Apple iPad’s A4 Processor Related to Snapdragon and Tegra

One of the big surprises at Apple’s iPad unveiling is that the device uses Apple’s own silicon. A lot of people — myself included — were wondering about the design of Apple’s A4 processor and how it compares to the current batch of high-end mobile-chips (Snapdragon, Tegra, etc.). CrunchGear has the answer:

The A4 is a custom implementation of the ARM A9 processor, also found in Snapdragon (running the Nexus One) and Tegra (running the Zune HD). The difference is there is a GPU mated with the A9 in Apple’s design, probably to help offload the graphics work and keep the interface smooth.

There’s room for processor shrinks and even overclocking; the A9 has been clocked to 1GHz by everyone because it stays cool, but if Apple (or anyone) were to apply some better cooling, they could take it all the way up to 1.3GHz.

Early reports are that the iPad is so fast that it makes the iPhone 3GS look like a tortoise. With its A9 roots, this makes total sense. It will be interesting to see if Apple uses an A4 variation in the upcoming iPhone, which is expected to be announced in June.

Source

White Knight Chronicles Character Creation Video

With all the great games coming out in Q1 2010, I kind of forgot about White Knight Chronicles for PlayStation 3. The game is coming out next week, sandwiched between Mass Effect 2 and Heavy Rain. I want to play it, but I don’t think I’ll have time until (much) later. How about ladies and gents? Is it on your radar? Does this trailer make you want to pick it up?

(Not a) Review of Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic

I attended a screening of Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic on Tueday. It was full of ultra-violence, disturbing imagery, cool animation, and vagina-shaped thingies. As a standalone animated film, it was okay. As an animated film that promotes a game, it totally succeeded in making me want to play Dante’s Inferno. Here are some assorted thoughts (not a review!) on the movie.

In the first few seconds, I was impressed with the animation style and was expecting something fairly realistic. The first three minutes of the film shattered all of my expectations. It went something like this:

  • Minute One: Dante’s horse flies upside down. For a second I thought he was attempting to do M. Bison’s “psycho crusher” from Street Fighter.
  • Minute Two: Dante returns home to find the slaughtered remains of his family and servants. This was just a taste of the gore that was about to come.
  • Minute Three: The spirit of Dante’s beloved Beatrice Portinari goes full frontal. This was just a taste of the boobs and vaginae that were were about to come.

So yeah! The animation style was impressive and disturbing in that tentacle-porn way. Compared to Planet Hulk, an animated film I recently saw, the art style and technique were out of this world. That said, some people might not like that several different animation studios with distinct art styles contributed to this movie. One of my friends in atendance didn’t like how disjointed and inconsistent everything was. In some scenes, Dante was thin and had long hair. In other scenes he was buff and had short hair. His appearance during the flashbacks reflected whatever style a particular animation house was using.

Perhaps I’m giving the film too much credit, but I chalked it up to journeying through a spiritual realm and perception changing in the various Circles of Hell. Hmmm, after typing that thought, I’m definitely giving the film too much credit.

Oh yeah, the Nine Circles of Hell hurts and works for this movie. Starting in the real world, traveling through the Nine Circles, and having flashbacks is a lot to do in an 88-minute movie. It definitely feels rushed and sometimes forced. Death’s Scythe — one of Dante’s two major weapons — isn’t explained at all; it seems like it’s just a random object Dante finds early in the movie and keeps for the next 84 minutes. Virgil’s introduction is done in like 15 seconds, “Hey, I’m Virgil! You loved my poetry and I’ll be your guide. Try the veal!” The way it does work is that it teases each circle as a level. It made me want to see more of each level and all of the boss fights.

The violence in the movie is completely over-the-top and it can be lots of fun. Some of the fight scenes were awesome, but by the end of the film I had my fill. The impact of Dante’s showdown with Lucifer was lost on me because my brain couldn’t process any more violence. If crazy fight scenes are your thing then you’ll love this flick. It makes Kill Bill look like Bambi.

There are some people — a certain game designer with a masters in English that’s working on BioShock 2 comes to mind — that will be offended by the movie’s liberties. Sure, a lot of details were altered, but the movie (and presumably the game) had far more accuracies than I was expecting. If it gets people interested in The Divine Comedy and leads to gamers reading the books, that’s just a fantastic thing. Besides, if you were expecting a literal translation in this movie or the game then you’re just stupid.

Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic comes out on February 9, 2010 — the same week as the game. This is a mistake. It should be out now to generate more interest in the game. As a marketing tool, it excels at making people want to play on PS3 and Xbox 360. Few people are going to want to buy it after playing. It entertained me, but it’s hard to recommend it as a Blu-ray or DVD purchase. I do think it would be an excellent impulse download on PSN or Xbox Live, so long as you’re expecting tons of gratuitous violence, gallons of blood, and vagina walls.

Zatanna Zatara Screens and Concept Art

Sony Online Entertainment has released a batch of renders and concept art for Zatanna Zatara in DC Universe Online for PC and PS3. One of the reasons I prefer DC over Marvel is its excellent secondary characters. Zatanna totally fits the bill. She’s a sexy lady in a ridiculous costumer (fishnets?!?) and her formidable powers come from saying words backwards. It’s so wacky that I love it (and her)! Hopefully her stupid alternate costumer with the dumb headpiece will be available as well.

Second-Hand Thoughts on the Apple iPad

In the last 24 hours, I spoke to five of my friends that got their hands on Apple’s iPad. All five of them are avid iPhone users, so keep that in mind as you read their opinions. Here are their sentiments, along with my thoughts on them.

The Form Factor is Sexy and Useful — Well duh. For the most part, Apple’s products always look good. My pals said that the iPad feels great and they can see themselves using it on the couch or in bed. All five raved about the its looks, but to me it looks like another Apple product. That’s not a bad thing at all, but I have to think they’re drawn in by the newness of the iPad and Steve Jobs’ “reality distortion field”.

The Virtual Keyboard is Good — Four out of five of my friends (as opposed to dentists that recommend Trident gum) loved the virtual keyboard. They said the ample screen made typing very accurate. I’m sure that’s the case, but I can’t see typing for an extended period of time on this thing. The lack of tactile feedback is one thing, but typing on a hard surface can’t possibly be comfortable. I loathe the virtual keyboard on my (sim-less) iPhone and while I imagine that the iPad’s is better simply because of its size, I doubt that I’ll “like” it.

The good news is that one of my friends asked a rep about other wireless keyboards for the iPad and was told that any Bluetooth keyboard will work with the device. I hope that’s true.

It’s Just Like Using an iPhone — I think everyone was expecting this. On the plus side, it has the same simplicity and ease-of-use that the iPhone and iPod Touch have. The downer is it had the same limitations (no multitasking…yet) and quirks that the iPhone and iPod Touch have. When I was irked about the lack of multitasking, one of my friends said, “You do most of your work on your browser and Google Docs so why do you care?” He has a point. I could work efficiently on an iPad, but I would like multitasking and I’m sure many of you would too.

The Processor is Snappy — Continuing with the “iPad is the Mark McGwire of iPhones” theme, the device sports a zippy processor. Considering that some of the planned games and apps for the iPad are more robust than the iPhone’s, this was totally necessary. For entertainment purposes, the firepower was needed to play high-quality video at 1,024×768. Hopefully the fast processor will lead to multitasking on the iPad at a future date.

The Screen is Lovely…But Not Widescreen — As I noted yesterday, the iPad has a strange aspect ratio for this day and age. Considering it’s being positioned as a data consumption device, it’s unusual that it’s 16:9. All five of my friends at the event were puzzled by this and none of them could get a good answer.

Apple is Being Mum on VoIP — I was annoyed that only one of my friends asked if Skype would work on the iPad. It can and it should, but the communications aspect of the device were not mentioned at all. My friend that asked this question was met with a big IDK. If Apple blocks Skype on the iPad, its usefulness to me goes down by 44 percent.

No Camera? — Considering how cheap a 640×480 camera would be and how large the iPad’s bezel is, three out of five of my friends were shocked that it didn’t have a camera. It seems like it would be a great device for video chatting. I’m with you brothers!

GPS Mystery — The WiFi only models of the iPad lack any kind of GPS. The WiFi + 3G models have assisted GPS. Two of my friends asked if it had “real” GPS and were met with crickets (not actual crickets or the Disney variety).

24 hours later, the device is less interesting for me. I have an iPhone 3GS and I’m getting hooked up with a Kindle this week. The iPad is cool and beautiful, but for the price of the high-end model, I can get a pretty powerful thin-and-light notebook from Asus that would be way more useful. I do think the iPad can be a productive and entertaining device, but my bases are covered already.

