New characters, bosses, battles, dress-up gear and tons more in 77 stunning new shots...

Firstly, the big news is the new male character Nooj. He's 21 years old (looks middle-aged to us) and is the leader of the Alliance Ajito. This group oppose the new teachings of Yevon (an old religion that lost faith when Sin was killed in FFX) and are seen as the new force in Spira. Nooj is described as cool and warm hearted - sounds like he's either a bit of a ladies man or a total twonk. Or, conceivably, both.

News source: Gamesradar

    New:
  • Support for interlaced video in the decoder. Preserving the interlaced fields of interlaced video may sometimes result in better video quality during playback.
  • New de-ringing post-processing algorithm. The new algorithm improves the perceived video quality during playback. It is activated when the post-processing level is set to Level 6.
  • Video Buffer Verifier (VBV) model (one and two pass encoding). The VBV ensures that the maximum peak bit rate never exceeds either the user's inputted "maximum peak" bit rate value or/and ensures that the encoded stream never violates the buffer of an MPEG-4 compliant decoder. This helps to prevent decoding failure in both hardware and software where memory may be limited yet compliant to the MPEG-4 standard as defined in ISO/IEC 14496-2:2001(E). In order for DivX video to be successfully delivered over a restricted channel in real time to a decoder, the encoder's rate control must ensure that the decoder's buffer is not violated. When this is done properly, then overflow and underflow will never occur and the encoder is said to be "VBV compliant." It makes no difference whether the video is encoded in 1-pass or many, in real-time or offline. It is the encoder's rate control that must ensure compliance. There are three main requirements of a VBV-compliant rate control algorithm, in order of importance:
    • VBV compliance. When VBV parameters are specified (size, initial occupancy, channel characteristics) the rate control should avoid producing video that is in danger of violating the decoder's buffer. Bitstream stuffing may be used in extreme cases to prevent overflow in true CBR systems. Underflow must be prevented by increasing frame quantiser or by dropping frames.
    • Target bitrate. We aim to meet the user's requirements as accurately as possible here. This is directly related to filesize.
    • Good-looking video. Rate control should aim to produce the subjectively best quality video given other constraints. Consistency is important here as changes in quality are very noticeable and video is often judged by the worse quality segment in the whole sequence.

  • Nth Pass™ encoding. Another new addition to the rate control arsenal, Nth Pass™ encoding takes advantage of information available from previous analysis (or analyses) of the video sequence. Nth Pass encoding uses information garnered from previous passes through the video sequence, which can improve quality with each pass. There are four main steps to Nth Pass encoding:
    • Analysis (the first pass)
    • Map generation (where the results of analyses are processed)
    • Strategy generation (strategist examines map of the video sequence and creates a strategy that will best achieve the three VBV RC requirements)
    • In-loop nth pass rate control (uses information from the map and strategy to effect rate control that best fulfills the three requirements)

  • Support for DivX Certified Profiles. With the new DivX Certification program, DivXNetworks is enabling third parties to create "DivX Certified" products that are rigorously tested and fully compatible with the entire suite of DivX® video technologies. There are four levels of official DivX Certified video products: Handheld Video Devices, Portable Video Devices, Home Theater Video Devices and High Definition Video Devices. These levels quickly and clearly communicate what type and size of DivX video are supported on the certified device. Now, when you encode video, you have the option to force your video to comply with one of the DivX Certified Profiles to ensure that your video will play back properly on certified products.
  • DivX Decoder verification logo. There is a new semi-transparent DivX Logo that will appear by default for a few seconds any time you use the DivX decoder to watch a DivX video. This instantly lets you know you're watching a true DivX® video. You can turn the display of the logo on or off in the codec properties dialog.
  • New internal application programming interface (API). The internal API of the codec was changed to better accommodate integration with third party partners. This only affects you if you are a DivX licensee and are working directly with the DivX object code. The external API (e.g., DirectShow, etc.) remains unchanged.
    Improved:
  • The motion estimation algorithm is better optimized for High Definition resolutions (up to 1080p, or 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution
  • The pre-processing performance is now improved with with the IYUY 4:2:0 color space
    Changed:
  • Removed MP4creator and the MPEG-4 file output option due to some compliance issues. This will return in our next release once these issues are resolved.
  • Removed the Intelligent IVTC functionality due to persistent problems caused by lack of variable frame rate file format support. This technology will be back soon in a new form...
  • Changed the block skipping threshold for high quantizers, which improves visual quality when high quantizers are used.
    Fixed:
  • Fixed a bunch of little cosmetic bugs in the DirectShow decoder properties page.
  • Fixed a bug where the last P frame before an I frame was not displayed when Smooth Playback was selected.
  • Fixed a practically unnoticeable YUV->RGB16 color conversion rounding bug.
  • Fixed a bug that was the cause of some of VirtualDub's "Cannot Start Video Compression" errors.
  • Fixed a few issues with DivX 3.11 compatibility.
  • Modified the decoder to deal with a bug in the old OpenDivX encoder that set the scalability bit incorrectly in certain cases. The DivX decoder can now detect this problem and play the content properly.
  • Fixed a problem where some rounding operations were not done toward zero, as is required by section 7.4 of the spec. This fixed an intra case in MPEG-2 inverse quantization.
  • Fixed a bug where some frames would be corrupted by an out-of-range error.
  • Fixed several rounding issues related to MMX/SSE/SSE2 optimizations.
  • Fixed an MMX bug in RGB32 color conversion.



