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Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) confirmed today that the long-awaited open-world action thriller video game PROTOTYPE will ship in European territories on June 5 and to North American retailers on June 9, arriving in stores shortly thereafter. Fans of the infamous Alex Mercer should also be sure to check out the newly updated official game web site located at www.prototypegame.com to gain access and view newly added game information and content, including the first half of PROTOTYPE’s must-see intro cinematic.

Nintendo launches Nintendo DSi™, the third iteration of the best-selling portable video game system and the latest evolution in hand-held gaming. Nintendo DSi gives new and veteran gamers the ability to customize, personalize and share their experiences with friends and family. Two built-in, interactive cameras let people snap and modify photos, while recorded sounds can be played and manipulated in interesting and imaginative ways. Also on April 5, Nintendo will launch the Nintendo DSi Shop, a new online storefront where users can redeem Nintendo DSi Points to download an ever-growing variety of inventive games and applications. Nintendo DSi will be available in the United States in Blue or Black at an MSRP of $169.99.

You can use mplayer as a YUV player with the example command below.

mplayer foreman.qcif -demuxer rawvideo -rawvideo qcif

mplayer “yuv filename” -demuxer rawvideo -rawvideo “qcif,cif”

NEC LCD Technologies, together with its sales and marketing channels in the Americas and Europe, NEC Electronics America, Inc., and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH, introduced a new 9.0-inch (23 centimeters diagonal) amorphous-silicon thin-film-transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) module, part number NL8048BC24-04, with wide video graphics array (WVGA) resolution for industrial equipment, including factory automation and measurement equipment.
The new module incorporates NEC LCD Technologies’ proprietary ultra-advanced, super-fine TFT (UA-SFT) technology that enables superior viewing angles without compromising brightness or color gamut. In addition, the module has been designed with wide-format resolution to meet the rising demand for such in various industrial applications.

New MPEG-4 encoding system dramatically improves bandwidth efficiency for Starz and Encore high-definition channels

Motorola (NYSE:MOT) today announced it is implementing a four-channel, high-definition (HD) MPEG-4/AVC encoding system for Starz Entertainment, a premium movie service provider in the United States, to begin migration from current MPEG-2 installations to MPEG-4 installations. The system compresses, encrypts, modulates, and receives HD signals within a single integrated transmission system to allow Starz to expand its HD offerings for subscribers. The system is currently being implemented for Starz Entertainment’s existing HD channels, Starz, Starz Kids and Family HD, Starz Edge HD and Starz Comedy HD. The latest addition to Starz Entertainment’s HD movie channel lineup, Encore HD, will be launched in MPEG-4 concurrent with this migration.

NVIDIA have posted a video comparing the performance, size and power consumption of their ARM11™ MPCore™ processor-based Tegra computer on a chip, with the equivalent Intel solution.

The results illustrate that the Tegra solution is one tenth of the size and one tenth of the power consumption of the Intel solution, while playing high definition video, compared to the Intel solution playing standard definition video.

The video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXYshhuJzh4

ARM has released highly optimized source code versions of the OpenMAX DL (Development Layer) libraries for decoding the AAC and MP3 formats in the audio domain, and decoding the MPEG-4 and H.264 formats in the video domain. These functions can be downloaded free-of-charge from the ARM website http://www.arm.com/products/esd/openmax_home.html, and the license granted to these functions entitles the user to integrate them into their own products at no cost.

Media Friendly System Boasts Blu-ray, SD Memory Card Slot, iPod Dock

Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company has announced that its first home theater in a box (HTiB) system with an integrated Blu-ray Disc player will be available for purchase in late Spring, with a suggested retail price of $999.95. The new model, SC-BT100, is the perfect complement to a high definition, flat panel large screen TV.

The new model epitomizes Panasonic’s emphasis on media friendly capabilities. It is made for iPod* and features an advanced integrated dock which not only recharges an iPod but plays music or video through the home theater system, displays audio tracks and menus on the TV screen and operates with the supplied remote control. Its SD Memory Card slot offers simple playback of digital images or original video footage in either standard or High Definition AVCHD format. The optical input offers simple digital 5.1channel audio connection for a set-top box, digital video recorder and game system.

“The Panasonic SC-BT100 home theater system is the best of both worlds,” says Paul Sabo, national marketing manager for Panasonic Home Audio. “It combines the installation ease and user-friendly operation of an HTiB

Watch internet video from the comfort of your couch with the DMX-NV1 BRAVIA® Internet Video Link. This easy-to-attach module lets you stream internet video to compatible BRAVIA HDTVs over your broadband internet connection. The DMX-NV1 stays hidden behind the TV keeping your home theater setup clean and uncluttered. Using the award-winning Xross Media Bar™, and your TV remote control you can intuitively browse select online music videos, movie trailers, user-generated videos, personalized weather, traffic feeds and more with no additional download or access fees. Internet video providers include AOL, Yahoo!, and Grouper (and more as they become available).