The Week in Review: March 10-16, 2003

Last week's features at 3DsoundSurge

Last week's sound news

Drivers and bugs

New games, demos, patches and bugs

• Delta Force: Black Hawk Down Gold
  Delta Force: Black Hawk Down has gone gold and will be available in stores on March 25. Set in Somalia in 1993, Delta Force - Black Hawk Down is based upon and around the Operation Restore Hope and Task Force Ranger campaigns and follows members of the elite Delta Force, US Army Rangers and 10th Mountain Division as they participate in a number of daring raids against the oppressive Somali warlords in and around Mogadishu.

  Not tried the full game but the demo features a WDM 5.1 option that offers 3D sound on at least 4 and 5.1 speaker systems. Unlike most other games it use its own 3D sound engine and direct channel access rather than depending on the soundcards 3D sound engine.
  News Source: Press Release

• Run Like Hell Xbox Goes Gold
  Vivendi Universal Games and Interplay Entertainment have announced that Run Like Hell(TM) for the Xbox(TM) video game system from Microsoft has gone gold. This expanded Xbox version of the survival horror game includes an additional "hydroponics" level, five additional rooms and several new bloodthirsty creatures. Dolby® Digital 5.1 and High-definition (HDTV) will be supported in game, and additional mini games and skins will be available at launch via Xbox(TM) Live. Run Like Hell is scheduled to ship to retail in early April.
  News Source: Press Release

• Enclave for PC ships
  The PC port of the third-person, 3D action game, Enclave has shipped to stores. "Enclave" is set in a fantasy environment where long ago a rift formed separating the lands of light from the plains of darkness by an impassable chasm. Over time, the Enclave of light grew strong and prosperous, while those confined to the war-ravaged plains of the outlands harbored nothing but hatred and jealousy. Now, after hundreds of years, the rift is closing and it is only a matter of time before a full-scale war erupts. At the start of the game, players must make an important decision and choose to take on the role of either an agent of light or of darkness.

  The Xbox edition features 3D sound so I would expect the PC edition to offer that as well.
  News Source: Press Release

• Warrior Kings Battles Demo
  A demo of the upcoming Warrior Kings sequal, Warrior Kings Battles, has been released. You can grab the 234MB demo from 3DGamers.

• UT2003 Bonus Pack Released
  Epic has released the second free bonus pack for Unreal Tournament 2003. It features three new game types, 10 new maps, two new adrenaline combos, new announcer voice options and an in-game music manager. You can grab it from the official site. Mirrors are available on 3DGamers, UT2003Files, Worthplaying, FilePlanet, Gamer's Hell
  News Source: Press release

• Medal of Honor Allied Assault Spearhead Patch
  A new patch (v. 215) for Medal of Honor Allied Assault Spearhead has been released. You can grab it from 3D Gamers.

• New Neverwinter Nights Patch
  A new (v1.29) patch for Neverwinter Nights has been release.

• NOLF 2 Patch
  A new patch (v1.3) for No One Lives Forever 2 has been released. A new map pack has also been released. You can grab the updates from File Planet or Worthplaying.
  News Source: Press release

• MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries Update
  Microsoft has released The MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries Point Release 1.

• 2002 Game Audio Network Guild Awards
  The Game Audio Network Guild, the non-profit organization established to promote excellence in interactive music and sound, recently held its 2002 Game Audio Network Guild Awards ceremony at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose on Friday, March 7th 2003. A sampling of the winners includes Audio Of The Year Medal Of Honor: Frontline (Erik Kraber, Michael Giacchino, Jack Grillo, Jeremy Hall, Rebecca Hanck, Yuan Liu, Eric Shemkovitz), Music Of The Year, Medal Of Honor: Frontline (Michael Giacchino) and Best Use Of Multi-Channel Surround In A Game, James Bond 007: Nightfire (Jennifer Lewis (EAC audio team), Neil Baldwin (Eurocom) & Scott Gershin (Soundelux)). The full list of award winners are now available from Music for Games.

• The Game of Music
  IGN PC has done a report from an audio panel at GDC where the topic was about the use and importance of music in video games. Here's how they summed it up:

  While each of the composers present offered up his own take on how to approach scoring music for video games, they all agreed that the use of melody, whether as a repetitive refrain, a short, snappy, and identifiable riff, or as a motif, was crucial to creating memorable and lasting music that would compliment the game in question.

• Deus Ex: Invisible War Preview
  Gamespot checked out Ion Storm's futuristic first-person role-playing game Deus Ex 2: Invisible War at GDC. Here's an interesting bit about the audio:

  As it turns out, the technical progress on the game was quite noticeable. The framerate was much smoother and we got a demonstration of a new audio feature: physics sound.

