On Android, S3TC (= DXT) is the texture compression format of choice for Nvidia GPUs (= all Tegra-based devices). The default texture compression format (ETC) is not as nice-looking, and does not support alpha. On iOS, you're right, S3TC/DXT is not used, because the GPUs in these devices are made by a company named Imagination Technologies (I elieve they bought powerVR some time ago), who does not own a S3TC license. Instead, they have their own proprietary format called PVRTC (two variants, 2bits per pixel and 4bpp), that their GPUs can read and process instead of DXT textures.
As for no one using them, this is completely wrong: 3D games on mobile devices (think Shadowgun, Rage, Dungeon Defenders, Inifinty Blade...) all use compressed textures because otherwise the size of the assets would be significantly larger than it already is (think much longer download times and much higher bandwidth cost), and the GPU performance would be significantly lower (uncompressed textures occupy more space in video memory and their processing consumes more GPU bandwidth).
Or you could use PureText. Using 1.8 Megs of memory, it is a resident program that sits in your system tray and can remove all the extra formatting from the content of the clipboard. You define a "Paste withtout RTF/HTML formatting" shortcut (Windows key + V by default to look like Control-V) and voilà, no need for 'Edit -> Paste Special' anymore.
Given the fact that the only media that is readable by the PSP is the UMD and that there is no way Sony will not offer content protection/region locking for UMD movies, it is completely understandable that their hardware supports it, and I would have been greatly surprised if it hadn't.
The important point here is that as stated in the last paragraph of my second link, they decided not to implement it for games: The Sony PSP does have a region-lock mechanism, but Sony has decided to disable the region lock for games. Other types of media, such as movies, will still be region-locked. Anyone importing a PSP system from Japan should be able to play games released in different territories, but Sony has warned that, although it won't be actively barring cross-region game support, it won't be testing games for cross-region compatibility.
Thus, I don't think that people considering importing a PSP ought to be afraid of this region-lock capability, it is IMHO a direct consequence of the adoption by Sony of the "handheld gameconsole meets audio/video media player meets proprietary format" paradigm.
At GDC 2003, Jason Rubin, head and founder of Naugthy Dog, a highly successful development studio for PS1 and PS2, delivered a speech (slides available here, audio and slides available on Gamasutra (free painless reg. req.)) on a closely related subject : improvements in graphics quality will not be sustained over the next few years, and relying on them to impress potential customers is a bad idea.
Moral : as long as gameplay, character development and story do not suck, nice graphics are of course an asset, but they're useless in case of an already shitty game...
If I remember correctly, Activision-published "Tony Hawk's Underground" did it before, although to a lesser extent : it is possible to play not as Tony Hawk, but to play as you, with your own face mapped on the 3d model.
Your face is of course scanned by the EyeToy USB camera when attached, and I believe you have to show the software where your mouth is and where your eyes are, so it can map the picture and animate it properly.
Another great RPG was released very recently, which quite boosted Nintendo's both living-room and handheld consoles sales : Final Fantasy : Crystal Chronicles
In fact, in the charts I read, the GBA SP was first, followed by the Cube, and then by the PS2, and I just thought FF:CC might be more than a bit responsible for this...
I thought that the IOP in the PS2 was in fact a near exact replica of the MIPS R3400 that was the heart of the PS1, and that when not handling PS2- or DVD-intensive I/Os, it was in charge of running the PS1 games on the processor they had always run before.
The PS1 is enclosed in its material form in the PS2, thus eliminating the need for emulation. Is this wrong ? Does anyone have reliable info on this ?
Seems like the Cube might not be the only game system Acclaim stops developing games for...
Seriously, BMX and titties, of course they're under a formal probe by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission !
What is the problem (pros and cons) with hosting your project on Sourceforge and having it listed in Freshmeat ? I have no project there myself, but it looks like it does the job right fine for a whole lot of projects, doesn't it ?
It seems to me that Freshmeat is The Right Place to have your freeware linux-based project listed, but I may be wrong...
The movie's called "The Groundhog day", or "Un jour sans fin" in french, because he's stuck in Punxutawney (sp ?) for the day when the groundhog goes out of his sleeping bag, and if he shall see his shadow, then the winter will last another few months, or so I believe...
Slashdot Mirror
Just sayin'...
On Android, S3TC (= DXT) is the texture compression format of choice for Nvidia GPUs (= all Tegra-based devices). The default texture compression format (ETC) is not as nice-looking, and does not support alpha.
On iOS, you're right, S3TC/DXT is not used, because the GPUs in these devices are made by a company named Imagination Technologies (I elieve they bought powerVR some time ago), who does not own a S3TC license. Instead, they have their own proprietary format called PVRTC (two variants, 2bits per pixel and 4bpp), that their GPUs can read and process instead of DXT textures.
