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Doom: The trend-setting franchise

(Credit: Id Software)

Id Software, the video game developer behind Doom, announced Thursday that it has tapped British author Graham Joyce to write Doom 4. The fantasy novelist has won numerous awards for many of his 14 novels and 26 short stories.

“I can say that Id has hired me to help develop the storyline potential,” Joyce said in an interview with CVG. He chose not to offer any more comments about the pending release of Doom 4.

Regardless, I’m looking forward to Doom 4 even though Id first announced the game back in 2007 and has made no mention of it since. The original Doom became an iconic franchise that helped start this whole anti- video-game-violence nonsense, but more importantly, it set the tone for gaming today. It brought first-person shooters to the mainstream and left an indelible mark on the entire industry.

Doom was an important part of my formative years, as well. Maybe that’s why my love for Doom, even through rough patches (I’m looking at you, Doom 3), has ever diminished.

Remember when Doom first hit store shelves in 1993? It wasn’t like any other game on the market. It included off-color remarks, a gun named BFG (the “F” stood for… you can guess that yourself), and unprecedented violence. Unfortunately, it was that violence that got all the media attention.

But for the rest of us, Doom was something special. It was the graphical king of its time and we marveled at Id’s ability to bring it to life. More importantly, it led to the 1990s gaming boom that changed the industry (and its consumers) forever.

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Originally posted at The Digital Home

In a report that could send shock waves through the video game industry, market research firm iSuppli has detailed the real cost and new savings found in Sony’s second-generation Playstation 3.

iSuppli’s report, issued Monday, says that the current PS3 model contains 2,820 individual parts, including Nvidia’s Reality Synthesizer, IBM’s Cell Broadband Engine, and Toshiba’s I/O controller, which are now made using 65-nanometer process technology, compared to 90-nanometer technology formally employed in the previous iteration. That has drastically reduced the PS3′s power supply cost by 30 percent from $30.75 to $21.50.

The costly PS3

(Credit: Sony)

Kionix’s three-axis accelerometer in the PS3 controller has replaced the Hokuriku Electronic Industry Co. part, saving Sony an estimated $1.45 per unit.

But perhaps the most important cost savings is in the console’s vaunted Cell processor from IBM. According to iSuppli, the latest PS3 includes a new version of IBM’s Cell Broadband Engine, which is priced at $46.46 — 28 percent lower than its original cost in the first-generation hardware. A new version of Nvidia’s Reality Synthesizer, the console’s GPU, at $58.01 per unit is now priced 30 percent lower than it was in the first generation.

Altogether, Sony’s second-generation PS3 features a 35 percent total cost reduction from the first-generation model. In dollars and cents, today’s PS3 costs Sony about $448.73 to produce, compared to the old model’s $690.23 price tag. That said, the lower cost doesn’t include software, box contents, and royalty expenses.

Realizing that, and considering the PS3′s current price tag of $399, iSuppli has found that Sony is still losing money with each sale of its console. But Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal analyst at iSuppli, believes Sony may be able to break even in 2009.

“With its new-generation PS3, Sony has come closer to breaking even, although it probably hasn’t quite reached that mark yet,” Rassweiler said in a statement. “With iSuppli’s estimated PS3 cost at $448.73, the product retailing in the United States at around $399 and taking into account other expenses, the PS3 may be able to break even in 2009 with further hardware revisions.”

Great, but is that enough time? With Microsoft and Nintendo outselling Sony’s console each month with ease, Sony’s window of opportunity is almost closed.

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Originally posted at The Digital Home