So there you have it! Given the information I received from my five pals at the event, has your opinion on the iPad changed?

Mortal Kombat Movie Reboot in the Works?

Word on the street is that Warner Bros. is looking to reboot the Mortal Kombat movie franchise. The first movie was fun and full of unintentional comedy. The second movie was…not so good. Before I get into my reasoning for why the first movie is worth watching, here’s the word from Bloody Disgusting:

Warner Bros. Pictures has been looking to redo Mortal Kombat with Oren Uziel in talks to write. Based on Midway’s popular 1992 video game, the franchise follows the best fighters from around the globe who are summoned to an island to compete in a tournament whose outcome will determine the fate of the entire planet. Uziel’s Shimmer Lake made the 2009 black list, which features the best unproduced screenplays around Hollywood.

Okay, I will swear up and down the West Coast that the first movie is worth seeing. It has Christopher Lambert’s ridiculous accent, the sexy Talisa Soto, the future Mrs. Pete Sampras (or Veronica Vaughn from Billy Madison, if you will), a bunch of martial artists from the WMAC Masters show, and Robin Shou’s Richie Sambora-inspired hair! These components are like the Voltron lions; you add ’em up and the first MK movie becomes an unstoppable giant-robot force of a flick! I’m right about this. Don’t question me.

Source via Joystiq

Coffee Talk #75: My Three Favorite Gaming Videos on YouTube

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Serena Williams slamming it Down Under, Neil Patrick Harris ruling American Idol, or the Brangelina breakup, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

YouTube is just a brilliant time waster. There are so many excellent clips on the service. Whether you’re looking for something interesting, stupid, violent, or moronic, YouTube surely has something that will tickle your fancy. Naturally, there’s a lot of great gaming content to be found. Here are three of my favorite gaming clips on YouTube.

#3 “Temptation of Sonata” — Ivy
This K-pop video takes its cues from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. I’m shocked at how accurately the fight scene between Tifa and Loz is recreated in this video for a goofy song. I’m a big fan of the movie and Korean women, so this totally works for me.

#2 “Wind Waker Unplugged” — Freddie25
Here’s an absolutely brilliant acoustic performance of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’s theme. I wish the kid would forget about school and make more of these videos.

#1 Snorlax Owns
This is the only clip that’s not safe for work. It has naughty language from two idiots. Basically it’s two guys with NY accents lewdly commenting on the short movie that accompanied Pokemon the Movie 2000. While the accents remind me of home, the Pokemon knowledge of the narrator is pretty impressive (though he gets confused by the dragonair at the end). It’s just hilarious to hear two dudes cursing each other out over Pokemon. “That’s not raichu dick! That’s f*ckin’ pikachu!”

Now it’s your turn! I’d love to check out some of your favorite gaming videos on YouTube. If you have the time then please post a link and tell my why you dig your video.

Apple iPad Press Conference Recap

Sadly, my bum knee and a DMV appointment has me stuck in Los Angeles instead of at the Apple press conference in San Francisco. The good news is that I’ll scour various web sites for presser information so that you don’t have to! Keep refreshing this page for current information on the iPad, iLife, iPhone 4.0, and other surprises Apple has in store.

– It’s nice to have Steve Jobs headlining the pressers again. Even reading second-hand reactions, I can tell that his followers are thrilled to have him back. He’s older and skinnier than before, but he looks pretty strong. Here’s a photo (above) from Engadget.

– Jobs goes over a bunch of retail and sales numbers. Guess what? Apple is making lots of money!

– Jobs wants to introduce a device that’s better than a laptop for somethings and better than a smartphone for other things. He disses netbooks as not being better than anything. Zing.

– It’s called the iPad! You can read/watch RPad in the iPad! Score!!! Check out the two photos below from Gizmodo.

– Things you can do on the iPad: web browse, look at photos, navigate maps, watch YouTube in HD, buy stuff from iTunes — so far it looks like the rumored “iPhone on steroids”.

– The aspect ratio looks kind of funky. From the photos, it doesn’t appear to be 16:9 or 4:3. It’s closer to the latter. I guess the designers thought the form factor was better. *shrug*

– When Jobs went to the NY Times web site, it appeared that the Flash was unavailable. Sorry N8R!

– I’m still waiting on the unique features of the iPad. So far it’s just a bigger iPhone/iPod Touch. It better have compelling original features to justify the (presumably high) price tag. (P.S. I’m sure it will have unique features. Steve is just warming it up.)

