NUON

Overview

NUON was a failed attempt by Toshiba, Motorola, Samsung, and Raite Optoelectronics to add gaming, internet, and enhanced navigation to certain DVD players. NUON technology was developed by VM Labs Inc. as an attempt to turn passive digital video into an interactive experience. NUON DVD players were supposed to be the "all-in-one" digital media experience. Richard Miller, using experience gained developing Atari Jaguar hardware, created a powerful 128-bit processor to embed in DVD players. The NUON had the power to decode audio and video while providing and enhanced UI and trick-play modes. More importantly, it provided a platform for 3D digital interactive content straight from a DVD player. NUON technology was only added to a handful of DVD players and support for the platform was abysmal. VM Labs filed for bankruptcy in 2001, just one year after the release of the NUON. VM Labs sold the NUON technology to Genesis Microchip, where development ceased after July 2002.

Hardware

At the core of the NUON is the Aries 3 chip, which was based on a 128-bit, 4 way parallel VLIW processor architecture. It manages the CPU, decodes audio and video, and preforms all system management. A hardware block on the chip assisted with MPEG video decoding so the Aries 3 was free to process other instructions. The chip was very powerful for it's time.

Features of the Aries 3:

MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 audio/video decoding
5.1 channel Dolby Digital audio decoding
Extended DVD trick modes
32-voice wave table synthesizer
MP3 audio decoding
Content Scrambling System descrambling module
Video Scaling
3D video gaming

The first DVD player to use NUON technology was the Toshiba SD-2300. The technology in the few available NUON DVD players raised the price around $100 over comparable players. The choice to market games to the movie audience ultimately ended up being a mistake. Sales were very poor, and support was absolutely terrible. The first NUON enhanced DVD was the software/movie Bedazzled by Fox Home Video. Just about every other publisher waited on the technology and support never truly came to the device. With the PlayStation 2's release imminent as a game console that plays DVDs rather than a DVD player that plays games, the chances of success for the NUON had gone. The public opted for the game console that was cheaper and had much better support for games.

The NUON had a variety of controllers, one popular standard one being white in color with a D-pad with 4 buttons. The stealth gamepad is 3-pronged controller with a mini analog stick, a D-pad, and a trigger button. It is designed very similarly to the Nintendo 64's controller. A memory unit was planned for Q1 2002 release for the NUON in sizes ranging from 2MB to 4MB, but was canceled. Many games used passwords to make up for the lack of a released memory card.

Software

Only eight games were ever released for NUON. The graphics are comparable to early PlayStation 2 games, and are most notable in Iron Soldier 3, a mech combat game. The best game is generally regarded to be Tempest 3000 (many sources consider it the only truly playable game) and it's valued at much more than the other NUON games. Games were controlled via a proprietary controller. Depending on the model, there could be one or two controller ports.

Homebrew

The NUON homebrew community was more active than the commercial community. In late 2001, VM Labs released a homebrew SDK so developers could put out their own homebrew NUON software, even as the platform died and faded into obscurity. Homebrew games are simply burned to CD-Rs

List of models that can play NUON homebrew

Samsung DVD-N501
Samsung DVDN504
Samsung DVDN505
RCA DRC300N
RCA DRC480N

The RCA models cannot play commercial NUON games.

List of NUON homebrew

Ambient Monsters
Atari / C64 Video Game Music Player
Atari 800 Emulator
Atari 2600 PacMan (Hacked version of Chomp)
BOMB
Breakout
Chomp (Sample game included with the second NUON SDK)
Decaying Orbit
Doom Shareware
Pac-Man - Tournament Edition (Hacked version of Chomp)
SameGame - Colors
SameGame - Shapes
Sheshell's Sea Adventure
Snake
Synth Demo
Yaroze Classics (Katapila, Invs and BreakDown)

Name	Platforms	Developer
Space Invaders XL	NUON
Merlin Racing	NUON	Miracle Designs
Iron Soldier 3	NUON	Eclipse Software
Freefall 3050 A.D.	NUON
Crayon Shin-Chan	NUON
Tempest 3000 released on Nov. 28, 2000	NUON	Hasbro Interactive, Inc.
The Next Tetris released on May 31, 1999	PS1, PC, NUON	Blue Planet Software, Inc.
Ballistic	PS1, GBC, NUON, ARC	Mitchell Corporation

Platform Name:	NUON
Release Date:	March 9, 1999
Online Support:	False
Install Base:	0
Original Price:	$0
Producing Company:	VMI
Aliases
Total Games:	8 games

	High Score first in Space Invaders	3
	Tie-In first in Fonz	1
	2D first in Tennis for Two	1
	Leaderboard first in Space Invaders	1
	Combo first in Shanghai Kid	1
	Difficulty Level first in Speed Race	1
	Level Selection first in Tempest	1
	Vector Graphics first in	1
	Explosion first in Speed Race	1
	TV Tie-In first in Fonz	1

	L-Block first in Tetris	1
	Blocks first in Tetris	1
	Tetromino first in	1
	Missile first in Space Invaders	1