140°

IBM Getting More Work from Nintendo

The Big N and Big Blue look like they're going to be collaborating again.

EAST FISHKILL - IBM East Fishkill workers were called to an all-hands-on staff meeting Thursday evening where they were told more work is coming their way.
Employees were told work will come to the Systems and Technology Group from Nintendo, Freescale and Sony.

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recordonline.com
Blasphemy5796d ago

So not only Nintendo but it looks like Sony will have them design their next processor too. That's good news.

Iamback5796d ago

Didn't sony and IBM co-develop CELL?

qface645796d ago

yes they did i think someone else was involved as well i think samsung?

Ju5795d ago

^^^ "STI" Sony-Toshiba-IBM.

ChickeyCantor5796d ago

And so it begins.
I guess its purely research now. Development is obviously on its way later on=P

DeadlyFire5796d ago

They could easily assemble a processor in 2 years. Only takes a year or two now to put one together. Unless they aim for all powerful chips. Cell 2 is already coming along for Sony. 2010 is the likely public debut of Cell 2 though so its still a year away. Nintendo's design on the other hand. Noone could tell you. I say by 2011 we will know what projects these guys have in store for us.

ChickeyCantor5795d ago (Edited 5795d ago )

But bringing out a new system so fast is not so smart.
And not fair to developers =P.

So i guess its research now before actual development starts.

--joshua--5796d ago

was mentioned nowhere in this small article

Ju5795d ago

MS will wait like they did before. And then show up with a bag full of money and buy into whatever project IBM has going on at the time.

N4g_null5795d ago

Ms will be using larrabee I'm pretty sure about it. Hey but that is just a rumor siggrah is tomorrow. Larrabee will be there and they will be talking about why this chip is better than every thing else using real world advice on coding it. Should be good fun. SONY is up in the air right now and since the price has dropped on the PS3 look for them to be back in the game next year and post a profit.

Nintendo will need to first get the zelda team up to snuff about their own chip and how did capcom do what they haven't yet? The old nintendo is getting that graphic whore itch agin from what I'm hearing. This could be really cool but I hope they understand where graphic are today and the price level that is the sweet spot.

The wii is the closest to a SOC design right now and I'm sure they can reduce the cost of the Wii even futher yet this also means that the next system could come out near the same price and be a beast.

kesvalk5796d ago

well, we are on the 3rd year of this console gen... they tend to last 5~6 years... i think in 2011 we will already see the successors of our beloved consoles...

well, maybe sony will hold 1 or 2 years befores announce theirs, they have a more powerfull console...

EvilTwin5795d ago

I agree, but it's worth noting that many people disagree with this POV now, thinking this gen could last significantly longer (sorta falling in line with Sony's 10-year strategy).

But technology moves faster now than ever. The technological arms race could move even further toward alternative control schemes, though, instead of raw graphical prowess.

kaveti66165795d ago (Edited 5795d ago )

I think Microsoft will have to have some more foresight for the next generation. It looks to me like Nintendo will be aiming to create a more powerful console next time around. A friend of mine speculates that with all the money Nintendo has made off of the Wii, there's no where else for them to go but up in terms of power. Sony's Cell 2? Sounds intriguing. Microsoft should be very scared of the future, or else what they should do is wait for Sony to announce the PS4 and then wait to see the specifications of the Cell 2, and then create a more powerful system.

That's what I would do if I controlled MS.

N4g_null5795d ago

The larrabee is going to crush the cell 2. IBM is on their own with that chip right now. MS made a profit and nintendo is swimming in cash. I think SONy is going to be late to the game again and intel and MS are going to be the scary guys on the block but but AMD/ATI are not slouch. If MS does go with intel then AMD will put their all into nintendo to fight for one of their last money trains.

Next gen is going to be fun.

kaveti66165795d ago

I'm not so sure. The Cell 2's specs are unknown. Who knows what Sony will do?

N4g_null5795d ago

No I'm pretty sure after looking at the larrabee and even how the compiler works there is no chance in hell the cell can touch the larrabee.

You can use C++ code on it and the compiler can use at least 3 different ways to optimize your code. On top of this the Larrabee does what IBM will never be able to do own their own including SONY, make a graphics processor that can actually compete with Nvidia and Ati.

Many people waited for IBM/SONY's magical compiler that was sup[pose to unlock the cell and it came and people still had to break the bank to write code for it.

The Larrabee is basically a bunch of P4 with powerful FP vector units on each core with a way better memory setup also. We are also talking about intel the guys that took apple from IBM. The guys that had to fight off amd on the cpu side and the guys that are going up against N vidia and are expected to win.

The cell does not have a chance simply because they may not have any one to fund the development.

Sure the cells specs are unknown but there is not a chip in development as of right now. Siggraph is on the 4th and I don't expect to see the cell2 cpu or GPU variant at all. You know what this means is people will be learning the Larrabee before any one even knows about the next cell if they even make it. On top of this is the fact that the cell is a failed attempt at being a GPU/CPU combo. What makes you think it is ready to run direct x 11 graphics now?

Some one at sony better gett hyping soon because the last thing I heard was that SONY was going to use the larrabee. It would make sense since it is way better than the cell cpu right now even. What is funny is intel could even drop the cell into the larrabee that is how modular it is. Yet I'm sure the die size would be crazy.

Seriously the cell is a power PC chip with a few SPEs that are self contained vector processor which acts as an independent processor yet they are not. The Larrabee is a bunch of P4s with their own brand new vector processor that have x86-64 support, each core supports 4-way simultaneous multithreading, each Larrabee core contains a 512-bit vector processing unit, able to process 16 single precision floating point numbers at a time. This is similar to but four times larger than the SSE units on most x86 processors, with additional features like scatter/gather instructions and a mask register designed to make using the vector unit easier and more efficient. Larrabee derives most of its number-crunching power from these vector units.

The Cells SPE are just great at guess what FP math and video decoding... this chip is the real deal. Intel equipped it to be a problem for discrete graphics firms. SONY nor IBM have any real expertise with this.

On top of this intel can drop any type of extra logic they want on to this chip just to keep heat down or just put it on the MB with the chip. You have to ask your self when was the last time SONY or IBM made a GPU?

kaveti66165795d ago

Obviously you've spent more time thinking about this than I have. Nevertheless, even though Larrabee will be easier to learn, I think that by the time the Cell 2 is released programmers will have had plenty of experience with the Cell. Also, if I had to put it all into speculation I still think that Microsoft would choose convenience over power, like they did with the 360. Another thing to question is whether Microsoft will still want another headstart next generation. This time around they needed it because Playstation is a more popular name brand than Xbox. But now that the 360 is a household system, I think we will see the Xbox 3 after the PS4. So by the time Xbox 3 comes out maybe MS will desire a modified version of the larrabee, or else who the hell will they work with for the CPU? IBM?

N4g_null5794d ago

It is part of my job to stay up on these things. People already understand how to use the cell right now yet they choose to make their games based on what they want rather than what the cell can do well. Like all chips the cell is going to have it's short falls. The cell has alot of them. There is a reason why SONY and IBM has not dumped the cell out on the open market for PC add in cards. That along would have paid sony's way out of their losses yet we all know that the cell can not stand with any GPU at all.

Seriously the cell is good at crunching numbers but you do understand the normal 486 processor did things the same way that cell is doing them. IBM just added vector units yet their use is very limited... which is the main problem. The reason why the larrabee will beat the cell period is because IBM doesn't have a chip small enough to turn into a spe... intel has basically turned a P4 into an SPE and added an additional supped up vector unit to it also. The thing is bored line over kill.

IBM has been very silent about making a System on a chip lately and on top of that they are not going to enter the GPU/CPU war right now simply because they are not good at GPUs yet.

Yes cell would be interesting if SONY was drowning right now. Then on top of that I don't think no one can compete with Intel on this level.... the amount of money they have spent is ridiculous. Way beyond what the cell cost I believe.

To sum it all up you have a lot of capable coders that are having a problem with the PS3 because they are not catering to PS3 owner only they are catering to ex PC owners...

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 5794d ago
170°

Switch 2 accessory makers are “working hard” on magnetic analogue sticks to combat stick drift

Nintendo Switch 2 stick drift is already an issue, but accessory makers are already working on magnetic joysticks.

