CRI Middleware Co., Ltd. (formerly CSK Research Institute Corp.) is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese developer providing middleware

Middleware

Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...

 for use in the computer and video game industry. From the early nineties, CRI was a video game developer, but shifted focus in 2001. Their customers have included high-profile clients such as Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

, Nintendo

Nintendo

is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

, Atlus

Atlus

is a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...

, Konami

Konami

is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...

, Namco Bandai Games

Namco Bandai Games

is an arcade, mobile and home video game developer and publisher based in Japan which is the product of a merger between the video game development divisions of Bandai and Namco. Namco Bandai Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings and specializes in production and sales of...

, Sega

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

, Capcom

Capcom

is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...

, and Square Enix

Square Enix

is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...

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History

CRI started out as CSK Research Institute, subsidiary of CSK, producing video games for the Mega Drive/Sega Genesis. It went on to develop games for the Sega Saturn

Sega Saturn

The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...

 and Dreamcast before it was incorporated as CRI Middleware in 2001.

Developed

Name	Platform(s)	Release date(s)
Galaxy Force II	Mega Drive/Genesis	1991
Dyna Brothers	Mega Drive/Genesis	1992
After Burner III After Burner III After Burner III is a video game released on the Sega Mega-CD in Europe, Japan and North America . It is the third game in the After Burner series, and a port of Strike Fighter, a game released for Japanese arcades. The game again has the player flying the F-14 Tomcat, with the same weapons as before...	Mega-CD	1993
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra is the third game in the role-playing game series Might and Magic. Released in 1991, it is the predecessor to Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen and the sequel to Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World....	Mega-CD	1993
Dyna Brothers 2	Mega Drive/Genesis	1993
2nd Arukotoha Sando-R	Sega Saturn Sega Saturn The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...	1996
Cyber Troopers: Virtual On	Sega Saturn	1996
Kunoichi Torimonochou	Sega Saturn	1998
AeroWings AeroWings AeroWings is a flight simulator for Sega's Dreamcast video game console. The player could train with squads, learn the ropes of handling the aircraft, and doing tricks after mastering the different stunts....	Dreamcast	1999
TNN Motorsports HardCore Heat TNN Motorsports Hardcore Heat TNN Motorsports Hardcore Heat is an off-road racing video game for the Dreamcast, developed by CRI and published in the USA by ASC Games.-Reception:...	Dreamcast	1999
Aero Dancing: Torodoki Taichou no Himitsu Disc Aero Dancing AeroWings is a flight simulator series for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 consoles and the Windows operating system.-Introduction:Aerowings/Aero dancing is considered by the fans as the first true attempt of combat flight simulation on console...	Dreamcast	2000
AeroWings 2: Air Strike	Dreamcast	2000
Aero Dancing F: Todoroki Tsubasa no Hatsu Hikou	Dreamcast	2000
Aero Dancing i: Jikai Sakuma de Machite Mase	Dreamcast	2001
Surf Rocket Racers	Dreamcast	2001
Power Jet Racing 2001	Dreamcast	2001

Published

Name	Platform(s)	Release date(s)
Speedball 2	Mega Drive/Genesis	1992
Tyrants	Mega Drive/Genesis	1993

Criware

These products and services are now offered by CRI under the collective name of "CRIWARE".

ADX

ADX is a streamed audio format

File format

A file format is a particular way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file.Since a disk drive, or indeed any computer storage, can store only bits, the computer must have some way of converting information to 0s and 1s and vice-versa. There are different kinds of formats for...

 which allows for multiple audio streams, seamless looping and continuous playback (allowing two or more files to be crossfaded or played in sequence) with low, predictable CPU

Central processing unit

The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

 usage. The format uses the ADPCM framework. It is now known as CRI ADX.

Sofdec

Sofdec is a streamed video format supporting up to 24bit color which includes multistreaming and seamless playback with a frame rate

Frame rate

Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...

 of up to 60 frames per second. It is essentially a repackaging of MPEG-1

MPEG-1

MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.Today, MPEG-1 has become...

/MPEG-2

MPEG-2

MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...

 video with CRI's proprietary ADX

ADX (file format)

ADX is a lossy proprietary audio storage and compression format developed by CRI Middleware specifically for use in video games, it is derived from ADPCM. Its most notable feature is a looping function that has proved useful for background music in various games that have adopted the format,...

 codec for audio playback. It is now known as CRI Sofdec.

Clipper

Clipper is an automated lip-syncing program which analyzes waveforms and outputs an appropriate lip pattern into a text file, for later substitution into the facial animations of the (in-game) speaker. It is now known as CRI Clipper.

ROFS

ROFS is a file management system for handling a virtual

Virtual

The term virtual is a concept applied in many fields with somewhat differing connotations, and also, differing denotations.The term has been defined in philosophy as "that which is not real" but may display the salient qualities of the real....

 disc image, an extension of the CD-ROM

CD-ROM

A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....

 standard. It has no limitations on file name format, or number of directories or files, and has been designed with compatibility with ADX and Sofdec in mind. It is now known as CRI ROFS.

Sound Factory

Sound Factory is a GUI

Gui

Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...

-based video game audio tool for effective sound design without input from programmers. It has support for the previewing and playback of generated audio. It is now known as CRI Sound Factory.

Movie Encode

Movie Encode is a video encoding service by which CRI generates Sofdec or MPEG files from other media. For a fee (designated by the length of the file to be encoded), files are converted to the desired format with the quality specified by the client. It is now known as CRI Movie Encode.

CRI FileMajik

CRI FileMajik - file system with features such as: asynchronous file requests, prioritized loads, zero-buffer decompression and UMD

Universal Media Disc

The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform...

 speed emulation for the PSP

PSP

PSP most commonly refers to the PlayStation Portable, a handheld game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment.PSP may also refer to:-Computing and programming:*Corel Paint Shop Pro, a graphics editor...

.

External links

• CRI Middleware Co., Ltd.
• CRI Middleware, Inc.
• Comprehensive list of games using CRI Middleware
• CRI company page at GameFAQs
  GameFAQs
  GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...