NUON As Open Source Gaming Platform

jjustice writes: "About a month ago, Richard Miller, CEO of VM Labs, announced that "In the near future (I don't want to commit to a date until we are sure of it), we will release to the open development community the tools and documentation that were used to develop these titles - both the games and the movie enhancements. We will also release a few sample applications that can be freely downloaded from the Internet, burned onto CD-R discs, and run on NUON DVD players that can read CD-Rs. Currently only the N501 has this capability, but we anticipate that all future NUON based DVD players will read CD-R and DVD-R media." It's not Linux, but unlike Indrema, the boxes are available. And the technology may not rival PS2 or XBox, but he also says the latest version of the chip is 2-3 times the power of the existing model and cheaper to produce. Besides, I'll support any platform with games from Jeff Minter." No use for all those electronics going to waste, eh?

Comments

Nuon to play DVD movies

[Spootnik]

I had an opportunity to play T3K on a DVD player with the nuon chip at the last E3 in LA with none other than Jeff Minter. T3K didn't seem too hot though but it wasn't really finished yet. I still prefer the Jag version myself. As for nuon, the other titles I saw on it weren't that impressive but I don't think it's targeted as being a killer gaming platform but rather an inexpensive add-on to DVD players and the like that can support some cool graphics and multimedia.

The N501 sounds like a nice enough deck. It has the new "expanded" VLM and supports MP3 CD-R/RW. I will probably pick one up as an "extra" DVD deck and for T3K of course. I was in Best Buy last week, and they DID have some retail NUON presence as promoted months back. On impulse, I got a Logitech pad and T3K "while I still could", planning to pick up the N501 at its EOL pricecut.

Last Caress?

[Schnapple]

Well, the deal with Indrema was it was a titanic notion from day one. Recall that console companies lose money on the hardware, so the notion of an "open source" console was specious at best - if you don't make money on the software and don't make that much (if anything) on the hardware, then where is your money made? Sure, Indrema's plan was to allow people to "license" their software, but come on..

However, NUON is mainly a DVD enhancement technology that "happens to" play games (as opposed to PS2, a game console that "happens to" play movies). There are few NUON titles other than Atari Jaguar sequels and the occasional CD-ROM shovelware (Myst). Therefore they can't convince DVD player manufacturers to place NUON chips in their systems. However if they make it an "open" console technology, then they can convince hobbyists and the like to make software for it. Then the increased demand makes for more of a push to put the NUON technology in DVD players, and NUON then has a more viable platform to encourage development for.

On the other hand, it could just be that NUON is on its way out the door and his handing off its source to people so that something can become of the technology eventually. They release the tools and such, then go out of business. Like DIVX players, NUON players become cheap and get snatched up by /.-ers.

Re:All I want for christmas...

[derrickh]

It already there, built into NUON DVD Players. It was written by Jeff Minter and called VLM(Video Light Machine). A hundred+ effects, synced to the music(and not just the beats). 'Trippy' doesnt even begin to describe it.
D

A quick introduction to NUON

[Ahchay]

This has been a bit of an open-secret for a while but, unfortunately, it's not actually available _yet_

NUON, for those who don't know, is an integrated DVD processor produced by VMLabs, currently available in the US in three consumer models Toshiba SD2300, Samsung Extiva and Samsung N501. There are european models due RSN. It provides advanced processing capable of at least N64 level games as well as enhanced DVD playback (>20x digital zoom, advanced frame management) and NUON specific DVD content. It also features Jeff Minter's VLM2 which is an update to the Jag VLM and, were VMLabs to realise it, is about the coolest thing on the planet at the moment.

The NUON open SDK does exist, and _will_ be made available to the public RSN. But, it hasn't been released yet. There is a FAQ available at NuonDev.com which, although not official, does show the currently known state of open-NUON.

Cheers
Chris

Maybe a reason to use that damn controller!

[jerkychew]

I've got a Samsung N2000 DVD player. The deck is great - user friendly controls, nice quality, and it only cost in the range of $200 US. It came with a game controller and some sample games, as well. I actually wanted the Nuon proc because if its enhanced DVD capabilities (viewing a DVD at 2x is much smoother than my expensive Sony deck that broke after 8 months), but I thought the games were a nice bonus. That is, until I played them. The included sample games are horrible - gaudy colors, and terrible gameplay - but maybe with this development that will all change. It would be nice to see somebody port a NES or SNES emulator to this platform. I could conceivably stick in a CD with every NES game known to man on it and play Excitebike till my thumbs fall off!
One other warning - the N2000 is a successor to the N501 player. Since the N501 could handle CD-Rs, I assumed that the N2000 could as well. I was wrong. CD-Rs aren't recognized at all, and VCDs burned onto CD-RWs will display "VCD" on the display, but they won't play. Buyer beware.

-JC