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videogamer.com
Neonridr3d ago

I've never had stick drift in any controller I've ever owned. All my joycons (3 sets) from my Switch are perfectly fine. My Switch 2 ones are good. Never had a dualshock / dualsense have it (did have a dualshock get a stuck trigger once). Even my Valve Index controllers which were notorious for drift were fine for me.

Goodguy013d ago

Varies. Just because you've never had one doesn't mean others won't. I've had PS, Xbox, and Nintendo controllers indeed drift on me. Remember the drift lawsuits that Nintendo has had.

Please stop trying to say that traditional potentiometers are absolutely fine when hall effect/tmr sticks are beyond superior lol, not sure why so many people keep trying to defend potentiometers when hall effects are so pro consumer.
Companies like nintendo, sony, and mcsft don't want to implement them simply because they want you the consumer to keep buying them. Most casuals will just buy a new controller if theirs difts, easy money for the big 3.
I've gone hall effects and have never gone back, can leave my controllers out absolutely fine without worry of dust ruining the sticks.

Neonridr3d ago

when did I say that traditional joysticks are absolutely fine? I'm sharing my own experience here. I never said that others don't experience issues, nor that this is somehow acceptable. Strange leapfrog from A to B on that one.

People love to say it's a huge widespread issue, yet you only hear about it because the minority is vocal whereas the majority don't report anything because they are fine.

I'm happy you switched to hall effect sticks, if that's what works for you, then awesome.

Christopher3d ago

Cool? Pretty sure this is for those who are having it happen. Not sure how your anecdote addresses other peoples' problems.

Neonridr3d ago

people around here act like everyone will get drift. I'm willing to wager more people won't get drift than will.

Pyrofire952d ago

lucky you. I've only had minor drift once in my L Joycon which I fixed with some card stock, but drift is an undeniable problem as a whole.

repsahj2d ago

My 2 sets of Joy-Cons from my OG Switch started to drift with just a month of use. That is why I bought Dobe Joy-Cons with just $25, and until now they are still fine. I hope this will never happen again on my Switch 2.

jznrpg2d ago

My left joy con for the OG Switch got stick drift right away as well. I never had issues with my PS5 controllers since launch until I got my kids PS5’s and they had stick drift with 2 controllers. They drop them because they are kids and although I have them wash their hands before gaming they still get gunk under them somehow. I got their controllers modded because they would have issues no matter what I have them do.

jambola1d 17h ago

"people around here act like everyone will get drift. I'm willing to wager more people won't get drift than will."
no, nobody is acting like that, you're jsut exaggerating it and lying to downplay a problem

-Foxtrot1d 13h ago (Edited 1d 13h ago )

Nintendos biggest defender on here so it figures

gold_drake1d 14h ago

you know, i said the same thing not too long ago and then BOOM both controllers ha.

one on the moving stick and one on the look around stick.

both suck arse. ha

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1d 13h ago
jznrpg2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

The tech is already there. I had a couple of my PS5 controllers modded with Hall Effect modules and they work great. They should come standard with them these days but they don’t.

OtterX2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Nyxi already made some fantastic Hall Effect controllers for Switch 1. I don't know why Nintendo couldn't have it by now if Nyxi has had for years.

spoonard2d ago

Cheap, frictionless sensors ALREADY exist. Why are they "working hard to combat stick drift"? Stick drift should be a thing of the past at this point. The technology is here...NOW. It has been...for YEARS! Why is stick drift even still spoken about? It shouldn't exist!

Chocoburger2d ago

Because its a scam for Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft to sell more overpriced controllers.

jambola1d 17h ago

because pathetic fanboys will continue to defend and support

Doomeduk1d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

WD 40 if it's shagg.d anyway why not ? I ordered a new ps5 pad after Helldivers 2 and POE 2 became unplayable due to drift but in the meantime I fired a bit of WD on my balls just below my stick rotated in a clockwise fashion massaging it in so to speak and also did the pin reset thingy and all clean no drift and hit that cancel purchase button like I meant it

UltimateOwnage1d 13h ago

Honestly I’ve used my original Switch JoyCons and Pro Controller since launch and only in the last year did I see drift start to show up on one of my JoyCons. I’m sure it happens depending on how much and how firm the joystick is used, but it seems like a minor issue that goes with wear and tear after thousands of hours of play. I wish there had been Hall Effect sticks on Switch 2 just so there’s one less thing to worry about, but I’m not really concerned about it.