  Ion Storm's studio director, Warren Spector, had previously hinted at some cool plans for the game's audio, and it's totally in keeping with Deus Ex's interactive design for Ion Storm to try to do something like physics sound, which ties the game's physics into the into the audio system to create dynamic sound effects. If you throw an object--or if it's accidentally bumped to the floor--there are a number of factors that go into creating the sound of one object impacting on another, including the object's mass, material, velocity, and angle of impact. A simple example is that a cardboard box sounds different when it hits a wall than a rubber bucket does, and pushing a heavy chair across a wood floor is different than if the floor were metal. Spector said that this is quite likely the first game to have such dynamic audio.

  There was plenty of opportunity to try out the physics sound effects in a level we hadn't previously seen before, the Seattle inclinator, which is an angled elevator that moves goods and passengers between Seattle's working-class old town at ground level and the rich upper level. And while it's nice that the sounds are different for simple interactions, the dynamic sound is most immersive when it makes the unexpected possible. What sold us on the concept was when a metal canister was thrown across a cargo area and it not only made a hollow rolling sound with it was on its side and a crash when it impacted on the lip of a service tube, but it also scraped and banged the sides of the tube as the canister fell down it. Basic acoustics are modeled, and the noises smoothly attenuated into the distance. Imagine such audio in full 5.1 glory.

  Ion Storm often says that its technology efforts have to have a direct effect on gameplay, and physics sound does add the sort of detail that should help the player suspend disbelief and stay immersed in the game world. Plus, the AI will react to odd sounds, so bumping into a table and knocking off a coffee cup could put an idle guard on alert and prompt it to investigate. The game's producer, Harvey Smith, noted that this could be used by a clever player to attract guards towards one direction, as the player takes advantage of the distraction to pass unnoticed. The game does invite the player to experiment with the game world such that it's practically a "sandbox shooter," to use Harvey Smith's casual phrase.

  The game will be available later this year. Thanks to Anders Albrechtsen for the pointer.

Reviews of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3 players.

• M-Audio Revolution 7.1
  GeekExtreme has posted a review of M-Audio Revolution 7.1. GeekExtreme found it to perform very well and offer both better sound and driver quality than Creative Labs Audigy.

• Hercules Gamesurround Muse 5.1 DVD
  Avault has done a review of Hercules inexpensive ($30) CMI8738 based Gamesurround Muse 5.1 DVD soundcard. Avault found it to perform well, especially considering the price, and gave it an overall rating of 4.5 stars out of 5.

• AOpen AX4GE Tube-G Motherboard
  Techware Labs has posted an overall very positive review of the AOpen AX4GE Tube-G motherboard. Just like AOpen's first tube based motherboard, the AX4GE Tube-G uses a tube preamplifer on the stereo line outputs matched with a RealTek AC97 CODEC

• Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 Speaker System
  HardCOREware has posted an overall positive review of the Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 speaker system. On the sound side their main complaint is the fairly high crossover point between the subwoofer and satellites. One minor point worth noting from the introduction to their review. EAX is an extension to DS3D - in other words if a game supports EAX it suports DS3D. The only exception is the new OpenAL API and it has a DS3D fallback.

• Altec Lansing 621 2.1 Speaker
  Hardware Avenue has posted an overall positive (7/10) review of the Altec Lansing 621 2.1 speaker system

• Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 Speaker System Video
  3DGameMan has posted a mixed review of the Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 speaker system. On the sound side their only complaint is a lack of midrange. They also have short satellite cable length and lack of shielding on the subwoofer as knocks on the system which they say is otherwise very good. It's worth noting is that most subwoofers are not shielded.

• Logitech Z-680 5.1 Speaker System
  GruntvillE.com has posted an overall very positive (96/100) review of the Logitech Z-680 5.1 speaker system. Just one minor comment - the drivers in the satellites are 3" drivers.

• Altec Lansing 2100 2.1 Speaker System
  Lan Addict has posted an overall positive (7/10) review of the Altec Lansing 2100 2.1 speaker system. The found the system to be best suited for gaming with the lack of a midrange driver (the system uses a microdriver configuration) resulting in sound that was either too bass heavy or too tinny when listening to music.

• Plantronics Audio 60 headset
  Adaboy has done a very short and positive (9 out of 10) review of the Plantronics Audio 60 headset.

• iRiver SlimX iMP-350
  Digital Insanity has done a very positive (9 out of 10) review of iRiver SlimX iMP-350, a CD/MP3 player with an FM tuner.

• VIA EPIA-M
  Lost Circuits has done a positive review of VIA EPIA-M,a tiny microcomputer geared mostly towards multimedia experience.

Other sound news

• SoundStorm In A Cup
  That's the title of a brief article that takes a look at just what having an nForce SoundStorm means. The information is similar to what is in our nForce APU review, specifically in the technical overview section. Looking backwards, one point worth noting is there are also nForce 1 motherboards with SoundStorm certification and some of those were upgradeable after initial purchase of a board without the necessary I/O (but the board was of course pre-certified).
• Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Warranty Extension
  Klipsch has posted an update on issue resolution with some problem ProMedia 5.1 systems as well as news that they are offering a warranty extension. Here's a snip:

  Because we want to be able to assure our customers that we are doing everything we can to give them the performance experience for which Klipsch is known, we enlisted the assistance of four independent research firms. All four of these firms identified changes and improvements to make to the ProMedia 5.1 that would indeed solve all the problems our customers were experiencing, and that the changes would not cause any additional problems. These changes have been made to all products klipsch has shipped since February 13, 2003.

