New high definition cable - HDBaseT

Just when you think you are all sorted for HD TV and 3D movies somebody thinks of new standard or in this case, interface. But it is not all bad. The latest is HDBaseT.

What is HDBaseT?

This is a product of HDBaseT Alliance - a specification for unified distribution of uncompressed HD content. It has a bandwidth to support full HD, 3D and 2Kx4K formats.

How does it look like?

You are almost certainly familiar with it. It is your standard network cable, cat 5 or 6 with RJ-45 connector.

For comparison of features have a look at this document.

Who is behind it?

HDBaseT is supported by founding companies: LG electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sony Pictures and Valens Semiconductor.


Will it matter?

It's hard to say yet. Definitely it is a good candidate for a race. It is base on existing, cheap, proven and standard port/cable pair. The questions is how will other big player respond. It is hard to say what Sony Entertainment will do since they are supporting (installing) HDMI in Playstation 3. I don't see a change coming to PS 3 any time soon. But I would love to use my existing home network used for delivery of HD movies. As always, time will tell who will prevail.

UDK released!

After a long wait Epic Games has finally released UDK – Unreal Development Kit. If you haven’t heard of it before, UDK is complete development environment for Unreal 3 engine. Of course there are some restrictions – it is free for non commercial use only. There were lots of examples for use of UDK in past like VRND – Notre Dame visualization demo and others.

Epic has excellent reputation when it comes to supporting user community. We all know about Make something Unreal contest with $1,000,000 prize pool and EDK equivalent for older versions (Unreal Engine Runtime, etc)

UDK content

Like with UT UDK comes with famous UnrealEd. In its own UnrealEd is very powerful editor and it may take a while to master it. If you do invest time and learn it rewards are great. Just look for custom maps for UT3, check out Community Bonus Packs for maps made by users.  If you are very new to UnrealEd check out videos at 3D Buzz.

Apart from editor you also get all components of Unreal 3 engine:

• Unreal Matinee – for creating cinematic
• UnrealScript – build prototypes and add gameplay elements
• PhysX support and PhAT physics editor
• Lightmass – lighting and shadowing engine
• Terrain editor
• LAN and direct IP support
• Ogg Vorbis audio support
• AI with crowd behaviour
• Swarm – distributed computing support for increased performance
• Destructible environments
• SpeedTree editor
• FaceFX facial animation

This list is not complete but gives you an idea what to expect. The UDK is used by Epic and other game developers to create games like Unreal Tournament 3, Gears of War, BioShock, Borderlands and many more. For complete list of feature go here.

 

Support content

Just looking at the list of features makes you realize that making something useful is not an easy task. Even with all videos available it is not that simple. Epic is very much aware of that and they have provided some content to help you to get things rolling.

There are 7 maps you can butcher, I mean open, explore and customize. The list includes famous DM-Deck, DM-Sanctuary, VCTF-Necropolis and VCTF-Sandstorm.

There is also a simple ExampleMap if you find others too complex to start with (I would recommend you to start with this Example Map). There is lot of other content provided like vehicles, characters, weapons, textures, etc.

 

Separate UDK downloads

If all of the sample content is not enough there are 3 showcase applications you can download:

• Whizzle – 2D platform game developed in UDK by Psyonix
• The Ball – entry for Make Something Unreal content
• UT3 demo

On-line documentation is available but I haven’t checked it out yet. If it is anything like in the past there will be plenty resources for you.

Little Big Planet - MacGyver moment

I have seen quite a few articles about Little Big Planet  (LBP) on the Internet. I didn't take time to read so I had no idea what this game is about.

Well, Little Big Planet is

Unique game combining an amazing platform adventure with a huge social community enabling consumers to play, create and share their gaming.

The world of LittleBigPlanet is unlike anything you have visited before: a

— handcrafted landscape made from

recognizable materials together with pure imagination! Instead of the pre-scripted gameplay normally seen in platform games,

LittleBigPlanet uses an advanced physics system which takes full advantage of the PLAYSTATION®3 systems power. Shapes, materials and objects all react exactly as you expect so balls roll, sledges slide and springs go boing.