40°

Find or Be Found: Making Burglary Horrifying • VGMM

Find or be Found puts players in the roles of desperate thieves robbing haunted houses, with one player infiltrating the building while their partner guides them remotely through cameras and a radio. The twist: you're not just avoiding security systems, but supernatural monsters that want you dead

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videogamesmademe.com
290°

The Real Enemy of Gaming Isn’t DEI. It’s the CEO

From Horse Armor to Mass Layoffs: The Price of Greed in Gaming. Inside the decades-long war on game workers and the players who defend them.

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rushdownradio.net
jambola6d ago

maybe a real enemy is people who use terms like "the real enemy"
there can be more than 1 bad thing, t's not like a kids show with 1 big bad

senorfartcushion4d ago

This is very much a “dummy who volunteers themselves to the middle” comment.

The real enemy is a common phrase, people use it all the time.

Calm down.

jambola4d ago

i'm very calm
you seem very upset however

Notellin3d ago

You don't seem calm at all. Don't take this so seriously, you seem desperate responding to others defending your opinion that lacks any value or critical thought.

jambola3d ago

stop projecting
i'm not desperately dong anything, i'm tapping at keys on my keyboard bud

PapaBop3d ago

It's not like kids show with one bad guy? I present to you.. Bobby Kotick

ABizzel13d ago (Edited 3d ago )

DEI was never the problem and it was an ignorant take to begin with.

DEI is why games like Kena Bridge of Spirits, South of Midnight, and Ghost of Tsushima exist.

DEI is why we have a huge resurgence in Japanese, Chineses, and Korean developers producing games like Stellar Blade, Black Myth, and why Nintendo & Sony exist.

DEI is why more and more games have HUGE accessibility options with both Sony and MS fully behind this.

DEI was never a bad thing, the entire purpose of DEI is representation of all people, genders, disabilities, etc…

The problem was people used DEI as a default derogatory term to describe what they believed was forced representation, which allowed colorist, racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, and xenophobic fools to run away with the negative DEI narrative.

jambola3d ago

you don't get to decide other people's motivations
sorry to break it to you

ABizzel12d ago (Edited 2d ago )

To each their own, however, nothing you said invalidates why some people take offense to DEI incorrectly.

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Sciurus_vulgaris6d ago

Executives seem to often have an obsession with perpetual revenue growth. There is always a finite amount of consumers for a product regardless of growth. Additionally, over investment is another serious issue in gaming.

Killer2020UK4d ago

The fact that they also rarely have any real expertise in game development compounds things. They'll look at what's been successful elsewhere, lack the knowledge to properly understand why they have been successful and then force a team to 'reproduce' their badly interpreted idea of that success.

We see it so often with sequels to games that were successful too. The team are left well alone, they have a break through hit and all of sudden the money men descend on the IP and completely railroad the dev team's ideas. Usually winds up being 'make the same game but MORE'

LoveSpuds3d ago

This is true throughout all of the corporate and public sector organisations to be honest. CEO's generally move amongst the corporate world without any need to have experience of a particular industry, they simply need to rely on their senior leadership credentials. A CEO of a retail giant will just as easily transition to a CEO role in the energy sector for example.

Not defending CEOs here to be clear, I think it's a huge part of the reason the western world is so fucked up. CEOs don't need to care about the sector they work in, in fact it's better if they don't care if they want to screw everyone to make profits.

GhostScholar4d ago

Companies don’t hire executives to break even. If the goal is breaking even then why start the company in the first place.

Soy4d ago

That's understood; it's getting record profits and expecting to always beat those record profits, and seeing anything less as a total failure. Then they lay people off and raise prices to reach those record profit levels again, just to sate shareholders. It's setting expectations way too high just to spike share prices, then inevitably falling short. It's feeling entitled to being more successful than everyone else. It's the CEOs doing all this to boost their own bonuses.

ABizzel13d ago

Growth benefits the company’s profits and therefore the company’s stock if publicly traded, which pleases the shareholders making them more and more rich, which is why Growth is always at the forefront of the vast majority of any publicly traded company.