  Further, we are now offering an extended two-year warranty on every new or warranty replaced ProMedia 5.1 system. A special area of the klipsch.com web site has been set up so that customers can register for the extended two-year warranty. Visit http://www.klipsch.com/extendedwarranty/ to register.

  For further details you can check out this post in our forum.

• Creative Offers MegaWorks THX 6.1 650 for $300 After Rebate
  Creative today announced availability of the ultra-powerful 600-watt Creative MegaWorks THX 6.1 650 speaker system through creative.com and buy.com for only US$299.99, after a rebate for purchase of Sound Blaster Audigy 2 with the MegaWorks THX 6.1 650.

  Creative also announced that high-end computer gaming machine manufacturer Alienware will ship the MegaWorks THX 6.1 speaker system this month, in custom-configured PCs featuring the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card.

  For lots more detail including details on the MegaWorks THX 6.1 650 you can check out the full press release.

• Creative Technology to Develop 'Media2Go' Portable Media Player
  Microsoft has announced that Creative will develop a portable media player based on Microsoft's upcoming media player device platform code-named "Media2Go." The new devices are expected to be in stores in late 2003 and will extend Creative Technology's line of highly acclaimed digital entertainment products such as the award-winning NOMAD® line of MP3 players.

  Creative Technology's family of "Media2Go"-based portable media players will offer consumers a sleek, lightweight design with storage capability for more than 8,000 music files, 175 hours of digital quality video or up to 30,000 photographs. The players will provide continuous playback of video for up to six hours and continuous music playback for up to 12 hours.

  Lots more detail can be found in the full press release.

• Ahead to Preview New Blockbuster Software DVD Player
  Ahead Software, the makers of Nero, the technology leader in CD/DVD recording software, are set to preview at the forthcoming CeBIT exhibition, Nero ShowTime - a complete solution for the playback of DVD movies, video files and Nero Digital, the new standard in MPEG-4 audio video compression.
  Supporting a multitude of formats such as DVD-Video, VCD 2.0, Mini-DVD, and Nero Digital, Nero ShowTime brings a new viewing and listening experience to any PC.

  Due to be ready for prime time in Q2, Nero ShowTime will form part of an integrated 'one-stop' OEM DVD software suite, which will include NeroVision Express 2.0, InCD 4.0, Nero Burning ROM and/or Nero Express, and Nero BackItUp

  For lots more detail you can check out the full press release.

• EZQuest Intros Boa Slim DVD-RW Drive at Cebit Germany
  EZQuest has introduced its new external Boa Slim DVD-RW drive at Cebit Germany. The super-small drive measures 6-inches, by 5.5-inches, by .75 inch -- just big enough to accommodate a DVD or CD disc. It features both FireWire and USB 2.0 ports, and allows easy transfer of data between PCs and Macs. This drive is perfect for backing up large data files, transferring data from one computer to another, making DVD movies and audio CDs, copying CDs, and rewriting CDs or DVDs. It operates at 2x DVD-R, 1x DVD-RW, 8x DVD-Rom, 16x CD-R, 8x CD-RW and 24x CD-Rom speeds.

  Additional details can be found in the full press release.

• Addonics Announce New Pocket DVD-R/RW Drive
  Addonics Technologies has announced one of the smallest optical super combo drives, which has all the functions of a DVD Player, DVD Recorder, CD Player and CD Recorder stuffed inside an enclosure that's not much larger than a double stack CD jewel case.

  The drive supports all current optical media formats and is perfect for corporate, government, professional photographers or mobile users who need a portable DVD/CDRW burner for creating DVD or CD material. List prices for the Addonics Pocket DVD-R/RW are $479 for the USB 2.0 Version (Model # AEPDRRWUM); $489 for the CardBus/PCMCIA Version (Model #AEPDRRWCB); and $499 for the Firewire Version (Model # AEPDRRWFW). You can find more details in the press release.

• KiSS Technology Launches First DivX Certified DVD Players at CeBIT Trade Show
  KiSS Technology and DivXNetworks have announced the release of the first fully DivX Certified DVD players at the CeBit computer show in Hannover, Germany. The DP-450 and DP-500 from KiSS Technology are the first DVD players to support high-quality playback of all versions of DivX video content. You can find mored details in the press release.

• Micro Solutions Ships Hi-Speed USB 2.0 DVD+RW Backpack Drive
  Micro Solutions has started shipping its new Hi-Speed USB 2.0 DVD+RW backpack drive. The new external backpack DVD+RW gives computer users an easy-to-use, portable, removable storage device for creating, storing and sharing their own collections of home videos, photographs and music as well as backing up data. With a DVD+R recording speed of 4x when using 4x media, the drive is among the fastest on the market. The backpack DVD+RW (model number is 224101) has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $349.00. You can find more details in the press release.

   

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.
  

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