– A bunch of my friends at the event have reported that the WiFi at the venue is sucking big time. My other friends with Sprint and Verizon 3G cards are laughing at them.

– Specs! The iPad is .5 inches thin and weights 1.5 pounds. It sports a 9.7-inch IPS display with full multitouch support. It’s powered by Apple’s own silicon — a  1GHz A4 CPU. It will be available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models.

– Other goodies include 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, microphone (yay Skype!), and ten-hour battery.

– Scott Forstall has taken over the presser. He’s the VP of iPhone Software.

– Current iPhone and iPod Touch apps can be transferred to the iPad. The new SDK gives developers tools to take advantage of the iPad.

– Forstall showed off a bunch of apps, including a native Facebook app and a snowmobile game. The latter looked smooth, but rather generic. I guess it was fine for demo purposes.

– Gameloft dude shows of a native version of Nova. The larger screen and gesture controls could make for some interesting games.

– The NY Times is next. Can the iPad “save” newspapers in a way that Amazon’s Kindle couldn’t? The NY Times app looks pretty slick, but if I have to pay a subscription….

– Steve Sprang is about to show off Brushes, a popular drawing app for iPhone that’s getting the Mark McGwire treatment. I suck at art so this is  perfect time to pee.

– EA is showing off Need for Speed. It looks good, but I can’t imagine driving with finger gestures. Then again, I don’t have a license at the moment. Ha! Here’s a photo below from Gizmodo.

– Are people going to call the 64GB version of the iPad the “Maxi” Pad? Oh crap, people can refer to my longer PadCasts as MaxiPadCasts. Damn it.

– My friend Zak at 2K brought up an excellent point. Where does the virtual d-pad go?

– MLB is showing off its app. I dunno about this one. It looks kind of goofy and I love baseball.

– A-ha! Jobs has announced iBooks! This could be one of the iPad’s killer features.

– Here’s some info on IPS screens, for those of you that are interested. I’m still not sure about reading for an extended period on the iPad. E-ink is excellent for this.

– Book partners include Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, MacMillan, and Hachette. The iTunes Store will have a special book section. I wonder if Apple will suddenly block the Amazon Kindle app for iPhone. Ha!\

– The iPad will run iWork! Jobs asked the iWork team to develop an iPad compatible version a year ago (so he claims). A productivity suite is pretty huge.

– SVP Phil Schiller (aka Jobs’ understudy) is explaining iWorks for iPad. It must be kind of weird going from headliner to understudy…but he’s Phil, not Steve.

– So far iWork is pretty awesome, but it better be cheap for come free with the iPad. Otherwise I’d just stick to Google Apps. Btw, does anyone use Google Apps on Safari? Does it work well enough?

– Another question is how comfortable typing will be on the iPad. Wouldn’t excessive typing on a hard surface with no give lead to more repetitive-stress injuries?

– My Twitter friend Amanda just said, “If it doesn’t run flash, it can’t surf the web. It’s the iPadlock. Thanks Apple!” That cracked me up.

– Each iWork app will cost $9.99. That’s $29.97 for all three, unless there’s a bundle discount. I dunno….

– Data plans are through AT&T. It’s $29.99 for unlimited Internets and $14.99 for 250MB of Internets. You also get free AT&T WiFi for when the network craps out. The best news is that no contract is required.

– All iPad 3G models are unlocked and use microSIMs.

– Prices start at $499!!! That’s lower than most were predicting.

– If the 64GB model is priced reasonably, anyone want to buy my 32GB iPhone 3GS? Ha!!!

– Here’s the pricing chart from Engadget.

– For those of you that can’t see the chart, the 3G models cost more. For the WiFi-only models it’s $499, $599, and $699 for 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, respectively. For the WiFi + 3G models it’s $629, $729, and $829. WiFi models are shipping in 60 days. 3G models are shipping in 90 days.

– There’s a dock/keyboard accessory. That looks incredibly useful.

– Did anyone else notice the lack of a camera? Or did I miss something? No special iChat functionality?

– I think Apple will do well with the 16GB models. They seem like great netbook alternatives (with the keyboard accessory). The 64GB model with 3G seems too expensive. At the point, just get a MacBook, no? Anyway, I’m going to give it more thought and write something about it all later. For now, I’m going to jump into the comments section with you guys!