Punch-Out, Mario and Luigi, and More New Games From Nintendo

Remember that crazy rumor from yesterday that said that Nintendo
would bring back a classic franchise for Wii? It was true: Nintendo
said in Tokyo yesterday that it will release a new version of Punch-Out for Wii in 2009.

In fact, Nintendo made a whole slew of new game announcements Thursday for both of its platforms. Major titles include Mario and Luigi 3 and a new Wario Ware game for Nintendo DS, as well as Sin and Punishment 2 for Wii.

But really: Punch-Out. Cannot even tell you how excited I
am. Especially as it seems to actually be based on the classic gameplay
of the series and retain all of its major key elements, like ethnic
stereotyping (those are croissants being pummeled out of French fighter
Glass Joe, there).

You can watch demo reels with a few seconds of footage from each of these games. Here's the Wii video, here's the DS video.

From : http://blog.wired.com/

AMD to launch nine 45nm Shanghai server CPUs in October

AMD has updated server makers that it is planning to
bring forward the launch of 45nm server processors (Shanghai) from the
original schedule of January 2009 to mid-October. Nine CPUs with core
frequencies between 2.3-2.7GHz will be offerer ed initially, according
to sources at server makers.

The nine Shanghai
processors will include five 2-way and four 8-way models. All will
support the company's socket F (1207), and include an on-die DDR2
memory controller and 6MB L2 cache.

In February 2009,
AMD will launch five 55W low-voltage server CPUs – three 2-way and two
8-way – and two 105W high-performance models – one 2-way and an 8-way.

Shanghai
processors will only support HyperTransport 1.0 initially. Models
supporting HyperTransport 3.0 will be released in the second quarter of
2009. AMD is also planning to launch a new server chipset (SR5600) in
the second quarter of 2009, the sources added.

From : http://www.digitimes.com/

Asus F8Va

It may not
be the sexiest notebook in town, but Asus' 14.1-inch laptop is Centrino
2 certified, and sports some excellent multimedia capabilities.

Design

The Asus F8Va is like the prized pig at the fair, it's not winning any
beauty pageants and is better appreciated when served hot on a sandwich
during Christmas dinner. Confusing metaphors aside, the F8Va is hardly
eye-catching — its glossy piano black lid is such a fingerprint magnet
Asus has thrown a soft towel in the box to wipe it clean. However, as
with most laptops, it's what's inside that counts, and it's here that
the F8Va shines.

The F8Va sports a 14.1-inch 1,440x900-pixel resolution display with
an obligatory 1.3-megapixel webcam situated just above. As with the
Asus M51Va, this webcam is swivel mounted and able to rotate to face
towards the user or away. It is also used with Asus' mostly useless
SmartLogon facial recognition security software. We say useless, not
because it doesn't work, but because it is actually significantly
slower to log-in with the webcam than it is to type in a password.

For those who refuse to remember a password and find SmartLogon
cumbersome there is also a fingerprint scanner sitting between the left
and right mousepad buttons. This stainless steel trackpad is large and
easy to use; however, the material isn't as pleasant to use as
soft-touch plastic trackpads, and the selection keys click loudly when
depressed.

Features

For the money, Asus has packed in quite a bit of well performing
hardware. The F8Va runs a 2.53MHz Core 2 Duo 9400 processor with 2GB
DDR2-800MHz RAM and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 video card with 1GB
of dedicated memory. This adds up to some pretty beefy performance that
is more than capable of most day-to-day tasks and is handy as an
entertainment unit as well.

Around the edges of the F8Va we found a whopping five USB ports, an
eSATA port, HDMI and VGA, plus the standard inputs for Ethernet and
phone line cables. Extending its connectivity, the F8Va also sports an
Intel WiFi Link 5100 wireless adapter for connecting to 802.11g and
802.11n wireless access points and Bluetooth for connecting (mostly) to
mobile phones and hands-free headsets. We also noticed the heat vent on
the right-hand side of the F8Va, which means right-handed mouse users
will more than likely get sweaty paws under the processor after burn.

For entertainment the F8Va employs a combo Blu-ray drive and DVD
burner, and the aforementioned hardware is more than sufficient to play
back media effectively. The F8Va also ships with a bundled HDTV tuner
which, coupled with Windows Media Centre, turns this machine into a
fully-fledged portable video recorder capable of recording live TV then
streaming it over a network to a home theatre system, or running a
large flat panel TV into the HDMI port.

If you do plan to record TV you might find the F8Va's 320GB HDD
filling quickly. At HD resolution this storage capacity is equal to
approx 30 hours of recording, and that's if you can dedicate the entire
disk to TV, which will be impractical for most people. This brings us
back to the extra USB ports; serious TV lovers will be looking to
invest in an external drive.

Asus also throws in a couple of extras with the machine: a very handy carry bag, a mouse, and a remote for the TV tuner.

Performance

During our tests, the Asus F8Va gave back a result of 3,807 in 3DMark
benchmarking and 5,915 in PCMark. These figures indicate power enough
to run some older PC games. More importantly, it should handle most
productivity apps with ease and be capable of some basic photo and
video editing.

After turning off all the power-saving features we started a DVD to
test the battery, noting that the F8Va powered down after one hour and
17 minutes. This is about average for a six-cell battery, if a little
below par. Considering this laptop weighs in at 2.6kg, we don't think
you'll be moving it about too much anyway, and will most probably have
it close to a power socket.

It mightn't be the most attractive laptop available, but it has
plenty of grunt to play with and enough multimedia features to please
people introducing themselves to the next generation of couch
potato-ism.

From : http://www.zdnet.com.au/

Sony takes full control of Sony BMG

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's Sony Corp. said it completed the acquisition
of German media giant Bertelsmann's 50-percent stake in their Sony BMG
joint venture, the world's second largest recorded music company.

The
venture, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese
electronics and entertainment conglomerate, will be renamed Sony Music
Entertainment Inc., Sony said in a statement late Wednesday.

The
two firms joined forces in 2004 to save costs in the face of declining
CD sales and the growing popularity of Internet downloads, but
Bertelsmann announced in August that it was selling its stake to its
Japanese partner.

The music company is one of the industry's "big
four" together with Universal, EMI and Warner Music and has artists
including Alicia Keys, Celine Dion, Justin Timberlake, Usher and Bruce
Springsteen on its roster.

Sony BMG accounts for around a quarter
of global music sales, comprising labels including Arista Records,
Columbia Records and Epic Records.

The German media giant will
receive 1.2 billion dollars from the deal, Sony has said, including 300
million dollars of its share of the cash on Sony BMG's balance sheet.

From : http://afp.google.com/

Sony: PlayStation 3 Sales Exceeding Initial Expectations

There was a time when PlayStation 3 sales were either stagnant or
declining, but throughout all of 2008, those sales have been on the
permanent upswing. Sony's machine has outsold the Xbox 360 many months
out of the year, and now, Sony has revealed that PS3 sales are even
better than they anticipated.

According to Reuters, both the PS3 and PSP are ahead of sales projections. Analysts say the current lending crisis won't hurt the gaming industry,
but even if it affects demand this holiday season, Sony still expects
to hit their PS3/PSP sales predictions. As SCEA boss Jack Tretton
noted, both the continued high demand for video games and the appeal of
Blu-Ray have pushed PS3 sales 30% higher than Sony's fiscal plan
initially indicated. Remember that 10 million yearly goal Sony had for
the PS3? Tretton adds- "We are in good shape for that number worldwide.
We are tracking at 100 percent up over last year ... about 30 percent
ahead of where we should be. So sales could slow down and we will still
hit our number." And don't think for a second Sony isn't counting on
blockbuster titles like LittleBigPlanet and Resistance 2 to make their projections a reality.

This is certainly more fun that posting constant doom and gloom,
which we had to do during the early days of the PS3. In late 2006 and
through the first half of 2007, things weren't looking good, but ever
since then...well, wow. Sony really knows how to do this, generation to
generation, don't they?

From : http://www.psxextreme.com/

Connect Microsoft Email Clients to Gmail

Google's
free Gmail email application is popular with consumers because of its
large mailbox quota (now more than 6.3GB and likely to increase over
time), integrated antispam and antivirus protection, and powerful
search capabilities. Moving beyond its consumer appeal, Gmail is
becoming a more attractive mail platform for businesses—especially
small-to-midsized businesses (SMBs) that find it cost-effective to
offload email management and storage to a third-party service provider,
rather than dedicate staff to onsite mail server administration. Gmail
is part of the Google Apps suite that Google is selling to enterprises;
the Premier Edition of Google Apps costs $50 per year per mailbox—an
up-front cost that's much lower than traditional deployments of other
messaging solutions, such as Microsoft Exchange Server or Lotus Notes. . . .

From : http://windowsitpro.com/

Nintendo Announces ‘DS-i’ — Larger Screens, Two Cameras, ‘DS Store’ And More

The rumors were right. At a press conference in Japan tonight, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed the latest iteration of their handheld: the Nintendo DS-i.

