Nintendo 3DS Specs Leaked, Also Release Date?
Nintendo has been pushing an upcoming event on September 29th as the date they will reveal more technical details and a release schedule for their highly anticipated 3DS portable gaming system. But now it looks like they might not have much left to reveal! From a post over at IGN UK, it appears that the system specifications for the upcoming ‘glassless 3D’ game system from Nintendo have been leaked – and they look pretty good!
IGN has learned that the Nintendo 3DS will pack not one, but two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs, along with a 133MHz GPU, 4MBs of dedicated VRAM, 64MBs of RAM, and 1.5GBs of flash storage. The information comes from persons familiar with the hardware who spoke to us under the condition of anonymity.
While we were unable to determine which variation of the ARM11 processors the 3DS will feature, we now have a better sense of the system’s capabilities. Currently there are a number of devices being powered by the ARM11, including the Zune HD, a variety of Android smartphones, and prior to the introduction of Apple’s A4 processor, the iPhone and iPod touch.
That is really good news – considering the ARM11 is more powerful than the current PSP systems, this major bump will really help out in terms of allowing developers to do much more with the system
As we learned in June, the 3DS’ GPU has been named DMP’s PICA200, which features a maximum processing speed of roughly 200MHz, though it seems Nintendo is scaling it back a bit for use in the 3DS. Numerous developers working on software for the platform have likened its graphical capabilities to current-generation consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, albeit on smaller, lower-resolution screens.
Another great thing – the DS was compared to the N64 in terms of capability, whereas the PSP was closer to the PS2. So jumping all the way up to a more current graphical capability is a great sign that Nintendo understands the reality of competing with current systems.
And let’s be honest here: the PSP is NOT the competition … the iPod Touch is the competitor the DS needs to worry about. The current system is struggling as more and more of its casual audience is getting their fill of quick-play games for about $2 each from the iTunes App Store.
The other interesting news is the possibility that the 3DS will launch in Japan in November, according to another IGN article:
Nintendo’s 3DS could be hitting Japanese shelves as soon as this November if tweets from a peripheral manufacturer are correct.
“On November 20, eleven 3DS products that we designed will go on sale all at once,” said Takahiro Amano, a man claiming to be an employee at peripheral company KeysFactory in a tweet picked up by Kotaku, “People who are buying the 3DS, buy it at the same time! There will be more details on our home page.”
Nintendo has already said it will be announcing the launch details of the 3DS on September 29, and have previously said it’ll be available before March 2011.
Of course, all of this stuff is rumor … and we all know what that stuff is like! However, the tech specs seem to fall in line with what we’ve seen before, and having a November launch in Japan and a post-holiday US launch seems reasonable based on past experience.
Plants vs. Zombies Comes to World of Warcraft
Combine one majorly addicting casual tower defense game with a majorly addictive MMORPG, what do you get? A video courtesy of Joystiq!
In the past you were able to play Peggle and Bejeweled from within WoW, but this time it is fully integrated into the game as a quest! The folks at Gear Diary all love PvZ, but I don’t think we have any WoW-heads … or perhaps we did and I haven’t heard from them because they are just trying to finish up one more raid!
Playstation Move Released … So Far So Good!
I haven’t said much about this since E3, because frankly I felt it made more sense for teh hardware to speak for itself. Anyway, the Wii-alike Playstation Move is now out, and folks have been playing around and have come to a few conclusions:
- The hardware is cool and works well aside from some minor silly design choices.
- The games so far are underwhelming and obviously quick-patched for support.
- The Move will live or die based on whether or not there is full-on support by Sony and third-party developers.
The Dark Eye: Demonicon Gets Un-Canceled Thanks to Kalypso!
I loved Drakensang, as I noted in my review. I found the game to be a wonderful follow-up to the classic Realms of Arkania Trilogy (don’t worry if you missed them in the early 90′s, they were popular in Europe but received little attention elsewhere).
However, when developer Radon Labs closed earlier this year there were concerns about the prequel ‘River of Time’ getting released outside of the EU, and of the add-on ‘Phileasson’s Secret’ seeing the light of day at all! Fortunately both are still supposed to come to North America … possibly even in 2010.
