Is the world ready for 6-core computing? With the Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, Intel says yes. The CPU features a 3.33GHz clock speed and 12MB of cac... [+](Comments)
From Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games comes Supreme Commander 2. The original was highly praised for its deep RTS elements, but it was known for bei... [+](Comments)
Touting support for their upcoming 6-core Phenom II X6 CPUs and featuring a brand new SB850 South Bridge, the 890GX chipset is AMD's IGP for the perfo... [+](Comments)
Earlier this week, Vandy discussed Bad Company 2's single-player campaign, and in today's article he tackles multi. Does Bad Company 2 deliver the goo... [+](Comments)
Based on the same Cypress GPU found in the 5870, the Radeon 5830 shares the key features found in ATI's flagship DX11 offering, only with a more affor... [+](Comments)
Vandy's been busily taking out bad guys in DICE's latest shooter, Bad Company 2. The game has been pitched to gamers disappointed with Modern Warfare ... [+](Comments)
With vapor chamber cooling and heatpipes, Sapphire's 5850 Toxic ships with cooling that blows the Radeon 5850 reference design out of the water. But i... [+](Comments)
Play as the Alien, Predator, or Marine in Rebellion's latest shooter. AvP brings the classic gameplay from the original into 2010, but is it as fun as... [+](Comments)
The Radeon 5570 fuses ATI's 400-shader Redwood graphics core with a low-profile board design, giving you the guts of the 5670 in a package that's simi... [+](Comments)
Ready to return to Rapture? Set 10 years after the original BioShock, 2K Marin's sequel puts you in the boots of a Big Daddy. But is 2K's latest tale ... [+](Comments)
With prices ranging from $49-$59, ATI's Radeon 5450 brings DX11 and Eyefinity to the entry-level price bracket for the first time. But how does it per... [+](Comments)
BioWare's latest chapter in the Mass Effect series has earned overwhelmingly positive praise on consoles, but is the game still enjoyable on the PC? F... [+](Comments)
Ready to pull the trigger on a new budget CPU? If so, you'll be glad you waited, as today AMD's providing a free 100MHz speed bump on their latest dua... [+](Comments)
Because multiple blockbuster games were pushed back from Q4'09 to 2010, the next few months should be pretty busy for gamers. Games like Splinter Cell... [+](Comments)
Browse thousands of products to read user reviews and other sites' reviews, discuss, or post your own user reviews. Here are the Editor's Picks: » HARDWARE PRODUCTS
Today AMD has released Catalyst 10.3 preview drivers for desktop and mobile GPUs dating all the way back to the Mobility Radeon 2000 series. The new preview driver promises performance improvements for Radeon 5000 series and 4800 seres GPUs in a wide range of games, as well as adding a slew of new features:
Key new features in ATI Catalyst™ 10.3:
ATI Catalyst™ Mobility - monthly updates for the mobile crowd
ATI Eyefinity Technology Bezel Correction - compensate for your bezels so objects in your game move from one display to the other smoothly
ATI Eyefinity Technology Per Display Control - adjust for differences in each individual displays brightness, color and contrast
ATI Eyefinity Technology Multiple Display Groups - more display groups to give further control of your desktop with three displays or more connected
ATI Eyefinity Technology Display Configuration Switching - easily switch from one display mode to another
3D Stereoscopic 3D driver hooks - enables 3rd party middleware vendors to bring more 3D stereoscopic gaming options
Performance Improvements: 3DMark Vantage
Overall scores increase by up to 8% with ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics products
Overall scores increase by up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products and up to 3% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series products
Aliens vs. Predator
Overall performance increases 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series products
Battleforge
Improves up to 8% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series products
Improves up to 3% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Call of Duty: World at War
Improves up to 2% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
Improves up to 6% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Company of Heroes
Improves up to 6% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series products
Improves up to 3% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Crysis and Crysis Warhead
Improves up to 6% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series products
Improves up to 2% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Devil May Cry 4
Improves up to 10% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series products
Improves up to 6% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
DiRT 2
Improves up to 30% on ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics products
Improves up to 20% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series and ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series products
Improves up to 10% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Improves up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
Improves up to 3% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series products
Improves up to 2% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Far Cry 2
Improves up to 6% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series products
Improves up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2
Improves up to 3% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Call of Pripyat Benchmark
Improves up to 10% with Anti-Aliasing enabled on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series products
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Clear Sky
Improves up to 2% with ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics products
Improves up to 2% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
Resident Evil 5
Improves up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series products
Improves up to 3% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.
Improves up to 15% with ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics products
Improves up to 20% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products and ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series products
Improves up to 3% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Unigine Tropics
Improves up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series products
World in Conflict
Improves up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
Improves up to 3% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series products
Improves up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Wolfenstein
Improves up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series products
Improves up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series products
Note: This list is not exhaustive and more improvements are possible
Windows XP users will have to wait for the official Catalyst 10.3 WHQL-certified driver, which is expected to hit amd.com on March 24th. AMD says that today's 10.3a preview driver contains Eyefinty 6 updates and an Alien vs. Predator optimization which the Catalyst 10.3 WHQL driver will not have.
Planning to build the ultimate workstation PC? If so, you may want to check out EVGA's Classified SR-2 motherboard. With dual LGA-1366 sockets, the mobo is ready for two of Intel's latest 6-core Xeon 5670 CPUs, and with 12 DIMMs onboard, the Classified SR-2 can be outfitted with up to 48GB of system memory.
For graphics duties, EVGA's Classified SR-2 sports 7 PCI Express graphics slots, with dual NF200 chips providing all the PCIe lanes you'll need for 4-Way SLI or CrossFire. The board also supports USB 3.0 and 6Gbps SATA along with dual Gigabit Ethernet and 7.1-channel audio.
All this power comes at a cost though: $600. And your case will need to be large enough to house the board's HPTX 15"x13.6" form factor. EVGA will also be offering a 1200W SR-2 power supply capable of supplying up to 1500W peak power.
EVGA's still putting the finishing touches on the PSU though.
NVIDIA released new beta ForceWare drivers this morning. ForceWare 197.13 appears to contain the performance enhancements found in the recalled 196.75 driver, as well as adding support for new GeForce GPUs:
This is a WHQL-candidate driver for GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, and 300-series desktop GPUs and ION desktop GPUs.
This driver resolves fan speed issues reported with version 196.75 drivers. NVIDIA asks that you remove 196.75 drivers and update to either 196.21 WHQL drivers or to this 197.13 WHQL-candidate driver.
New in Version 197.13
Adds support for Next Generation ION.
Adds support for GeForce GT 320, GeForce GT 330, and GeForce GT 340.
Upgrades PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0129.
Upgrades HD Audio driver to version 1.0.9.1 (for supported GPUs).
Increases performance in several PC games from v196.21 WHQL. The following are examples of measured improvements. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:
Up to 13% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with a single GPU
Up to 30% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with SLI technology
Up to 13% performance increase in H.A.W.X with single GPU
Up to 15% performance increase in H.A.W.X with SLI technology
Up to 30% performance increase in Left 4 Dead with single GPU
Up to 28% performance increase in Left 4 Dead with SLI technology
Adds SLI and multi-GPU support for top new gaming titles including Assassin Creed II, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Command and Conquer 4: Tiberium Twilight, Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City, Mass Effect 2, Napoleon: Total War, and Zombie Driver.
Enhanced SLI support for Metro 2033, Supreme Commander 2, Unigine, and World of Warcraft.
Adds Ambient Occlusion support for Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Need for Speed: Shift, Resident Evil 5, RUSE, and Street Fighter IV.
Adds override anti-aliasing support for Mass Effect 2.
Includes numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release notes on the documentation tab for information about the key bug fixes in this release.
Microsoft has just released an early version of Internet Explorer 9 to the public. This preview build doesn't include the user interface that will be found in IE9, but it does include the browser's new Javascript engine, as well as HTML5/CSS3 support. The IE9 preview build can be found at ietestdrive.com
As you'd expect, NVIDIA is pretty happy with IE9's support for GPU acceleration, and has blogged about it on their nTersect blog. Here's a clip:
Today, with introduction of Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft gives us another milestone for visual computing. Internet Explorer 9 includes a new JavaScript engine, support for HTML5 and hardware accelerated graphics and text. Internet Explorer 9 is the first browser designed to take advantage of modern hardware, resulting in graphics and performance improvements throughout the browser including the first to deliver hardware accelerated scalable vector graphics( SVG); the first to enhance JavaScript engine performance with the benefit of shifting from the CPU to the GPU; and the first to deliver GPU-Powered HTML5.
There is a global movement underway to enhance the visual computing experience in every type of device. Internet Explorer 9 and its GPU hardware acceleration will kick that in to overdrive. It is truly a killer app for visual computing. It is a huge proof point for the optimized PC concept.
To get the best experience with today’s visual computing applications you need to make sure your PC has the right mix of CPU/GPU horsepower. Whether you’re using the latest operating systems, viewing or editing photos, finding directions, playing a game, or watching a Blu-ray movie, a balanced PC with an NVIDIA GeForce GPU yields the best experience…. even if you are just surfing the net.
According to Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, leaving Blu-ray out of the Xbox 360 has been one of the keys to the console's success. The way Greenberg sees it, this has allowed them to price the 360 for substantially less than PS3. Greenberg tells Edge magazine: "Sony bet on the physical disc, and there are costs associated with that, the fact that we're able to offer a console starting at $199 is a benefit of not being burdened with that cost."
He then said: "For us, our bet was on digital distribution, that was the future - the ability to [play] 1080p movies with no disc, no download required; we have the largest movie and TV library, the largest HD library of any console."
Skipping the high-def format war definitely helped Microsoft keep the 360's price point down. Greenberg doesn't mention it, but skipping HD-DVD and Blu-ray helped them get Xbox 360 out the door ahead of Sony as well.
EA has announced that the closed beta for their massively multiplayer online racer, Need for Speed World, has begun:
Black Box, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced that the closed beta for Need for Speed™ World, the massively multiplayer online action racing game has begun. Over the course of the next few months, thousands of players worldwide will have the opportunity to claim one of the limited slots in the PC beta test by enlisting at world.needforspeed.com. Need for Speed World testers will be the first in the world to get an insider’s look at this hotly anticipated racing MMO, and their constructive feedback will go straight back to the development team to help add polish, finesse and tuning to the final product.
“Need for Speed World is the world’s first MMO racer – a completely new entertainment experience for speed junkies all over the world,” said John Doyle, Need for Speed World Senior Producer. “We have expanded Need for Speed’s classic adrenaline fueled racing with an all-new power up system and deep RPG style progression to create a truly massive, socially-connected white-knuckle Need for Speed experience.”
Need for Speed World brings together best in class action racing with an unparalleled social experience. For the first time in a racing game, players will be able to compete against any one of their friends, family or pick from thousands of top ranked players to challenge in intense online battles and police pursuits across 150 miles of sprawling open world. Need for Speed World takes the well known and popular cities from Need for Speed Most Wanted and Need for Speed Carbon to create the biggest, most exciting race world ever released in the Need for Speed universe.
Need for Speed World will be available this summer on the PC. More information and details on the beta test can be found at world.needforspeed.com or follow us on Twitter at NeedforSpeed.
Island After:These two images show the dramatically enhanced details provided by DirectX 11 tessellation. The before view shows the minimal level of detail included in the actual simulation; the after view shows how DirectX 11 tessellation adds millions of triangles to make the simulation come to life with photorealistic water and non-repeating waves.
Island Before
Hair has been one of the most challenging objects to create in video games, due to the computational complexity of realistically rendering thousands of individual strands as they interact with light and each other. In this DirectX 11 technology simulation created by NVIDIA, long flowing hair is rendered in amazing detail with realistic physics properties in real time.
NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTX 480 was live and in the flesh at GDC last week. The company was demonstrating the technology to game developers at the show, with three tech demos being showcased. We've got the screenshots and descriptions in our media gallery, and here's the statement NVIDIA passed along with the shots:
NVIDIA is showing its next generation DirectX 11 graphics simulations at the Game Developers Conference this week in San Francisco. The new simulations include beautifully rendered hair and an island simulation with sunlight reflecting on photorealistic waves.
In the DirectX 11 hair demonstration, long flowing hair is realistically simulated, created and rendered on the GeForce GTX 480 using its unique parallel tessellation engines. By moving the model and applying a simulated breeze, the hair billows and cascades naturally with accurate physical properties. The demo shows how realistic hair will soon be possible in computer games.
Our DirectX 11 “Island” demo depicts a large scene that includes terrain and water with realistic, physically simulated waves. The terrain uses DirectX 11 tessellation and supports both static and dynamic tessellation. Very little data is sent to the GPU—with default settings the GPU creates 11 million primitives out of 20,000 that it gets from the application. At maximum tessellation settings the simulation can draw nearly 1.6 billion triangles per second. The demo runs at over 40 frames per second on NVIDIA’s next-generation GeForce GTX 480 GPU.
The grass demonstration portrays up to 3.5 million blades of grass billowing and waving in the wind. Simulations like this put NVIDIA’s next-generation GPU to the test as it renders up to 48 million triangles in a single frame. This simulation also uses DirectX 11 tessellation to deliver more detail when viewing the grass up close.
These simulations illustrate the kind of scenes that can be depicted using the highly scalable tessellation engines in GeForce GTX 480. With NVIDIA’s newest GPU, game developers can incorporate an extraordinary level of geometric detail in their upcoming games.
NVIDIA announces 3DTV Play, it's a software-based solution that allows you to connect your GeForce-based desktop or notebook to your brand new 3D TV for gaming on the big-screen:
NVIDIA today announced NVIDIA® 3DTV Play™ software technology that allows consumers to connect their GeForce® GPU-powered desktop or notebook computer to new 3D TVs, for the ultimate in big screen 3D gaming action. For the launch of 3DTV Play, NVIDIA is teaming up with Panasonic on its coast-to-coast 2010 "Panasonic Touch the Future Tour," where consumers can test drive 3DTV Play-based PCs running on the new Panasonic® VIERA® Full HD 3D TVs, that just launched this month.
3DTV Play software lets you connect any compatible NVIDIA GeForce GPU-powered PC or notebook to 3D TVs for the ultimate, high-definition, big-screen, 3D entertainment experience. By leveraging the processing power of NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, 3DTV Play software delivers the best the PC has to offer: play hundreds of standard PC games in stunning 3D environments such as World of Warcraft - Wrath of the Lich King, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and James Cameron's Avatar™: The Game. You can also watch upcoming Blu-ray 3D™ Hollywood blockbusters, view digital 3D photographs, and even watch streaming 3D movies for the ultimate viewing party. The active-shutter glasses bundled with each VIERA full HD 3D TV sold work seamlessly with NVIDIA GPUs and off-the-shelf PC gaming titles and other 3D entertainment content.
Facts about NVIDIA 3DTV Play:
Can be run on GeForce GPU-based desktop or notebook PCs equipped with an HDMI or DVI connector
Full support for all HDMI 1.4-compatible 3D TVs, including Panasonic VIERA Plasma full HD 3D TVs
Enables 1080p24, 720p60, and 720p50 3D formats
Supports any type of 3D TV including active-shutter TV glasses or passive polarized glasses
Advanced NVIDIA software and graphics drivers automatically convert more than 400 games to stereoscopic 3D in real time, without the need for special patches.
Enjoy full HD Blu-ray 3D playback with real-time GPU accelerated decoding and playback on GeForce GPUs(1)
Watch streaming 3D movies
View 3D photographs directly on the 3D TV
NVIDIA 3DTV Play software will be available later this spring and sold separately with an anticipated U.S. MSRP of $39.99. It will also be available for free for current NVIDIA 3D Vision™ customers.
Quotes:
"NVIDIA is a premier choice for gamers, and 3D Vision TV delivers an easy way for them to game on the big screen, for the ultimate, immersive experience," said Bob Perry, Senior Vice President, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. "We're pleased that NVIDIA shares our commitment to providing awesome technology to savvy consumers, and we are happy to offer NVIDIA the opportunity to highlight their 3D solution as part of our nationwide road show."
"NVIDIA is all about raising the bar of PC gaming, and gamers are going to love playing in 3D on one of the new Panasonic VIERA 50-inch full HD 3D TVs," said Phil Eisler, general manager of 3D Vision technology at NVIDIA. "This is truly one of those 'must experience to believe it' moments, and we are ecstatic that consumers will have the chance to try it for themselves on any of our 15 stops across the US."
According to industry research firm NPD, Microsoft's Xbox 360 took home the #1 spot in console sales last month. This marks the first month the 360 has outsold the Wii since Halo 3 debuted in 2007. PS3 sales were also strong, although they still fell behind Wii, which is suffering from supply issues at the moment in multiple areas of the country.
Console sales for Feb 2010:
1. Nintendo DS: 613.2K units
2. Xbox 360: 422.0K units
3. Wii: 397.9K units
4. PlayStation 3: 360.1K units
5. PSP: 133.4K units
6. PlayStation 2: 101.9K units
On the software side sales came in at $624.4 million, that's a decline of 15% from last year. Overall retail sales in the U.S. video game market were also down 15%, falling to $1.26 billion (from $1.48 billion).
Video game sales for Feb 2010:
1. BioShock 2 (Take-Two, Xbox 360): 562.9K units
2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo, Wii) 555.6K units
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Xbox 360) 314.3K units
4. Just Dance (Ubisoft, Wii) 275.4K units
5. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii) 272.5K units
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, PS3) 252.8K units
7. Mass Effect 2 (EA, Xbox 360) 246.5K units
8. Dante's Inferno: Divine Edition (EA, PS3) 242.5K units
9. Dante's Inferno (EA, Xbox 360) 224.7K units
10. Heavy Rain (Sony, PS3) 219.3K units
From Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games comes Supreme Commander 2. The original was highly praised for its deep RTS elements, but it was known for being system-intensive and didn't have the easiest learning curve for gamers new to the RTS scene. To widen the game's audience, GPG has implemented numerous changes with Supreme Commander 2 -- do these tweaks compromise the experience though? Read Vandy's take inside!
Khronos Group announces the release of the OpenGL 4.0 specifications at GDC:
The OpenGL 4.0 specification has been defined by the OpenGL ARB (Architecture Review Board) working group at Khronos, and includes the GLSL 4.00 update to the OpenGL Shading language in order to enable developers to access the latest generation of GPU acceleration with significantly enhanced graphics quality, acceleration performance and programming flexibility. This new release continues the rapid evolution of the royalty-free OpenGL standard to enable graphics developers to portably access cutting-edge GPU functionality across diverse operating systems and platforms. The full specification is available for immediate download at http://www.opengl.org/registry .
OpenGL 4.0 further improves the close interoperability with OpenCL™ for accelerating computationally intensive visual applications. OpenGL 4.0 also continues support for both the Core and Compatibility profiles first introduced with OpenGL 3.2, enabling developers to use a streamlined API or retain backwards compatibility for existing OpenGL code, depending on their market needs.
OpenGL 4.0 has been specifically designed to bring significant benefits to application developers, including:
two new shader stages that enable the GPU to offload geometry tessellation from the CPU;
per-sample fragment shaders and programmable fragment shader input positions for increased rendering quality and anti-aliasing flexibility;
drawing of data generated by OpenGL, or external APIs such as OpenCL, without CPU intervention;
shader subroutines for significantly increased programming flexibility;
separation of texture state and texture data through the addition of a new object type called sampler objects;
64-bit double precision floating point shader operations and inputs/outputs for increased rendering accuracy and quality;
performance improvements, including instanced geometry shaders, instanced arrays, and a new timer query.
Lastly, Khronos has simultaneously released an OpenGL 3.3 specification, together with a set of ARB extensions, to enable as much OpenGL 4.0 functionality as possible on previous generation GPU hardware; providing maximum flexibility and platform coverage for application developers. The full OpenGL 3.3 specification is also available for immediate download at http://www.opengl.org/registry
Okay, this only applies to those of you who have purchased Optimus-enabled notebooks, which is probably going to be a pretty slim percentage considering there are only a couple of notebooks that use Optimus today (more coming soon obviously). NVIDIA has issued new Optimus drivers (version 189.42) that fix an incompatibility with Intel's latest IGP drivers. Apparently Intel's newest (March) IGP driver is not compatible with Optimus, which is why NVIDIA has issued the new driver. Here's what NVIDIA says on the topic:
Intel’s latest (March) IGP driver is not compatible with Optimus. NVIDIA has a driver fix which is being posted today for anyone who wants to use Intel’s latest driver. Previous Intel drivers work fine. We are working with Intel to ensure this issue does not happen again. In addition to the Intel driver solution, this new NVIDIA Optimus driver includes improved merging of Optimus profiles and additional performance enhancements.
We recommend all Optimus users move to this driver immediately. Grab the new driver here:
While UE3 titles like Batman: Arkham Asylum and Dark Void have already been released, today Epic and NVIDIA announced that an upcoming build of the engine will have native 3D Vision support:
NVIDIA and Epic Games, Inc. today announced the addition of NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ technology support to Unreal Engine 3. Today’s announcement means that licensees of the world’s most successful game engine will be able to take full advantage of integrated 3D Vision™ technology support and offer an unprecedented level of immersion in their upcoming games. Epic’s popular Unreal Development Kit (UDK), a free version of Unreal Engine 3, will also benefit from the addition of 3D Vision support, bringing a theater-quality 3D development platform to the more than 200,000 current users worldwide.
“Having the number one 3D engine on the planet embrace 3D Vision is fantastic news for UE3 licensees, UDK users and gamers,” says Tony Tamasi, vice president of content and technology at NVIDIA. “It’s now easier than ever to add state-of-the-art stereoscopic 3D effects to your Unreal Engine 3-based creations.”
“The combination of Unreal Engine 3 and 3D Vision makes already amazing games even more jaw dropping,” said Mark Rein, vice president at Epic Games. “If you haven’t seen Unreal Engine 3 in 3D, you won’t believe how realistic it is! We’re excited to offer this technology for free to our licensees and can’t wait to see what people create with it.”
Facts about NVIDIA® 3D Vision and Unreal Engine 3:
Epic Games and NVIDIA have worked together to integrate “out of the box” support for NVIDIA® 3D Vision technology into Unreal Engine 3.
Unreal Engine 3 is the engine that powers some of the most successful games in the marketplace including: Gears of War and Gears of War 2, Shadow Complex, BioShock 2, Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, Borderlands and Batman: Arkham Asylum.
The updated version of Unreal Engine 3 and UDK will be available in the near future for all licensees allowing games developed with that revision (or later) to deliver “out of the box” support for 3D vision.
3D Vision is the world’s leading consumer 3D solution and supports PC gaming, photographs, videos, Blu-ray 3D, and 3D Web browsing.
3D Vision consists of wireless, active-shutter glasses and wireless USB emitter and can work with compatible 120Hz desktop LCDs, 3D TVs and projectors. A NVIDIA GeForce® 8800 GTX or higher GPU is also required.
While taking obvious jabs at Infinity Ward's map pack announcement yesterday for Modern Warfare 2, DICE announces that their own map pack release for Bad Company 2 will be coming on the same day, and will be 100% free:
How to avoid “mapathy” without paying!
While the core of the dev team here at DICE as well as all the back-end teams at EA are 110% focused on stabilizing the game experience we do have some other, great news to reveal. Today we’re happy to announce the release date of the second VIP map package for Battlefield: Bad Company 2! It will be made available on the 30th of March on all platforms at no extra cost to all of you who’ve got your VIP codes entered in the game. VIP Map Pack 2 contains the following:
Arica Harbor Conquest mode - US Command launches a break through action directly at the Russian base. Collateral damage is of no consequence. Capture and secure tactical positions in Conquest Mode across the vast Arica Harbor map.