More growth = More Money and the people at the top want all the money they can get. I can’t really blame them anyone would love to see their profits go from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, to multi-millions it’s almost like a gambling addiction.

But it also goes to show someone how morals can go out the window for a lot of these people, and how amazing some CEOs are when they catch this early and provide a balance solution that takes complete care of their employees across the board while keeping the business sustainable IE: Insomniac Games ALWAYS on the best places to work list. The rest of the industry could learn.

jambola5d ago

honestly, the "real" enemy of gaming, is ourselves
if nobody bought horse armor, shitty dlc would have died almost overnight
if we stood firm and nobody bought games from companies that were bad with layoffs, it would be solved
we're the idiots supporting awful business practices, we are the ones enouraging it

TiredGamer4d ago

I think the reality that we don't want to convince ourselves of is that without the rise of "horse armor" and DLC, game budgets would have essentially stagnated (smaller teams/smaller games), or game prices would have risen much more dramatically than they have. There was an incessant drive for bigger worlds, infinite detail, and hundreds of hours of "gameplay" over the last two decades, that while perhaps a natural evolution of things, needed a suitable funding stream to accomplish.

HyperMoused4d ago

What...CEOs make tens of millions and that doesnt include SLT etc etc...we now have multiple editions of games, in game currency, MT's, battle passes.....and what do we get..worse game than what was coming out 20 years ago....dont drink the cool aid, its this nickel and dime crap that is absolutely leading us to gaming destruction.

senorfartcushion4d ago

This is the worst possible answer to this conundrum. Blaming the masses is blaming the only people who are constantly “told” to buy.

Consumers are the only ones not to blame here. People make their own choices all the time. Disney movies are bombing and DEInis being blamed. Has that been enough to put Disney out of business? No and it never will.

Christopher4d ago

Disagree. Businesses are able to do what they do because people are bad consumers and don't think critically about purchases. Disney got away with doing shit stuff for years and it's just the last year where people got tired of it. It's not like it didn't work for 5 years or so for Disney to do the things they've done. They'll just move onto another way to get people to see movies and it will be just as bad but more profitable until people wake up and realize it.

TiredGamer4d ago

Consumerism drives business behavior. It's not so much "blaming" as it is observing behavior. The point I'm making is that the direction that games have gone are driven by the spending. Consumers are spending on DLC and they are driving the expectation of more glitz and padded out (lengthier) games. If they continue to pay, they will continue to drive that direction until a threshold is reached that forces a change in behavior.

senorfartcushion4d ago

Corporate advertising is the most powerful force on the planet.

This is N4G for god sake, every day there are arguments between people who are Team Xbox and Team PlayStation because they’ve been convinced that having an identity built on paying money to Sony and Microsoft matters more than having one as individual gamers who can play whatever they want.

And THEN we get to the corporate advertising part: to play whatever you want is to sink MORE into the advertising pits, making it so that you can more than one specific product.

jambola4d ago

ah you're right
they were told to buy it, it's clearly impossible to avoid that
if enough people stopped supporting, it would stop
disney not stopping would only be because enough people didn't stop

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4d ago
victorMaje4d ago

Agreed. I’ve been saying for years, announce you won’t be buying the upcoming game because of the practices of the previous game, then you only have to stick to your guns once, see how quickly things change for the better.

We have to unite in what we shouldn’t purchase.

jambola4d ago

just imagine a world, fifa came out worse, nobody buys the next one until they see proof it's better and stick to it
or games being forced online for single player and nobody buys it
things would change so fast

HyperMoused4d ago

Just like scooby doo, you have shown us the real monsters are us

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4d ago
Inverno4d ago

Greed and greedy people have and always will be the main issue for everything wrong in the world. Everything is a product to be exploited for monetary gain. Even when there are things that could help progress us along for the sake of making our lives easier that thing must be exploited for monetary gains. Anything that tells you otherwise is propaganda to make you complicit.

coolfool4d ago

I've never thought "DEI" (although the way most people use it doesn't match it's real definition) is the problem with games. Good games have continued to be good when they have a diverse cast, and likewise, bad games have continued to be bad. There isn't a credible example I've seen where a diverse cast has been the direct cause of a game being bad.

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