Taito Type X Zero specs revealed

We have already discussed the new digital distribution system that Taito has developed (called NESICAxLive) but one area we were waiting to hear more about are the specs for Taito’s new hardware platform, the Type X Zero. Taito unveiled those specs today, here is a rundown:

CPU: Intel Atom230 1.6GHz

GPU/Graphics: nVidia GeForce 9400M, DirectX10 support,  2 video ports

Memory: 1 GB DDR2

OS: Microsoft ® Windows ® Embedded Standard 7

Onboard LAN (10/100/1000Mbps)

Audio: 5.1 ch HD support

OPTIONAL:

2 or 4GB of Memory

HDD: 250GB-1TB or 16GB SSD

You can compare this to the Type X2 hardware here. The system sports a custom BIOS to try and prevent piracy and if I read it correctly, it includes a built-in UPS to handle power interruptions. As you can tell, they aren’t aiming for a high-end machine here but rather something that is cost effective, which other companies have been doing lately as well. The option of adding a 1 TB HDD is probably for the NESICAxLive system so you can store multiple games on one board and at 1 TB it should handle plenty.

In addition to that 4Gamer.net has an upclose picture of the glasses-free PureDepth 3D display that was in the same booth as the Type X Zero.  How soon they plan on releasing this technology is anyone’s guess but I imagine that it won’t be long after the Type X Zero is released. Taito hasn’t revealed any 3D games that I know of at the moment but they also aim for other developers to take advantage of their technologies so they could be setting it up for someone else to take the 3D lead. Perhaps Super Street Fighter IV Arcade (which will be at the Tokyo Game Show) would make a great candidate for that but there have been no 3D SSFIV announcements beyond the Nintendo 3DS version so far.

[Official Type X Zero site]

Source: AM-Net

SI Electronics develops hardware for glasses-free 3D arcade games; Sega bringing Pengo to JAMMA

Y3 in action on a 3D glasses-free display made for arcades

Newsfeed 921 via

When news began to trickle out about the upcoming JAMMA show in Japan, we found out early on that SI Electronics was planning on showing off a new arcade hardware platform called the System Board Y3 but beyond the name there were no details revealed about that hardware – until today. AM-Net linked to an official SIE document detailing the hardware specs on the Y3(also picked up by Andriasang) and the big surprise is that it’s been developed with glasses-free 3D games in mind.    Here are the specs:

■ SYSTEM BOARD Y3 Overview (tentative)

CPU: PowerPC 800MHz
Memory: DDR2-800 1GByte
Graphics: 2D Drawing up to 18 billion pixel/sec
Polygon: Drawing up to 10 billion pixel/sec
Movie Playback: Supports Full HD video (implies 1080p resolution)
Sound: 32ch
Media: Undecided
Output: Video, Analogue, D-Sub 15pin x 2
Sound: Stereo 2ch, RCA Connector
Game I/O: JAMMA Connector, JVS I/O Connector
Serial: 1ch
GPIO: 16ch

The board will be at the Kaga Amusement booth, but we don’t know if they will have a game to show off using the technology or it will simply be a technology demo. Hopefully this will not be interpreted by anyone as some new game console but the chances of that are pretty low since SIE isn’t known as a console maker to begin with.

On another JAMMA related note, Sega has revealed that the new multiplayer Pengo arcade title that was recently tested in Japan will be at the show. The game uses the Ringwide hardware but the page the announcement was made on suggests that it will be a four player game as opposed to an eight player one (which is was tested as). Perhaps they’ll have a unique cabinet made just for the game instead of putting it onto stock machines and such a design wouldn’t work out for the eight player concept. But the screenshots on the announcement page still show 8 players as being possible so they may not have ruled it out quite yet. As Pac-Man Battle Royale will be at the same show it should be fun to see the two games compete since they will be gunning for each other. I’m surprised that Sega hasn’t enhanced the graphics beyond giving it a widescreen but that should mean that development costs for this are quite low. It’s similar to Sega Racing Classic in a way but that didn’t stop them from charging way too much for that game. Hopefully the lesson was learned and we won’t have to see the situation repeated with Pengo.

KOF 2002 Unlimited Match released in Japan

In May we reported that King of Fighters 2002 was going to get it’s own upgrade similar to what SNK did for KOF98 last year and the day has already arrived where the game is available in Japan for arcades and the Playstation 2. The updated version naturally sports new graphics and sounds and while I am not sure if there are any major roster changes it has a substantial number of characters to choose from just like you had with the original game.  They also state in the press release that there are new skills and techniques to be found in this game so it will be offering a slightly different (and I imagine improved) game for fans of the original. This also uses the System Board Y2, which is a low-end piece of arcade hardware that was announced in Japan earlier this year. From the specs on the hardware it looks like the arcade version should be capable of looking slightly nicer than the PS2 version but chances are it won’t be a gigantic difference.

[SNK Press release – KOF2002UM released] [Discuss on the Forums]

Sega and IGS working together to build arcade hardware for the Chinese market

The makers of coin-op games like Oriental Legend 2, Pirate Revenge, Speed Driver 2 and Battle Stations is teaming up with Sega to develop arcade machiens specifically for the Chinese market. All of those aforementioned titles were made primairly for that particular market, with a few of their games making it to other territories with English translations (as is the case with Speed Driver 2 and Battle Stations), but this is an interesting development as Sega gets a foot into the Chinese market and IGS gets to use better hardware than what they typically use. According to the announcement, IGS will “design a Chinese-language Sega machine with localized features”. Shipments begin in the 3rd quarter of this year, so we’ll keep our eyes open for more developments on this front.

[Via the DigiTimes] [Discuss on the Forums]

Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom running on Wii-based hardware?

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

I was a little surprised when I heard that the home version of Tatsunoko VS. Capcom was announced just for the Wii – I figured that it would have come to something else as well. Perhaps the fact that SFIV is coming to everything on planet earth except for the Wii made them go this route, I’m not sure. But then we have something else pop up here that could indicate why it’s coming to the Wii – supposedly the game is running on Wii-based hardware. At the moment there are two sources which are suggesting this – one a Japanese site Sakura.jp and an English site, Magic Box. If this is the case then we have to wonder who has developed the new board – when I talked with Namco back in March they were indicating that they were looking into creating something based on the Wii but we haven’t heard anything about it since. We’ll keep you posted of course but if this holds true then only the Xbox 360 will be the only console not to be modified for arcade use (legally) in this generation.

UPDATE: Thanks to Chris from Magic Box, they gave me another source where this info is coming from, it’s known to be reliable as well. Link to 3rd source.

BTW- Just to clarify what I said about Namco above – it’s common for one company to create new hardware and then pass it around for others to use, the best modern case is the Taito Type X which is being used by many different companies for games. So where Namco had suggested that they were looking into creating an arcade platform based on the Wii, it seems logical to me that there could be a connection here and if so, Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom will be the first game that we know of to use this hardware.

[Tatsunoko Vs Capcom uses Wii hardware – Sakura / Magic Box]

[Discuss on the Forums]