As for no one using them, this is completely wrong: 3D games on mobile devices (think Shadowgun, Rage, Dungeon Defenders, Inifinty Blade...) all use compressed textures because otherwise the size of the assets would be significantly larger than it already is (think much longer download times and much higher bandwidth cost), and the GPU performance would be significantly lower (uncompressed textures occupy more space in video memory and their processing consumes more GPU bandwidth).
Almost as craptacualr as the reserachers from the front page, who unfortunately got fixed in the meantime :)
Reserachers?
I bet they are craptacualr...
Dude, we know how birds navigate: they follow roads.
You can tell they've definitely made up their minds !!!
Or you could use PureText. Using 1.8 Megs of memory, it is a resident program that sits in your system tray and can remove all the extra formatting from the content of the clipboard. You define a "Paste withtout RTF/HTML formatting" shortcut (Windows key + V by default to look like Control-V) and voilà, no need for 'Edit -> Paste Special' anymore.
Obviously it only works on Windows.
How is this search engine called again ? Ah, that's it : Google.
After a quick search, here is the first relevant link : Katamari Damacy Soundtrack. And no, I won't gain anything from you clicking on this link.
And yes, it completely deserves to be bought, especially the Japanese version, which is IMHO slightly better thant the US version.
Given the fact that the only media that is readable by the PSP is the UMD and that there is no way Sony will not offer content protection/region locking for UMD movies, it is completely understandable that their hardware supports it, and I would have been greatly surprised if it hadn't.
:
The important point here is that as stated in the last paragraph of my second link, they decided not to implement it for games
The Sony PSP does have a region-lock mechanism, but Sony has decided to disable the region lock for games. Other types of media, such as movies, will still be region-locked. Anyone importing a PSP system from Japan should be able to play games released in different territories, but Sony has warned that, although it won't be actively barring cross-region game support, it won't be testing games for cross-region compatibility.
Thus, I don't think that people considering importing a PSP ought to be afraid of this region-lock capability, it is IMHO a direct consequence of the adoption by Sony of the "handheld gameconsole meets audio/video media player meets proprietary format" paradigm.
I just hope that a mod-chip type device will be able to save the day bypassing region coding in both games and movies.
Sony already stated that games will not be region-locked (last paragraph). They rarely are on handheld consoles anyway.
But I agree you still have a problem with movies...
At GDC 2003, Jason Rubin, head and founder of Naugthy Dog, a highly successful development studio for PS1 and PS2, delivered a speech (slides available here, audio and slides available on Gamasutra (free painless reg. req.)) on a closely related subject : improvements in graphics quality will not be sustained over the next few years, and relying on them to impress potential customers is a bad idea.
Moral : as long as gameplay, character development and story do not suck, nice graphics are of course an asset, but they're useless in case of an already shitty game...
If I remember correctly, Activision-published "Tony Hawk's Underground" did it before, although to a lesser extent : it is possible to play not as Tony Hawk, but to play as you, with your own face mapped on the 3d model.
Your face is of course scanned by the EyeToy USB camera when attached, and I believe you have to show the software where your mouth is and where your eyes are, so it can map the picture and animate it properly.
Another great RPG was released very recently, which quite boosted Nintendo's both living-room and handheld consoles sales : Final Fantasy : Crystal Chronicles
In fact, in the charts I read, the GBA SP was first, followed by the Cube, and then by the PS2, and I just thought FF:CC might be more than a bit responsible for this...
OK, here's the link : PS2 specs
:
Basically, it says
IOP (I/O Processor)
CPU Core: PlayStation (current) CPU (R3000)
I thought that the IOP in the PS2 was in fact a near exact replica of the MIPS R3400 that was the heart of the PS1, and that when not handling PS2- or DVD-intensive I/Os, it was in charge of running the PS1 games on the processor they had always run before.
The PS1 is enclosed in its material form in the PS2, thus eliminating the need for emulation. Is this wrong ? Does anyone have reliable info on this ?
Seems like the Cube might not be the only game system Acclaim stops developing games for...
Seriously, BMX and titties, of course they're under a formal probe by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission !
What is the problem (pros and cons) with hosting your project on Sourceforge and having it listed in Freshmeat ? I have no project there myself, but it looks like it does the job right fine for a whole lot of projects, doesn't it ?
It seems to me that Freshmeat is The Right Place to have your freeware linux-based project listed, but I may be wrong...
The movie's called "The Groundhog day", or "Un jour sans fin" in french, because he's stuck in Punxutawney (sp ?) for the day when the groundhog goes out of his sleeping bag, and if he shall see his shadow, then the winter will last another few months, or so I believe ...