frozen9999
Well-Known Member
VIA / ApeXtreme Gaming Console:
Here is just about as much scoop as you are going to get before this thing is officially unveiled at CES this week. It seems that VIA is carving out their own segment of the emerging console market under the APEX brand name with the new "ApeXtreme Personal Gaming Console and DVD Player", or PGC.
Under the sleek and very living room friendly exterior is the now widely known VIA Eden Embedded System Platform running at a very fast 1.4GHz supported by a next-gen VIA chipset, the CN400. This system is not focused to be part of the hardcore gaming market but rather a more mainstream one. There are however a few features on the ApeXtreme that are going to make it a very likeable addition to many of an enthusiast living room.
It will be powered by a near-instant-on version of WinXP (embedded) with Windows Media Player, and as you can obliviously see from the pictures, will have removable media in the form of DVD/CD. We are told the OS will not be "locked down", certainly inviting many modifications by the end user. The video processor behind the box will be VIA's S3 DeltaChrome graphics processor, and VIA 5.1 "Vinyl" audio will supply 5.1 sound.
Six USB2 ports, RCA, DVI, and S-video outs, SPDIF out, 10/100 Ethernet and modem, and get a load of this, Component Video Out! Yes, it supports High Def signaling. This thing has got DivX Jukebox written all over it and I already want one for my living room. It seems as though a 40GB IDE hard drive that is NOT proprietarily formatted will be the main storage for the system. I would think expanding the storage might be very easy to accomplish succesfully. Pricepoints and scaling of models is yet to be known by us.
Obviously, you can play DVD movies, audio and video CDs, and PC games on the box. We were also told that versions of games are being developed that you do not have to "load". Simply put the CD in and play, much like is used on other consoles. We were also told that price points will be at US$299 and US$399 and that you should be able to buy them pretty much anywhere Apex appliances are now sold. So that means the bigger electronics stores in North America.
From the first looks that we have gotten at the ApeXtreme PCG, I have to say that it looks to be very exciting and has just knocked the cost of building a DIY "Home Theater PC" down quite a bit. The interface is supposedly a wireless "keypad" controller. The only thing that I see missing is 802.11G wireless networking, but I bet that is already slated for the next revision should this take off in the marketplace. I personally would still use my PC for most of my gaming and surfing, but I can see a couple hundred DivX movies and countless MP3s being dumped onto it making my "DVD Jukebox" a reality.
Now, I just hope they let me into the press conference on Thursday when they officially launch the product so we can get some hands on time with this Apex PCG.
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTcz
Here is just about as much scoop as you are going to get before this thing is officially unveiled at CES this week. It seems that VIA is carving out their own segment of the emerging console market under the APEX brand name with the new "ApeXtreme Personal Gaming Console and DVD Player", or PGC.
Under the sleek and very living room friendly exterior is the now widely known VIA Eden Embedded System Platform running at a very fast 1.4GHz supported by a next-gen VIA chipset, the CN400. This system is not focused to be part of the hardcore gaming market but rather a more mainstream one. There are however a few features on the ApeXtreme that are going to make it a very likeable addition to many of an enthusiast living room.
It will be powered by a near-instant-on version of WinXP (embedded) with Windows Media Player, and as you can obliviously see from the pictures, will have removable media in the form of DVD/CD. We are told the OS will not be "locked down", certainly inviting many modifications by the end user. The video processor behind the box will be VIA's S3 DeltaChrome graphics processor, and VIA 5.1 "Vinyl" audio will supply 5.1 sound.
Six USB2 ports, RCA, DVI, and S-video outs, SPDIF out, 10/100 Ethernet and modem, and get a load of this, Component Video Out! Yes, it supports High Def signaling. This thing has got DivX Jukebox written all over it and I already want one for my living room. It seems as though a 40GB IDE hard drive that is NOT proprietarily formatted will be the main storage for the system. I would think expanding the storage might be very easy to accomplish succesfully. Pricepoints and scaling of models is yet to be known by us.
Obviously, you can play DVD movies, audio and video CDs, and PC games on the box. We were also told that versions of games are being developed that you do not have to "load". Simply put the CD in and play, much like is used on other consoles. We were also told that price points will be at US$299 and US$399 and that you should be able to buy them pretty much anywhere Apex appliances are now sold. So that means the bigger electronics stores in North America.
From the first looks that we have gotten at the ApeXtreme PCG, I have to say that it looks to be very exciting and has just knocked the cost of building a DIY "Home Theater PC" down quite a bit. The interface is supposedly a wireless "keypad" controller. The only thing that I see missing is 802.11G wireless networking, but I bet that is already slated for the next revision should this take off in the marketplace. I personally would still use my PC for most of my gaming and surfing, but I can see a couple hundred DivX movies and countless MP3s being dumped onto it making my "DVD Jukebox" a reality.
Now, I just hope they let me into the press conference on Thursday when they officially launch the product so we can get some hands on time with this Apex PCG.
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTcz