's probably fake, but the video does look very cool. Someone must have put a lot of time into this.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Well, fu*k airplanes. I got here late, but I'm here....or there....or.. ACK!

I'm in LA and have no sleep

Anyway, I've been screweing around town, seing stuff and so on, and have formed some opinions about the city. For one, there are PSP billboards all over the place. Guess we knw what you know who's E3 focus will be. Meh.

This city is a rat's nest of streets. Honestly, I've never sen so many roads tangeld over each other. It's awesome. Everyone seems easy going...at least in the good parts of town. In Korea town.....*shudder* I saw whores all over the place, and there was this Mexican gang waltsing down the street. Pretty scarey place.......did I mention that's where the staff is staying?

Fortunately, getting muged isn't a problem. There's 30+ f us and we're all going everywere together, so as the ole saying goes..."You can't mug a mob". The good thing is, it's right down the street from E3. WALKING DISTANCE to the LA Convention center. I tested the route and you don't even have to cross the interstate. It takes you right to the Staple Center which is part of the grounds. I'll take pics tomarrow. There was a Lakers game going on there last night. When the lights are on at Night it's the most amazing site you can ever hope to see in you life. I'll take a pic tomarrow night. Purple skylights, purple dome roof, neon, glowing. Fu*king awesome.

I'm going to try to take pics from angles yo don't typically see. Everyone knows what the front looks like, but how about from the side? It's just as pretty. The front door ad space his year was taken by Atari. Big ass Atari logo right on the front door. Crazy. There are pics leaking out arond the web of the inside, but I'm not looking. I want to be surprised.

I saw a truck with Sony's people drive by with a ton of equipment. No,I didn't bomb it like you'd think. The good side of town is just so fu*king beautiful. The ocean to yor west and the Rockie mountains to your East keep everything at a calm 75 Degrees. It's ust crazy how cool it is here. It's now my favorite city period. It's just SO BIG. The otherside of the mountains is just esert, desert, and desert. Ick.

I've also never seen so many Asians, Mexicans and combinations thereof in my life. Very diverse place. I like that. Also, noody seems to give a damn about it either. Makes me want to live here someday. STAY OUT OF KOREA TOWN, but otherwise it's all kickass.

Honestly, the Convention center is Gigantic. It's WAAAAY bigger than even Warner Bors studios. I know, I checked.

Nintendo's truck just pulled with with some more sh*t. I'm writing this while sitting in the parking lot watching them put together final stuff while leaching off their wi-fi. Well, I better get back the the motel before dark. I love this place like crazy. Tomarrow is Sony's Press Conference. I'll be there unless they want to act like an ass (like last year's people said). Xbox 360 was Thursday (didn't se it), PS3 is tomarrow, and Revoltion is Tuesday, folled then by the big show. See you there.