So it is quite different and gives players a very nice playground. You can start small with decorations and get into more serious stuff later on. How serious? Depends on the ideas and free time.

I saw the video (see below) that simply amazed me. Beginning is quite simple and does not look very impressive. And then second half of the video is the revelation.

LittleBigPlanet 'Giant Calculator' gameplay

Not that it is a working calculator but it is a mechanical one! Upsilandre managed to get his/hers head around workings of mechanical calculator but also managed and organized over 1600 mechanical part, 610 magnetic switches, 500 wires and 430 pistons.

For me this is a definitely a MacGyver moment!

I wish this video is available in high definition... 

Unreal engine 3 updates

At GDC some improvements to Unreal 3 engine were demonstrated. At Gametrailers site you can see the HD video of these. The list includes:

• ambient occlusion - adds more realistic display of the individual objects in the level by generating more realistic shadows
• advanced character lighting - this really helps to see the actors. Check the video to see the difference!
• high density crowds - now you can blast away hundreds of enemies
• dynamic fluid surfaces -now water looks very real
• matinee improvements - now with real time preview in editor
• soft body physics - now famous demo with "meat cube" showing incorporation of Ageia's technology for soft body physics and liquids.
• destructible environment - an extension of PhysX engine. Just check the video to see new level of realism that can be achieved.

Here are some examples in relatively low quality (screen capture from the video)

Horde

Fluid surfaces

Soft body

Destructible environment

My favourite feature is destructible environment. If used wisely in a level it can influence gameplay in a really good way. Let say we have a level with multi level buildings but with destructible components (roofs, walls and floors). The battle starts and as the time progress top level(s) or building(s) crumbles and changes the way you play - there is no more cover or it is greatly reduced.

DM-Lego map for Unreal Tournament 3

This looks like a fun map to play. It is simple and destructible! To see what I mean heave a look at the video.

If you like it get it from here.

If you would like to know more about UE3 updates check this inverview with Tim Sweeney on Team Xbox site - 4 pages long.

Ender's Game will become a game

Not too long ago Chair Entertainment announced on their News & Press page that they have bought interactive rights for Ender's Game. The plan is to bring this novel to all next generation consoles and PC.

If you are not familiar with Ender's Game I would recommend you go to the bookstore and look for a copy. The novel was published in 1985 by Tor Books. Of course, I won't re-tell the story! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. As reassurance of my recommendation this book won Nebula award and Hugo award next year as well!

Personally, one of most memorable parts of the book are the 'Battle Room' war games descriptions. Quite often I would find myself imagining the battle in zero-gravity and how I would tackle the situation instead of reading the book. Now I will have a chance to do that!

From technology point of view, game will use Unreal 3 (U3) engine. The U3 engine is one of the leading game engines on the market right now. The best examples of capabilities of it check out games like Unreal Tournament III, Gears of War, Bioshock and lots of other titles. As core technology U3 engine is supporting Ageia's PhysX hardware acceleration. If you read my previous post there are some really exciting news on that front.

Lets' wait and see if all factors will fall in place (nVidia making cheap PhysX cards in mass production, Chair Entertainment doing a good job and U3 engine handling game content) and hope we don't have to wait too long.

Ageia + nVidia = Awesome!

Well, well, well.

Today nVidia has announced that they will aquire Ageia Technologies Inc.

This in not a surprize, really. Ageia has really exciting technology but didn't manage to gain a considerable market share. Of course stroke a deal with Sony for Playstation 3, but appart from that not many PC stores are selling them successfuly. I think I don't have to say anything about nVidia. It is very likely that you have their product in your PC.

What is really exciting is that now we could expect to have one of two options:

• nVidia starts mass production of Physx cards with little or no modifications. This would hopefully bring the price down so we mere mortals can afford one
• new breed of cards will emerge - graphics + Physyx. This would take more time to develop but would have better penetraction to the market, e.g. high end graphics cards have physyx chip bundled

Let's wait and see what will happen. Anyway I think we (gamers) will benefit from this aquisition.

