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Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts SDTV fix released

by Richard Lawler posted Dec 27th 2008 at 1:36AM


Still playing your Xbox 360 on a non-HDTV or, like some of us at EHD, sticking out the holidays at a relative's where standard definition is the only option? Good news, the Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts title update went live earlier this week, rendering things readable, even under the most trying of circumstances. Now, getting your console online at your dial-up only, WiFi-less, out of 3G range cousin's house is the only problem left, until that's solved hit up Xbox 360 Fanboy for comparison shots of the original and newer, bigger text.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts getting fixed for SDTV owners

by Darren Murph posted Nov 10th 2008 at 11:58AM


They always said the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and yet again that adage has proven true. After demo players of RARE's Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts found the text to be unreadable on SDTVs, word was passed on that the issue would remain in the final version of the game. Now, however, RARE's George Kelion has stepped in to announce that a fix is indeed in the works. To quote: "We would like to assure you that contrary to earlier reports, we are aware of the [text] issue and [are] currently working on a title update to be released within the next 30 days that will fix it for those with standard-definition TVs." Nice job raising cain, people.

[Via The Escapist]

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts text unreadable on SDTVs, no fix planned

by Darren Murph posted Nov 6th 2008 at 7:04PM


Whoa, boy. Talk about causing an uproar. Rare, the development studio behind the forthcoming video game Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, has decided to move forward with the game without fixing a glaring textual issue when playing on an SDTV. Essentially, the text in the game -- of which there a lot -- is darn near illegible on standard-def televisions. When playing the game on an HDTV (even at 480p), it's relatively easy to make out what's going on; when attempting to play on an SDTV, things get ugly. As you can see above, we find it hard to believe SDTV owners will be able to stand the game-play for more than a few minutes, and amazingly, Rare has admitted that there are no plans to fix things before it goes gold. So, how do you feel about this? As a presumed HDTV owner, you probably couldn't care less personally, but should SDTV-owning gamers be given more respect here?

[Via Joystiq]

Global HDTV shipments exceed SDTVs for first time

by Darren Murph posted Oct 24th 2008 at 8:01AM


The times, they are a-changin'. Back in February, we found that LCD TV shipments had surpassed CRTs for the first time in history. Now, an iSuppli report on HDTV growth has shown that HDTVs overtook standard-definition televisions "as the leading TV shipped globally" in 2008. Sure, the current economic environment may put a damper on HDTV sales for the moment, but the previously mentioned research sees no sign of growth slowing in the long-term. In fact, it forecasts that HDTV unit shipments will surge to 241.2 million by 2012, up from 97.1 million units in 2007; in comparison, it reckons that just 23.1 million SDTVs will ship out in 2012. Oh, and if you're eager for even more smile-worthy news, the report also suggests that HD set-top-boxes will represent 50% of the overall STB market in under four years. Time will tell.

[Via InformationWeek, image courtesy of ThePoolSide]

Five shows we wish were SDTV

by Kevin C. Tofel posted Feb 2nd 2006 at 8:27AM

JoeyHey, it's a nice way of saying these shows don't merit an HD feed, OK? These five shows should just stop broadcasting in high-def and go back to standard definition television. If they stay in HD, we'll keep watching them because we'll take a bad HD show over a good SD any day. Check out the list and tell us which ones we missed.
  • "King of Queens": We think Kevin James is funny of course, but do we need to see him in HD? No, we don't think so.
  • "E.R".: It's actually a good show, not a great show like it was ten years ago, but a good show. The problem? After a long hard day of work, it's nice to sit and relax in front of the widescreen. E.R. is just too damn stressful!
  • "According to Jim": See "King of Queens" above for similar reasons. Besides, we're hearing that this one might be on it's last legs in SD or HD.
  • "American Idol": Not only do we have to see untalented knuckleheads that have no sense of reality, but we have to hear them is crystal clear Digital Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound too. Please, stop the music!
  • "Joey": If you don't even warrant your own show category on TV Squad, how can we possibly watch? We would have opted for a Chandler Bing spin-off instead.




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