There are 16 additional comments
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Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by SuperSaiyajin2Gogietto on 26 Jan 2003 - 08:38
must be a busy popular site. i tired going to it just 5 minutes after this was posted and says page can't be displyed becuase the server's too busy. gotta love the final fantasy crowd!
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by Prasanth on 26 Jan 2003 - 08:38
Link dosen't work here, redmak.
Quote this comment #2.1 Posted by Redmak on 26 Jan 2003 - 09:25
Works for me
Quote this comment #2.2 Posted by shafi on 26 Jan 2003 - 10:12
The page cannot be displayed There is a problem with the page you are trying to reach and it cannot be displayed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please try the following: Open the gamesradar.msn.co.uk home page, and then look for links to the information you want. Click the Refresh button, or try again later. HTTP Error 500-13 - Server too busy
Quote this comment #2.3 Posted by Redmak on 26 Jan 2003 - 10:23
Oh I believe that the link doesn't work for you guys but since it does work for me there's not much I can do
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by Pupik2k on 26 Jan 2003 - 10:06
WOW!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by altezza on 26 Jan 2003 - 14:27
Can't wait to get that game
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by Panorama on 26 Jan 2003 - 14:46
Must be right then, the site's overloaded... oh well. Can't wait for FF X-2!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by Solarix on 26 Jan 2003 - 15:22
ss' so tiny
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by Jstphish on 26 Jan 2003 - 15:59
Alternative: [url=http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=Final+Fantasy+X-2&btnG=Google+Search]Google Image search[/url] Another site: [url=http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=www.computergames.ro/assassin/images/finalfantasyx2/Final%2520Fantasy%2520X2-002a.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.computergames.ro/stiri.php%3Fsid%3D1677&h=150&w=200&prev=/images%3Fq%3DFinal%2BFantasy%2BX-2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG]here[/url]

Last edited by 11680 on 26 Jan 2003 - 16:07
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by Mystical112 on 26 Jan 2003 - 16:55
Nice...i got in jsut fine...
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #9 Posted by baumsquad on 26 Jan 2003 - 22:33
So, does the "Nooj" really like hunting? Specifically bow hunting? Is he a has been rock star? I guess it just seems odd.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #10 Posted by tengcm on 27 Jan 2003 - 11:40
Cool !
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #11 Posted by FreeWaRrior on 27 Jan 2003 - 23:41
its working now and they bottom screens ownz
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #12 Posted by BearOso on 28 Jan 2003 - 02:00
The dragon thing sure does look alot like Bahamut. That's especially likely because of his connection to Tidus. (If none of you noticed, the fayth in the first one who always followed Tidus around, the one who was Bahamut, was actually Tidus as a child, not to mention the recurring dragon logo )
Quote this comment #12.1 Posted by Kyzoku on 28 Jan 2003 - 03:20
Yeah, but in one of the shots it looks like it's propped up on something, maybe it's a mechanical Bahamut?
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