Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Skyrim PC patched, can now claim 4GB RAM]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/21/skyrim-pc-patched-can-now-claim-4gb-ram/http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/21/skyrim-pc-patched-can-now-claim-4gb-ram/http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/21/skyrim-pc-patched-can-now-claim-4gb-ram/#comments Skyrim has become just a little more cognizant of the money you spent on extra RAM, and the teeny bit of blood lost when you pushed the modules in with enough enthusiasm to cut your fingers. A new incremental patch, bringing the PC version of Skyrim up to 1.3.10, lets the game address up to 4 gigabytes of RAM.

A similar performance fix was issued by the modding community shortly after the RPG's launch, but was rendered incompatible by an official patch. Now, modders and developers agree that Skyrim should take advantage of the extra space afforded on PC.

JoystiqSkyrim PC patched, can now claim 4GB RAM originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Bethesda-Game-StudiosBethesda-Softworkselder-scrolls-5patchpcramskyrimthe-elder-scrolls-v-skyrimWed, 21 Dec 2011 21:45:00 EST<![CDATA[PlayStation Vita has more RAM than PS3 (hey, cross-game chat!)]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/18/playstation-vita-has-more-ram-than-ps3-hey-cross-game-chat/http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/18/playstation-vita-has-more-ram-than-ps3-hey-cross-game-chat/http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/18/playstation-vita-has-more-ram-than-ps3-hey-cross-game-chat/#comments More is always better, right? For Sony's upcoming PlayStation Vita portable, more RAM means it has some features that big brother PlayStation 3 doesn't: namely, cross-game chat, courtesy of the console's Party system. "So the reason why we were able to include something like Party, which enables cross-game voice chat," Sony Worldwide Studios prez Shuhei Yoshida told Eurogamer, "is because we designed Vita so it always has enough resources to handle something like that behind the game while it's running."

Sony has finally confirmed the specifications of the system's RAM, after rumors that the electronics giant had halved the RAM to better compete on price with the 3DS. "There were some rumours for the last few months. Some developer mentioned the RAM was halved. We never announced the amount of RAM, and we never changed it," Yoshida said. So in order to combat confusion, they went into Gamescom unafraid to share those details.

And, without further ado, we'll share those deets! The PlayStation Vita has 512MB of RAM and 128MB of V-RAM, compared to the PlayStation 3's 256MB of system RAM and 256MB of video RAM. While that's half of the PS3's video RAM, Yoshida reminds us that the resolution of the two platforms is very different. "The resolution on the PS Vita screen is much lower," he explained. "Even though it's four times the resolution of PSP, compared to the console, the amount of data you have to push is much smaller."

While this all sounds like good news, there is another reading: Since the Vita uses all that extra system RAM to allow for cross-game chat, one could assume Sony will remain unable to implement the long-requested feature on the PS3. Then again, nearly five years into the console's life, that inability should be pretty apparent to everyone by now.

[Update: Apparent as it may be, we thought we'd share this additional quote that Eurogamer published. "Once a game gets RAM we never give it back," Yoshida said. "It's not possible to retrofit something like that after the fact."]

JoystiqPlayStation Vita has more RAM than PS3 (hey, cross-game chat!) originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gamescom-2011playstationplaystation-vitaps3ramshuhei-yoshidavitaThu, 18 Aug 2011 23:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Report: PlayStation Vita memory 'about ten times' that of PSP [update]]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2011/07/28/report-playstation-vita-memory-about-ten-times-that-of-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2011/07/28/report-playstation-vita-memory-about-ten-times-that-of-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2011/07/28/report-playstation-vita-memory-about-ten-times-that-of-psp/#comments

Sony hasn't officially shared the PlayStation Vita's technical specifications, and rumors insist that the amount of memory in the system has been cut since developers originally got on board. Daniel Sánchez-Crespo, CEO of Invizimals developer Novarama, recently provided some calming context to these claims in an interview with Develop, saying that his studio was "unaffected" by any rumored RAM reduction.

"It's actually good for developers to work under constraint," he said. "Generally for Vita, we still have a whole lot of headroom in terms of GPU power, CPU power and indeed RAM." According to Sánchez-Crespo, the Vita's quantity of RAM (Random Access Memory) bests that of the PSP by "about ten times." With the first PSP making do with 32MB -- yes, really -- that would put the Vita somewhere in the region of at least 256MB.