At first glance, it doesn’t look much different than the already
available DS Lite. But there are some major additions to the hardware,
including:

* Two 0.3 megapixel (640×480 resolution) cameras, one on the outside, another on the inside

* Larger screens — they’re now 3.25 inches (vs. 3.0 inches)

* SD card slot for memory expansion and plug-n-play with Wii Photo Channel

* Built-in web browser

* Support for the “Nintendo DS Store,” which will sell “Nintendo DS
Ware,” much like the WiiWare service already available on Wii

* Ability to play MP3s via SD cards

The DS-i is also slightly smaller, but form factor came at a price.
Nintendo has removed the Game Boy Advance slot, removing compatibility
with that device’s games. But Nintendo could potentially sell those
games through the DS Store.

Nintendo said the DS-i will be available on November 1 in Japan for
18,900 yen (roughly $180 over here) in two colors — white and
grey-black. Unfortunately, the rest of the world won’t see the DS-i
until 2009.

Nintendo of America is holding a two-day press
event in San Francisco starting tomorrow, however. We should know more
about the worldwide plans then.

From : http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/

Nintendo announces new DS handheld console

TOKYO (AFP) — Japanese video game giant Nintendo Co. said Thursday
it will launch a new version of its popular DS handheld console with a
built-in camera and audio player next month.

The new console will
have a similar design to the DS Lite, but will be slimmer and have
slightly larger screens, Nintendo president and chief executive Satoru
Iwata told a press conference.

The dual-screen machine will go on
sale in Japan from November 1 with a price tag of 18,900 yen (178
dollars), followed by launches in overseas markets some time next year.

"We want everyone to have their own individual machine," said Iwata.

"For those households who already have a DS that they share among family members, I want them to have one for each member."

Nintendo has long dominated the market for handheld machines with its Game Boy and DS series.

It
has sold more than 20 million DS consoles in Japan alone since the
series was launched about three years ago, helped by the popularity of
"brain-training" and other games aimed at broadening its appeal.

The
Kyoto-based company is also now enjoying strong sales of its Wii home
video game console, which is known for its innovative motion-sensitive
controller and is aimed at people who normally would not play video
games.

From : http://afp.google.com/

Nintendo to Sell New DS Player to Widen Lead on Sony

Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co. added camera and music-
playing functions to its best-selling DS handheld game player to
widen its lead over Sony Corp.'s PlayStation Portable machines.

The Nintendo DSi will go on sale in Japan Nov. 1, priced at
18,900 yen ($179), President Satoru Iwata said at a briefing in
Tokyo today. Overseas sales begin next year, he said.

The third version of the DS is aimed at protecting Kyoto,
Japan-based Nintendo's dominance in portable gaming as Sony adds
new features to the PSP and Apple Inc. enters the market with
iPods and iPhones that can play motion-sensing games. In August,
Nintendo forecast it will sell 30.5 million handheld machines
this fiscal year, twice as many as Sony's projected PSP sales.

Nintendo, also the maker of the Wii console, fell 3.1
percent to 39,750 yen as of 2:14 p.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The stock, which more than doubled in each of the past two years,
has lost 41 percent in 2008, compared with a 51 percent drop for
Sony shares.

The DSi is the first new version of the handheld player
since Nintendo began selling the DS Lite, which retails for
16,800 yen, in March 2006.

In July, Nintendo said it had sold 77.5 million DS players
since the first model was introduced in December 2004.

Sony plans to begin selling an upgraded version of the PSP
in mid-October that has a built-in microphone and a screen that
displays sharper images.

Nintendo in August raised its full-year profit forecast by
26 percent, citing higher-than-anticipated sales of DS and Wii
players.

From : http://www.bloomberg.com/

Nintendo announces DSi

The rumors
were true: Nintendo has announced a new DS, dubbed the DSi. The company
unveiled the new DS model at a press conference in Japan.

Early specs:

• The unit is said to resemble the existing DS Lite, but is 12
  percent thinner, thanks to the absence of a Game Boy cartridge slot.
• The twin screens are a bit larger--3.25 inches versus 3.
• 3-megapixel camera
• SD card slot
• Downloadable games: Download games from a "DSi Shop" over Wi-Fi,
  and save them to the SD card. The games are called "DSi Ware" (a la Wii
  Ware), and are available for 200, 500, or 800 points.
• Availability: It'll hit November 1 in Japan for ¥18,900 (approximately $179), in black and white versions.

Nintendo has scheduled an event Thursday in San Francisco, which will
undoubtedly be the DSi's North American unveiling. Daniel Terdiman of
CNET News will have complete coverage of that event, at which time we
should get more specific details on the latest generation of Nintendo's
gaming handheld.

