|
 News
Week
of March 6 - March 10, 2000
[Monday,
March 8, 2000]
PS
2 Exports Prohibited
Japan's Trade Ministry has decided that to prohibit exports of Sony's
new Playstation 2 game console without special permission. The console
and it's memory cards are subject to controls under Japan's Foreign Exchange
and Foreign Trade law because of the system encryption technology. The
Trade Ministry will issue a special permit before Sony can begin Playstation
2 sales in Europe and North America this fall.
X-Box Spurs Nvidia
Rumors about Microsoft impending X-Box announcement sent the stock of
graphics chipmaker Nvidia sharply up. Shares of Nvidia went up by 42 percent
yesterday based on speculation that the company's 3D technology would
be utilized in Microsoft's proposed next-generation game console.
Intel Matches
AMD became the first to ship a 1GHz PC processor with the introduction
of its top of the line Athlon earlier this week, but it didn't take much
time at all for rival Intel to match that number. Intel will beat AMD's
asking price of $1,299 for a 1 GHz Athlon by pricing the new 1 GHz Pentium
III at $990. The first systems based on the new Intel chip will come from
Dell, HP, and IBM.
MF Name Change
The Miller Freeman Game Group, publisher of Gamastra and Game Developer
as well as producer of the Game Developers Conference, has made a name
change. Effective today the Miller Freeman Game Group will go by the name
CMP Game Media Group, reflecting Miller Freeman's acquisition of CMP Media
last year.
[Tuesday,
March 7, 2000]
Cell
Phone Stop Gap
Sony is planning on connecting Playstation 2 buyer to the new consoles
Internet features by way of digital cell phone connection. The cell phone
solution is Sony's plan to get owner of the new console connected to the
machine's online features and sales sites until Sony's planned high-speed
cable network becomes available sometime in 2001. The use of digital mobile
phones for the Internet connection will allow the Playstation 2 to get
online with out using a modem. "The service can be started immediately
after sales begin of special software and a cable to connect a portable
phone with PlayStation2," said Sony Computer Entertainment President Ken
Kutaragi.
PSX
on PC
Fresh from a courtroom victory over Sony regarding its' Playstation emulator
for Macintosh, Connectix Corporation is rolling out a PC version of the
Virtual Game Station. The company promised a PC version would arrive shortly
after a circuit court ruled that the company's reverse engineered Playstation
BIOS did not infringe on any Sony patents.
Triforge
Formed
Three veteran Blizzard developers have decided to part ways with the company
and form their own venture. Pat Wyatt, Mike O'Brien, and Jeff Strain have
exited Blizzard to set up shop as Triforge Inc. Wyatt had previously served
as Blizzard's vice president of research and development, and been a senior
programming on Blizzard hits like Star Craft and Diablo.
O'Brien had been a company director at Blizzard and had worked on War
Craft III, while Strain's credits with Blizzard include programming
for Star Craft and War Craft III. Triforge has note announce
project or publishing details.
[Monday,
March 6, 2000]
Sony
Near One Million
Sony has reported selling 980,000 thousand Playstation 2 consoles since
the new machines Japanese launch on Saturday, very near to Sony's pre-launch
prediction of one million consoles sold in the first two days of release.
The figure is better than ten times the sales racked up by the original
Playstation at its launch, though the Playstation 2 numbers include online
sales of consoles that have not yet been delivered. Of 380,000 consoles
ordered online, only 120,000 have been shipped. The company is promising
that deliveries will be completed within two weeks. Sony has reported
that production has fallen as much as ten days behind schedule due to
shortages of memory cards. Sony also reports that it has shipped 1.3 million
games for the Playstation 2.
Athlon Hits 1 GHz
AMD has beaten rival Intel past the post in a major industry milestone,
becoming the first chipmaker to pass the 1 GHz mark. AMD has begun shipments
of 1 GHz Athlon processors. "The implications of AMD delivering an astounding
1GHz processor will be far reaching. Not only will the processor enable
tremendous performance for the most processor-intensive applications available,
but also it may drive the creation of new applications that can take advantage
of speed and performance," said AMD chief technology officer Peter Ashkin.
The first gig chips will appear in systems from Compaq and Gateway. AMD
is pricing the part at $1299.
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