X-bit labs

Apex Digital Denies Using VIA’s Platform for Console.

Category: Multimedia

by Anton Shilov

[ 03/28/2004 | 03:19 AM ]

Apex Digital, the company who was the first to adopt VIA’s Glory Platform for consoles, this week announced it decided to change the supplier of core-logic for its gaming machine. Instead of VIA Glory, the co said it would use NVIDIA nForce2 IGP along with AMD Athlon XP processors.

The ApeXtreme console was initially meant to be fully based on VIA Glory Console Platform. The console’s central “brain” was 1.40GHz VIA C3 processor, while the input/output functions were intended to be carried out by VIA CN400 North Bridge coupled with VT8237 I/O controller. A DeltaChrome graphics chip from S3 Graphics would be the graphics base for the console, while VIA’s Vinyl technology would provide 6-channel audio support.

The new specifications for the ApeXtreme include AMD Athlon XP 2000+ processor as the CPU and NVIDIA nForce2 IGP based mainboard with 256MB dual-channel DDR memory as the base for the console. Such combination would provide a bit higher performance compared to the initial system, however, graphics feature-set of the machine will be limited to DirectX 7.0 supported by the GeForce4 MX graphics core. Higher-end DeltaChrome graphics processors, such as S8 and S8 Nitro, not only sport DirectX 9.0, but also offer substantially more speed than the GeForce4 MX.

The reasons for the move of Apex Digital are not clear. For companies making PC-based consoles support, performance and time-to-market are among the most crucial when choosing hardware partners.

The ApeXtreme PC Gaming Console runs with the Microsoft Windows XP Embedded operating system and automatically detects and plays DVD and VCD movies, audio CDs and slide shows or pictures from a CD through Windows Media Player from a home network or optical drive, or from the system’s 40GB hard drive. Optimized for game console like operation, the ApeXtreme is ready to play within in a matter of seconds after switching it on and can be operated via game pad or keyboard and mouse. The ApeXtreme PC Gaming Console is designed to run games for personal computers, but not for other consoles, such as Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox or Nintendo GAMECUBE.

Historically there were a number of consoles based on technologies for personal computers. Virtually all of them did not appear to be a success. A company called Indrema rolled-out a project of L600 console featuring PC hardware and Linux operating system in 2000, but failed to bring it into the market because of insufficient funding. Last year a company called Infinium Labs uncovered plans to introduce its console called Phantom. The firm is now trying to get additional funding to finance the process of development. The most successful PC-based console ever is popular Xbox from Microsoft Corporation. Even though Microsoft now manages to sell its product at an affordable price, the company looses quite some money on every such machine and aims to perform a tangible shift in its strategy with the Xbox 2.

Prospects of consoles designed to play PC games are quite shady these days, as there are barebone PC manufacturers who offer small form-factor fully-functional computers with design to fit into living rooms. While now such devices come from manufacturers themselves and require skills to install components like CPUs and HDDs, eventually some system integrators may start to sell already working computers based on similar barebones. Given that those PCs are more powerful and can run games faster, there is a very limited list of advantages consoles like ApeXtreme may have over PCs.