Don't waste time nVidia, bring on the goodies!

Havok bought by Intel

AMD bought ATI. Intel bought Havok. With this purchase Havok will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel. What does that do for Intel?

From Intel's press release:

The acquisition will enable developers in the digital animation and game communities to take advantage of Intel's innovation and technology leadership in the creation of digital media.

Most of PC users don't consider Intel as significant player in the graphics cards market. That's where you are wrong. If you check some numbers you will see that Intel has 40% of the market with AMD second with only 26%!

 With the biggest market share and new technology acquired by Havok Intel has a huge potential in gaming market. Havok does not need an introduction but if you are new to gaming market you have almost certainly played a game using Havok engine. It runs on Wii, PlayStation®3, PlayStation®2, PSP™, Xbox360™, Xbox, GameCube™ and the PC and over 70 games are using it. Keeping that in mind and Intel's share market AMD and nVidia may have a lot of hard time ahead of them. Especially if Intel creates a half good card that will be sold in millions as integrated video card. I know I would like to run Half-Life 2 on built-in video card instead forking $250 for it.

Let's wait and see what they will do.

StarCraft II - Terran units

The official StarCraft II web site is finally updated with some new content. Of course this coincide with BlizzConn 07 which has finished few days ago.

There are couple of new units described: Reaper and Viking.

Reaper is a light armored unit not designed for the head-on fights. It is equipped with a jet pack and to me, this looks very similar to Command and Conquer 3 Zone Trooper. The jet pack is something very different in StarCraft universe. In original game(s) no unit had a possibility to jump over the obstacles. This will change the the way games is played quite a bit. From now on, when fighting Terrans you have to keep a close watch on the whole base or battlefield. Another element changing the balance is their speed. They move very quickly over the terrain and combine that with jet packs - you have a really deadly unit.

StarCraft web site describes Reapers as

Reapers are the most hardened terran criminals, taken from the most dangerous and violent prisons. Potential marines who prove too intractable even after resocialization are instead sent to the "Icehouse" in the Torus system, where reapers are trained.

This in not a new idea but a combination of Alien 3 and Dune. Why Dune? Because Arrakis is the desert planet with extreme conditions where Fremen live for centuries. Muad'dib has discovered they are not only survivors but amazing warriors.

 

Viking is a second new unit that again, changes the balance compared to the original games. Is is based on the siege tanks concept but with lot of new ideas.  The description of Viking is:

Based heavily on the transformation design of the terran siege tank, the viking was designed to be the ultimate anti-air and ground-support weapon system. With the ability to change its combat role from an assault walker to an air-superiority fighter, the viking can switch smoothly to fulfill tactical needs in a developing battle.

The true is that Terran could not defend successfully against Zerg but introduction of Vikings definitely fixes this problem. To balance this big advantage it seems that Vikings are bit hard to handle and they may be available only in later stages of the game.

 

As you can guess from my blog's name I am the big fan of Zerg. Seeing these new units added to the Terran army makes me a little bit nervous. It definitely requires review and adjustments in strategy when dealing with Terran. But, Blizzard is yet to reveal new units for Zerg and I am expecting some exciting and powerful units to counter Reapers and Vikings. (I don't much about Protoss, I never play as Protoss).  

Samsung leads the way

Again, Samsung shows leadership when it comes to SSD (Solid State Disk). They have started mass production of the 1.8 " 64 GB SSD drive. It is based on the single level cell flash memory. On the practical side this means that battery life of your laptop could be extender by 20%.

On the other front they have released hybrid disk drives, MH80. These drives are combination of standard disk drive (80 or 160 GB) and 256 MB flash memory. This was only a matter of time before someone does it. Again, on the practical side this can significantly reduce power consumption of laptops and faster resume from hibernation.

It still may be quite some time before we see laptops with SSD drives only. Reason is not technical this time - it is the price. Over the time prices will drop but until then keep your eyes focused on Samsung.