Nintendo gets it right, Wii for the casual gamer
Jul 15, 2008 Video game
E3, the sacred conference dedicated to electronics and electronic gaming is taking place this week. Nintendo, arguably the giant among giants of gaming devoted its press conference to demonstrating the new direction its Wii is heading into, attracting the casual gamer.
ArsTechnica reports on a few games and features demoed by Nintendo executives at the press conference.
A new Wii Sports, dubbed Wii Sports: Resort will be taking advantage of a new peripheral: MotionPlus. The peripheral, which attaches to the Wiimote and allows for “allows for true one-to-one movement in games.” Ars was treated to a live demo of the new features when “Nintendo executives Reggis Fils-Aime and Cammie Dunaway [played] a sword-fighting game that offered true one-to-one motion.” Wii Sports: Resort is expected to launch next spring and a MotionPlus peripheral will be bundled with it.
One observation made by Ars (and many if not all of the commenters) was that the games seemed to be toned down and more casual than expected. Nintendo fans were disappointed at the lack of “hardcore” games presented and many have voiced their opinions in the ArsTechnica forum.
I’m happy to see a game company finally make games that the whole family can enjoy. While I somewhat understand the anguish of hardcore gamers at the lack of legacy games such as Zelda, I am looking forward to playing some easier games for a change.
Tags: ArsTechnica, gaming, nintendo, nintendo wii, video games, wii
New Intel Centrino 2
Jul 15, 2008 Hardware
I’ve been looking at getting a new personal laptop for a while now and it seems good things DO come to those who wait. ArsTechnica reports that “Intel’s Centrino 2 formally hit the streets today in a flurry of technology briefs, press releases, and OEM design win announcements.”
According to the article, the Intel Centrino 2 is a completely different platform and clears up the confusion created by the Duo and 2 Duo series of processors. When you buy a Centrino 2 laptop you get a 45 nm, 1066 MHz FSB processor. The new platform, Montevina, “is based around a new motherboard chipset.” Ars has a summary of Montevina’s features in the slide below:
In total there will be 5 new mobile, dual core processors introduced. “All of the new processors will be powered by the new Mobile Intel 45 Express chipset, the WiFi Link 5000 series, and the Intel 82567 gigabit Ethernet controller.” The new features claim to be better at saving battery life in a laptop, according to the article.
The article goes on to describe more of the features of this new platform, so make sure to check it out.
Tags: ArsTechnica, centrino, centrino 2, intel, laptop