"Remember, more hardware features means more costs for buying the handheld," Sánchez-Crespo added. "Our main interest is for Sony to sell a lot of [PS Vita] units. Clearly the Sony guys in Japan have a tough job of what to leave in and what to leave out."

The Sony-exclusive Novarama is currently working on a few augmented-reality projects, including another Invizimals hunt and Reality Fighters, a camera-enabled fighting game for PlayStation Vita.

Update: Develop now reports that one of its Sony Japan sources insists that no cuts have been made to the system's RAM. Of course, whether or not changes have been made to the specification is less relevant when we don't know how much memory there was to begin with. What we want is a number, and Sánchez-Crespo's comparison of Vita to the original PSP has been the best hint thus far, outside of official confirmation.

JoystiqReport: PlayStation Vita memory 'about ten times' that of PSP [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>dani-sanchez-crespoinvizimalsnovaramaplaystationplaystation-vitaps-vitapspramreality-fighterssonyvitaThu, 28 Jul 2011 21:00:00 EST<![CDATA[70MB of additional RAM unlocked for PS3 developers]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/23/70mb-of-additional-ram-unlocked-for-ps3-developers/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/23/70mb-of-additional-ram-unlocked-for-ps3-developers/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/23/70mb-of-additional-ram-unlocked-for-ps3-developers/#comments It's rare for a console to get a spec upgrade in the middle of its life. However, Sony has stealthily upgraded the PS3 over the past few months to unlock additional usable RAM for developers. Much like the PSP received a boost in clock speed, the latest firmware updates provide developers an additional 70MB of RAM to work with. The change was initially discovered by PlayStation University, noting the reduction in the system OS's memory footprint, from 120MB to 50MB. As the OS continues to slim down, developers are allowed access to even more usable system memory.

SCEA's Patrick Seybold recently confirmed the change to Joystiq. "Since the launch of the PS3, we have been continuously making efforts to reinforce our support system to game developers, allowing them to express their creativity freely on the PS3. As part of this support for game development, the size of the PS3 OS memory footprint has been reduced through network update for the game developers."

While 70MB of additional memory is not insignificant, don't expect drastic changes to future PS3 games. A PS3 developer told us that "any bit of RAM helps. Generally it probably won't change design, but might allow extra effects resolution or dynamic lights or something. Probably more beneficial from the systems and art side then from design/gameplay." In tandem with increasingly efficient code, the added RAM will undoubtedly make for even better looking games. Certainly, that's not something we'd complain about.

Joystiq70MB of additional RAM unlocked for PS3 developers originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>developmentospatrick-seyboldramTue, 23 Feb 2010 17:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Original PSP doesn't have enough RAM for Skype]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/07/original-psp-doesnt-have-enough-ram-for-skype/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/07/original-psp-doesnt-have-enough-ram-for-skype/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/07/original-psp-doesnt-have-enough-ram-for-skype/#commentsFiled under:


As reported earlier, Skype will be available exclusively on PSP-2000 systems only. The revised handheld features additional RAM, previously used for UMD caching. According to Nick Sharples from SCEE, the additional memory onboard the new PSP is crucial for running the VoIP application. He told Pocket Gamer: "We had studied the possibility of supporting Skype with PSP-1000 but had to give it up because of the smaller size of main memory on PSP-1000 series."

Skype is coming before month's end. For more images of the application, visit GPara. For those with homebrew-capable PSP-1000 systems, new homebrew VoIP applications may be worthwhile to you.

JoystiqOriginal PSP doesn't have enough RAM for Skype originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>psp-2000ramskypevoipMon, 07 Jan 2008 13:45:00 EST<![CDATA[Speculation: Nvidia looking for eDRAM engineers; PSP2 on the horizon?]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/16/speculation-nvidia-looking-for-edram-engineers-psp2-on-the-hor/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/16/speculation-nvidia-looking-for-edram-engineers-psp2-on-the-hor/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/16/speculation-nvidia-looking-for-edram-engineers-psp2-on-the-hor/#commentsFiled under:

Sony and Nvidia have been friends for quite some time. While AMD provides the graphics technology behind the Xbox 360 and the Wii, the PLAYSTATION 3 is powered by Nvidia. Considering their partnership, Sony fanboys pay close attention to new moves that Nvidia makes. It appears that a recent job listing calls for a senior eDRAM design engineer, which is used extensively in video game consoles (including the PSP). The chances of a new eDRAM product to be used in a PC is slim, increasing the likelihood that a new video game product from Nvidia is nigh.