But when developer Silver Style, who was developing another property based on The Dark Eye RPG gaming system folded, it was before Demonicon was ready and therefore most assumed the project was dead … but now this news comes courtesy of GameBanshee:
Kalypso pursues quite an aggressive expansion strategy. Over the last few years they’ve bought the Jagged Alliance IP, pretty much the whole Ascaron back catalog (Patrician, Port Royal, Darkstar One) with the exception of Sacred, a small IP from Spellbound (Airline Tycoon) and now Demonicon, a browser game and the marketing rights for a couple of solid to good adventures (Simon the Sorcerer 5, Goin’ Downtown, Everlight) from TGC. They’ve founded 3 internal studios and opened an office in the US.
The fact that Silver Style wasn’t bought out while all remaining employees left probably spells the end for the studio. This means the German market lost no less than 3 of their oldest and most experienced studios within a bit more than a year. Sacred developer Ascaron (founded 1991) closed in July 2009. Then a few months ago Drakensang studio Radon Labs (founded 1995) went belly up. And now Silver Style (1993) will probably be liquidated with the TGC shell.
For once the story has a happy ending though:
Kalypso will found the Noumena Studios GmbH in Berlin to complete Demonicon. The remaining 17 Silver Style employees will find a new home there, and the staff ramped up to 35 until the end of the year.
So we might actually end up with THREE new The Dark Eye based games within the next year? Great news for PC RPG fans!
Grotesque Tactics Gets a US Publisher!
Games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect and Halo: Reach and Starcraft II are all very serious affairs with dark and gritty stories and loads of drama! But not every game needs to be so heavy – and that is exactly where a game like Grotesque Tactics comes in! Here is their description:
About Grotesque* Tactics
The game combines the features and clichés of Western and Asian console RPGs like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics and provides a highly addicting and entertaining change to the current, more serious role playing games. The game is focused on providing the fascination of the Strategy RPG genre, but also weaves a humorous storyline and plenty of amusing dialogue, poking fun at some of the most successful RPGs, such as Oblivion, Final Fantasy and Lord of the Rings.* In chess, a Grotesque is a problem or endgame study which features a particularly unlikely initial position, especially one in which White fights with a very small force against a much larger black army. Grotesques are generally intended to be humorous.
I have had access to an international press version of the game for the last couple of weeks and I was amazed – it all works and works well! Games like the 2004 Bard’s Tale remake attempted to be a ‘send up’ of genre cliches, but very quickly degraded into a dreadfully average experience and became a self-parody at times! Grotesque Tactics is fun, funny, and requires you to use tactics and strategy throughout.
Although it is ready for release, the game lacked one critical item: a North American publisher! Now Meridian4 has stepped in and as a result we should be seeing the game appear on digital download sites over the next few weeks!
Meridian4 (http://www.meridian4.com) announces today that their digital publishing agreement with Headup Games (http://www.headupgames.com) spawns a new product in the form of parody/strategy/RPG; Grotesque Tactics – Evil Heroes (Premium Edition).
“Headup Games are always finding unique titles and Grotesque is the very definition of ‘unique’. With its quirky cast of characters, its tongue-in-cheek reverence to RPGs and games of past and its fun and addictive gameplay, Grotesque Tactics is a must for fans of the genre.” said Andy Sher, CEO at Meridian4.
Grotesque Tactics – Evil Heroes (Premium Edition) will be available in the coming weeks on most digital portals, including Steam, Impulse, Amazon and many others for $19.99.
While it is sad that it took so long for such a great game to find a home when the new release schedule each week is filled with so much ‘shovelware’ and ‘filler’ …but I’m happy it did. If you are a fan of the strategy-RPG genre definitely check it out when it arrives!
Etc!
Also, apparently Super Street Fight 4 won’t be coming to the PC due to piracy concerns. Argh! I call BS on this one! Sure there is piracy on the PC at a higher rate than on the consoles – but lower than on the PSP and more in line with the DS! Yet it is such an easy target – and such a convenient excuse rather than dealing with the real issues.
I mean, it was just revealed that digital sales now outnumber retail sales for PC games – and that doesn’t even address the games sold at retail that tie into digital sites. Civilization V, for example, is sold at retail but locks into Steam! Will there be piracy? Sure – but then again there are many thousands of Halo:Reach players who never bought the disc …
Finally Civilization V is out, and I stayed up WAY too late playing last night … and it was worth it! It immediately feels familiar as a Civilization game, yet there was so much new stuff going on that it was totally fresh. The graphics are gorgeous, the performance is polished and flawless … and most importantly it still has the ability to compel you for just … ONE … MORE … TURN … !!!
Happy gaming!
