Armada Processor to Be Used in ‘New Gaming Platform’—Marvell CEO
Marvell’s Armada application processors will be used in “a new gaming platform” that “a major customer” is “preparing to launch,” CEO Sehat Sutardja said on a recent earnings call. But he didn’t specify the company or platform. Marvell won’t comment on “future customer products prior to the official launch,” a spokesman said.
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The Nintendo 3DS is the only new game system publicly known to be shipping soon. The system, which achieves stereoscopic 3D effects without requiring the use of special glasses, will ship by the end of Nintendo’s fiscal year in March (CED March 24 p1). Whether it’s a new gaming platform is debatable: It’s the latest extension of Nintendo’s current DS platform.
"I think it’s the Microsoft Kinect” that Marvell’s CEO was referring to, said FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger. “But obviously nobody has ripped open a box yet” on the coming Xbox 360 motion-control peripheral to see what components are in it, he said. It’s questionable whether Kinect is a new gaming platform, either. Berger said he suspects Marvell was referring to Kinect partly because Marvell has supplied Bluetooth/Wi-Fi combo chips to the new Xbox 360 console model and it provided Wi-Fi for the first Xbox. But he said Marvell also supplied chips for the PS3. Asked whether Marvell could be supplying Armada processors for Sony Computer Entertainment’s coming PlayStation Move motion-control system for the PS3 rather than Kinect, Berger said he wasn’t as familiar with that system. Kinect and Move are expected to launch this fall. Microsoft and SCE America didn’t respond right away to requests for comment.
About 15 percent of Marvell’s growth in the mobile and wireless end market in Q2 ended July 31 from Q1 was from “initial production revenue from our Armada application processors,” mainly from the coming game platform launch, Sutardja said. Armada processors were designed for “next-generation mobile computing and intelligent connected devices,” Marvell said on its website. Products using Armada processors include Research In Motion’s new BlackBerry Torch smartphone.
Nintendo has been mum on most technical details of the 3DS, especially concerning component suppliers. But Japan’s Digital Media Professionals said in June that its 3D Graphics IP “PICA200” graphics processor is being used in the 3DS (CED June 22 p8). An informed source has told Consumer Electronics Daily that the 3DS will use Sharp’s 3D LCD technology (CED March 25 p1). The method used by Sharp is commonly referred to as parallax barrier technology. Sharp and Nintendo wouldn’t say whether the 3DS will use Sharp’s display technology.