EA SPORTS FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 3 GETTING READY TO PACK A PUNCH ON MOBILES

Electronic Arts announced today the launch of EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3. The critically acclaimed boxing game franchise will become available for download from April 2007 allowing mobile fans to be able to build and customize their boxer’s look and fighting style and fight their way from no name contender to champion of the world.

EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3 is an action-packed mobile game for diehard and casual boxing fans alike and is the closest thing to being in the ring without actually getting punched! Featuring ten of the most famous and notorious boxers of all time, gamers can take on the ring style of champions from Ricky Hatton to Oscar de la Hoya whilst enjoying breathtaking graphics, up to five different fighting venues, and an opportunity to create and design their own boxer to use in the ring.

From the pre-fight press conference and weigh-in to fitness and skills training, EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3 ensures no boxing fan is ever left outside the ring. The gameplay has been especially adapted for mobile and features a high-risk, high-reward punch system where gamers will put down their opponent or go down for the count. Jabs, hooks, haymakers, special moves, combos, counters and knock downs add to the fierce action. EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3 is quite simply the most realistic and graphically impressive boxing game available on mobile.

“The Fight Night franchise has been hugely successful for EA SPORTS™ and we’re delighted to be able to bring the passion and drama to mobile gamers across Europe – we’re certain it will be a knock-out!” said Javier Ferreira, VP European Publishing, EA Mobile.

To learn more on EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3 please go to www.eamobile.com

VIA Launches Most Powerful, Most Efficient and Most Media-Rich Nano-ITX Mainboard

Next generation VIA EPIA NX first to feature the power efficient 1.5GHz VIA C7 processor, or the 1.2GHz VIA Eden for the fastest fanless Nano-ITX, plus the VIA CX700M2 system media processor for the richest visual experience

Taipei, Taiwan, 13 March 2007 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of PC platform solutions, today introduced the 12cmx12cm VIA EPIA NX-series mainboard, the highest performance, most power efficient and feature-rich Nano-ITX platform ever.

Designed for ultra compact embedded systems with demanding digital media requirements, such as slimline LCD PCs and digital signage, small yet powerful set top boxes and next generation car PCs, the VIA EPIA NX takes the Nano-ITX mainboard to the next level, boasting the latest generation VIA processors based on the ‘Esther’ core offering the VIA V4 bus, highly effective power management and the world’s most advanced hardware security.

Available with the 1.5GHz VIA C7 processor, or the 1.2GHz VIA Eden processor for the fastest fanless configuration, the VIA EPIA NX offers a host of advanced multimedia features through the VIA CX700M2 system media processor. This all-in-one digital media IGP chipset integrates the VIA UniChrome Pro II 2D/3D graphics core and an extensive array of high end audio and video technologies, including Vinyl Multi-channel HD audio, hardware MPEG-2/-4 and WMV9 video decoding acceleration, and a built-in HDTV encoder up to 1080i for the richest entertainment experience.

“Better multimedia within increasingly smaller, slimmer packages is clearly the main trend in consumer information and entertainment systems, and defined the design of this latest generation Nano-ITX mainboard,” said Daniel Wu, Assistant Vice President, VIA Platform Solutions Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. “The powerful, feature-rich EPIA NX will help fulfill the Nano-ITX ‘New Vision’ by enabling quieter, more space-saving and reliable embedded systems, further promoting the adoption of the x86 platform in everyday systems.”

The VIA EPIA NX-series Nano-ITX mainboard will be on display at the PressExpoUSA press event on Friday 16 March at the Messe Convention Centre during CeBIT 2007; learn more about this event at: www.via.com.tw/en/company/events/cebit2007/index.jsp.

About the VIA EPIA NX-Series Nano-ITX Mainboard

Measuring just 12cm x 12cm, the powerful, feature-rich yet highly power efficient VIA EPIA NX Nano-ITX mainboard is available with either the 1.5GHz VIA C7 processor or fanless 1.2GHz VIA Eden processor supporting the 400MHz VIA V4 bus and integrating the VIA PadLock Security Engine, combined with the VIA CX700M2 advanced system media processor with its support for a wide range of digital media technologies and I/O appropriate for the consumer electronics market.

The VIA CX700M2 system media processor features the VIA UniChrome Pro II 2D/3D graphics core, and boasts the VIA Chromotion CE video display engine, including an integrated HDTV encoder that utilizes an advanced ASIC with VIA’s Advance ProScale^® Technology to scale the input resolution for 640x480 up to 1024x768 encode for 1080i, 720p standard HDTV resolution output, as well as hardware decoding acceleration of MPEG-2/-4 and WMV9 video. The latest high definition audio is supported through VIA Vinyl 8-channel HD audio, and a rich range of display options includes an integrated LVDS connector plus a DVO pin connector for an additional LVDS panel through an appropriate daughterboard, plus a TV-out connector for S-Video, Component and Composite display outputs for unparalleled flexibility.

The VIA EPIA NX Nano-ITX mainboard has two Serial ATA connectors for full featured native SATA II RAID 0, 1, 0+1, configured using the VIA DriveStation SATA RAID with the VIA CX700M2, an Ethernet port for seamless broadband connectivity with the optional upgrade of Gigabit Ethernet, and supports up to 1GB of DDR2 400/533MHz SO-DIMM memory.

More details about the VIA EPIA NX-series Nano-ITX mainboard may be found on the VIA website at:

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/motherboards.jsp?motherboard_id=470 while information on the VIA CX700M2 system media processor can be found here:

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/c-series/cx700m/

VIA EPIA NX-series Nano-ITX Availability

The VIA EPIA NX-Series Nano-ITX mainboard is available now for developers, and will be available through authorized distributors shortly. For pricing and availability, please contact your local VIA sales representative or send an email to: embedded@via.com.tw.

The Local War has Started

As you see in the article below this one, the PS3 gets launched in South Africa on 23 March. That is just a few days away now. On the 14th of March, the people that bring out the XBox here in South Africa are having a press function. Perfectly placed, 9 days before the launch of thier biggest opposition here in South Africa, what do you expect Microsoft to be doing on the 14th?

If they are lucky, thier press function and news will come out at the same time as the PS3 launch news, maybe just a little before. I am imagining that the news will be the launch of XBox Live which, until now, has not been avaialable to people with South African addresses.

The PS3 has some sort of wireless network and I am sure, is able to connect to the WWW without too much of a fuss. Until now, the XBox has not been able to do that.

The war is on.

Or is it?

At Look & Listen last night, I saw the price of the PS3! Are they insane? R6000 for a console that can play DVD's that aren't in South Africa yet? I think not!