(Source: Famitsu via translation on Kotaku)

From : http://news.cnet.com/

Nokia chief: Mobile superiority coming to America

North America is tough neighborhood for Nokia. While the
Finland-based cell phone giant is reputed to control over 40 per cent
of the mobile market globally, its brand is stamped on a mere 10 per
cent of America's sets.

But Nokia's CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo is pretty optimistic about his
stateside prospects. Speaking to Silicon Valley's Churchill Club, he
said we should expect the US to soon steal Europe's
we-drive-the-mobility-market crown, as more emphasis is placed on
software and internet-based services.

"I think this will be driven by the Valley," said Kallasvuo. "The US, as opposed to being a laggard, will lead."

But where would that leave Nokia? Software has historically not been
been its strong suit. Then there's a couple of American joints known as
Apple, Google, and Microsoft getting deep into the mobility software
act as of late.

"Suddenly, you have the mightiest companies in the world as your competitors," said Kallasvuo.

"It's sort of mind boggling. You have to stay humble and say 'it's a new game, there are new business models.'"

Nokia made its play in June by purchasing Symbian and then pushing the OS into an open source foundation. Kallasvuo reckons it has struck up a a sweet combination of open and mature software that can put it ahead of the race.

What does Kallasvuo think about the competition? Apple's iPhone is
based on mature software platform, but it's certainly not open.
Microsoft is the same. Google with Android is (pretty much) open, but
its OS is the new kid on the block.

Nokia believes it had built it, but will developers come? Fighting
the sex appeal of Google and Apple isn't easy even with a nice
personality.

"It's quite easy to see when it comes to the US — especially in the
Valley — [Apple's] App Store and Android have more mindshare,"
Kallasvuo said.

Meanwhile, the company has RIM to worry about. The Blackberry has
found itself becoming the de facto standard for corporate communication
in the States. Nokia's answer has been somewhat of a retreat,
leaving corporate email to enterprise vendors such as Microsoft, IBM,
and Cisco. Meanwhile, it's buying OZ Communications, a Canadian-based
company that specializes in consumer mobile messaging.

Kallasvuo assured that Nokia will remain active in the corporate
email space, all the while making new strides into the consumer and
what he calls "pro-sumer" email markets.

But if North America is supposed to be where the action is for for a
new generation of mobile products, surely a lack of modern
infrastructure would get in the way. After all, the US lags far behind
much of Europe in terms of internet bandwidth per capita. If Nokia expects to push services — especially video and TV — could it make due with what it has now?

"I think the US [infrastructure] is quite advanced," said Kallasvuo.
Yet he concedes: "Sometimes the coverage is spotty. US networks are not
necessarily that strong."

There's a silver lining.

"Data plans in the US are quite competitive. You can get a lot of
data at reasonable amount of time. And consumer take-up is happening
thanks to the iPhone. I see plenty of opportunities in the US. Man of
these things, including video and TV can really start to happen here."

From : http://www.theregister.co.uk/

Nokia CEO wowed by iPhone, sights on BlackBerry

By Eric Auchard

SANTA CLARA, California (Reuters) - The chief executive of Nokia,
the world mobile phone leader, gave credit to new competitors from the
computer world on Wednesday, but said his company was set to respond to
all challengers.

Nokia President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said emerging rivals
Apple Inc, Google Inc, Research in Motion Ltd and Microsoft Corp have
helped to accelerate interest in using the Internet on mobile phones.

"Suddenly you have the mightiest companies in the world there as
your competitors. That is a little mind-boggling," Kallasvuo said in an
on-stage interview at the Churchill Club, a speakers' forum for Silicon
Valley civic leaders.

Nokia sells more than 400 million phones a year and counts a 40
percent share of the conventional global mobile phone market, where it
competes with Samsung, Motorola, LG Electronics and Sony Ericsson,
among others.

He said he was impressed by the strategy of Research in Motion
(RIM), maker of the BlackBerry e-mail phone popular with business
professionals, to sell not just devices themselves but whole solutions
for managing corporate e-mail securely.

"Multiply what RIM has been doing here," the Nokia executive said of
his own company's strategy to provide e-mail not only to business users
but also consumers and a category of avid users in between the two
markets, nicknamed "prosumers."

Nokia recently struck a deal to use Microsoft e-mail software on its
more than 80 million Series 60 phones sold so far. This should help
Nokia quickly overtake RIM in terms of the numbers of phones running
corporate e-mail, he said.

"We will exceed the RIM client (BlackBerry) in some months with a
very good e-mail system," Kallasvuo promised. RIM recently reported it
had 19 million BlackBerry subscribers.  Continued...