Considering Nvidia's exclusive relationship with Sony, any new video game product coming from the studio will most likely be an extension of the PlayStation brand. Considering how the PLAYSTATION 3 just came out, it seems unlikely that they're actively designing the PS4. Is a redesigned PSP, or a successor to the PSP, in the works? ps3gamer14 from the 1UP boards makes a good argument for it, but until we get more concrete evidence, this is simply speculation, at best.

JoystiqSpeculation: Nvidia looking for eDRAM engineers; PSP2 on the horizon? originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 16 Jan 2007 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>edramnvidiapsp2ramsonyTue, 16 Jan 2007 19:30:00 EST<![CDATA[The fix is in: Another Samsung exec falls in DRAM conspiracy]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/22/the-fix-is-in-another-samsung-exec-falls-in-dram-conspiracy/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/22/the-fix-is-in-another-samsung-exec-falls-in-dram-conspiracy/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/22/the-fix-is-in-another-samsung-exec-falls-in-dram-conspiracy/#commentsFiled under: ,

The fifth Samsung executive has agreed to a 10-month prison sentence, pleading guilty to conspiring with other companies to fix DRAM prices. Since 2003, the ongoing U.S. Department of Justice investigation has charged four vendors in the scandal. While Samsung already pleaded guilty and was fined $300 million a year ago, this latest plea relates to OEM price-fixing over 2001 and 2002; if you bought a computer from Dell, HP, Gateway, or Apple, those companies likely passed the extra costs on to you.

Once a product becomes a commodity -- like RAM -- the pressure for collusion seems to rise because price is the main product difference; all vendors lose in a price war. We don't think that video cards and GPUs are interchangeable like RAM, but is the graphic industry using similar tricks?

See also:
Uh-oh! Sony part of DoJ's inquiry into SRAM sales
Feds tracking AMD/ATI, Nvidia in antitrust probe

JoystiqThe fix is in: Another Samsung exec falls in DRAM conspiracy originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 22 Dec 2006 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>antitrustconspiracyDepartment of JusticeDepartmentOfJusticeDRAMPCRAMFri, 22 Dec 2006 19:15:00 EST<![CDATA[Is Gears of War as good as it gets?]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/26/is-gears-of-war-as-good-as-it-gets/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/26/is-gears-of-war-as-good-as-it-gets/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/26/is-gears-of-war-as-good-as-it-gets/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Gears of War"We pushed the 360 to the limits," Gears of War QA manager Preston Thorne told Siliconera at last night's Hollywood launch party. While obviously an inflammatory remark, there could be some truth to the statement. After all, it was Epic that allegedly convinced Microsoft to bump up Xbox 360's RAM to 512 MB -- and Epic still maintains that 256 MB would not be enough to run Gears in its current state.

So does that mean PlayStation 3 couldn't handle the game? When asked, Preston skillfully dodged the question, but implied the answer was "no."

All console hardware has limits. Has Epic hit Xbox 360's? Does it matter? With the boundaries of the playing field defined, won't developers focus less time searching for the lines and more time experimenting with what's inbounds?

JoystiqIs Gears of War as good as it gets? originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 26 Oct 2006 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>EpicGears of WarGearsOfWarRAMXbox LiveXbox-360XboxLiveThu, 26 Oct 2006 16:20:00 EST<![CDATA[Wiimote used to store profile?]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/26/wiimote-used-to-store-profile/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/26/wiimote-used-to-store-profile/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/26/wiimote-used-to-store-profile/#commentsFiled under: ,

After giving us an excellent look at the DS Opera browser, (dot)Ed started looking at Nintendo's other console, namely the recent controller documentation that hit our fine inter wubs. His keen eye focused on the Wiimote's 6kb of Flash RAM, he let the floodgates of thought be opened and damned his sleep schedule. "What could it be used for?" he asked his karate-kicking, last-cop-on-Earth friend the Karate Cop. It was then that it dawned on them both and they looked each other in the eyes and whispered "profiles."

See, he suggests that the memory will be used to house a profile that will be associated with that user as well as the possibility that it could even hold pertinent data that would be used to input said user's own avatar (custom or not) into games. What do we think? Well, 6kb is an awfully small amount of memory, but we doubt, nay, refuse to rule out the possibility. Instead, we will do the courteous thing and leave the final conclusion of both the site's opinion and humanity's safety itself up to you fine readers.

We think you're properly equipped for it.

JoystiqWiimote used to store profile? originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>flashnintendoramwiiwiimoteWed, 26 Jul 2006 21:30:00 EST