FIRST DISCOVER GAME HARDWARE UNVEILED AT CES
The first hardware using Digital Interactive Systems Corp. (DISC) technology, which allows gamers to play PC games on their TVs without the need for a compute, as expected was unveiled by Apex Digital and Alienware at CES late last week. Apex’s hardware, scheduled to ship in March, is the ApeXtreme DVD player/DISCover Game Console, while Alienware’s is the Media Center PC and DISCover Game Console.
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Pricing wasn’t available at our deadline for the Alienware system but Apex said it would offer $299 and $399 versions of its ApeXtreme. It wasn’t clear Fri. what the differences between the 2 Apex models were or whether they would ship at the same time. Earlier in the week, DISC Pres. Avi DorEl said that despite the expected $399 SRP, the Apex device could street for as low as $299 when it made its debut. The system is likely to come bundled with a USB controller but no software. In a news conference at CES, Apex was vague on whether the device would be merchandised in the game section or CE section of retail stores.
DISC, which had announced before the CES that Apex and Alienware would be introducing DISC-based systems, said its DISCover technology would give “Apex Digital and Alienware a way to enter the lucrative $13 billion game console market without having to spend hundreds of millions to first develop their own proprietary games.” DISC said “Apex Digital and Alienware DISCover consoles play thousands of unmodified PC games on a television or home entertainment system.”
Apex unveiled its system at CES in conjunction with VIA Technologies, a developer of PC platform solutions and silicon chip technologies. VIA CEO Wendi Chen said: “The ApeXtreme PC gaming console smashes the boundaries of living room entertainment by bringing full-throttle PC gaming to the TV and enabling digital audio and video to be experienced at their finest. The… market reach of Apex Digital and cutting-edge technologies from VIA and S3 Graphics combine to drive the new market paradigm for the connected home.” The companies said Apex’s system created “new standards in console gaming with Hi- Def DX9 graphics and VIA Vinyl 6-channel surround sound.” Apex said its model was “based on the new VIA Glory Personal Gaming Console Platform, a dedicated interoperable platform of key VIA and S3 Graphics technologies aimed at reducing product development costs and expediting time to market for system builders, enabling them to deliver the power and performance of PC gaming and entertainment into the living room.” Apex said the system featured an S3 Graphics DeltaChrome graphics accelerator “that includes native Hi-Def HDTV support for superior visuals” and the VIA Vinyl Six-TRAC Audio with enhanced sound positioning technology provided “support for theater-like 6-channel surround sound.” It also said the console ran with the Microsoft Windows XP Embedded operating system and “automatically detects and plays DVD and VCD movies, audio CDs and slide shows or pictures from a CD through Windows Media Player from a home network or optical drive, or from the system’s 20GB hard drive.”
Echoing comments he has made since last May’s E3 Expo in L.A., DISC’s DorEl said: “The success of any game console depends on the number of titles it offers. The videogame console that offers the most games is always the most popular. Yet even the market leader offers only a limited number of proprietary titles compared with the thousands of titles available to the DISCover.” DISC said: “While the major videogame console vendors are just beginning to develop online gaming capabilities, DISC is partnering with GameSpy to immediately enable DISCover users to gain access to the world’s largest community of online PC game enthusiasts via a built-in ‘DISCover Arcade.'” GameSpy Pres. Jonathan Epstein said DISC and his company would be “able to bring the excitement of online gaming to an entirely new community” and “by using GameSpy’s Arcade, DISCover console users will be instantly connected” to what he said was “the world’s largest enthusiast online gaming community.”
Alienware showed a full line of digital home entertainment solutions at CES. The company said its new DHS-301 and DHS-311 media center systems combined the capabilities of individual audiovisual components such as DVD/CD players and recorders, radios and PVRs “into one unit with a single user interface and remote control.” It said the DHS-301 and DHS-311, featuring Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004, “also deliver enhanced multimedia features that allow customers to store and record CDs and access thousands of on-demand movie titles and music tracks via the internet,” while “additional features include the ability to view, store and record photo DVD/CDs, record, pause and play back live FM radio broadcasts and play games in a comfortable living or family room setting.” Editor’s Note: Digital TV shipments include direct-view, projection, plasma and LCD sets. Weekly data on 2002 DTV shipments are not available because data were compiled on only a monthly basis. Analog models are included in figures for total color TVs, direct-view TVs, TV/VCR combos, TV/DVD combos, projection TVs. Camcorder figures include digital and analog models. DVD players include standalone home decks (single-play or multidisc changers), portable DVD players and DVD/VCR combos. Not included are mobile DVD players, DVD computer drives or DVD players sold as part of shelf or home theater system.