Laguna Presa Rush mode - The valley and surrounding mountains possess a strategic value in the battle for South America, and an infantry assault supported by light armor vehicles is likely by both armies as US forces defend the nearby Dam.
VIP members will be able to expand on the deep and ever changing sandbox experience, which in itself provides near endless hours of entertainment, by having new content to keep things fresh. It also plays a vital part in making sure you, the players get proper value for the money you’ve invested in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. This is why these map packs are available at no extra cost, contradicting the industry standard and what our direct competitors are doing. Of course, it also helps avoid segmenting the community, making sure everyone can play together having the same maps available. There will be future paid downloadable content as well but these packs will focus on expanding other parts of the game experience rather than the selection of maps available for the basic game modes. We’re dedicated to taking care of this product for a long time – helping you avoid “mapathy” without getting nickel-and-dimed.
Finally, a big shout-out to all the fans that are playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at the moment. We can see from the logs that you’re spending some crazy hours on the Battlefield – in only the last 24 hours you all logged more than 2.5 million game hours. Impressive!
After successfully doing this last year with the original Monkey Island, today LucasArts announces they're now remaking Monkey Island 2 with updated graphics:
LucasArts today announced that everyone’s favorite pirate, Guybrush Threepwood, is heading back to the Caribbean in Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge. Coming this summer for Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system on the PlayStation Network, iPhone, iPod Touch and Windows PC, the new game follows on the success of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition and adds exciting new gameplay features to make this the most complete Monkey Island experience yet.
Having defeated the evil ghost pirate LeChuck in his first adventure, pirate extraordinaire Guybrush Threepwood sets his sights on the treasure of Big Whoop. Legendary treasures however, come with legendary challenges and Guybrush will have to use his wits and humor to prove himself the greatest pirate in the Caribbean. Voodoo dolls, spitting contests and amusement parks are just some of the challenges Guybrush must overcome as he meets old friends, fights familiar enemies and uses every single ounce of his wits to become the most celebrated pirate ever.
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge expands on the highly successful The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition. Signature special edition features including high-definition graphics, a re-mastered musical score, full voiceover, and an in-depth hint system all return in the sequel. Plus, experience all new unique special edition features that let you interact with the world of Monkey Island like never before.
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge will allow for direct control of Guybrush, allowing players to forego the old point-and-click system of navigation if they choose, and will include an interactive object hint system that can be used to highlight objects of interest in the environment. Pirate historians will “arr” with delight with in-game audio commentary from the game’s creators as they share their thoughts and memories about the making of the game. Players will also be able to get a glimpse of yesteryear with an in-game art viewer offering up classic glimpses of select areas of the game.
“The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition really resonated with gamers young and old thanks to its classic storyline and updated gameplay features,” said LucasArts’ President Darrell Rodriguez. “We’re adding even more great new features in this sequel and can’t wait for classic Monkey Island fans and newcomers alike to experience perhaps the most beloved installment in the franchise ever.”
LucasArts also announced today that their critically acclaimed The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition will soon be available for digital download on the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system via the PlayStation Network, for the Mac from Aspyr, and for the PC via the Telltale Games online store and Instant Action.
At their GDC press conference at last night Sony announced the name for their upcoming motion controller: Playstation Move:
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced that PlayStation®Move motion controller for PlayStation®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system launches worldwide this fall, offering a motion-based, high-definition gaming experience unlike anything on the market. Concurrently with its launch, SCE will also release PlayStation®Move sub-controller to be used along with the motion controller for intuitive navigation of in-game characters and objects. The PlayStation Move platform, including the motion controller, sub-controller, and PlayStation®Eye camera*(1), together with a strong lineup of software titles, will deliver an innovative and highly immersive experience on the PS3 system.
The combination of the PS3 system and PlayStation Eye camera detects the precise movement, angle, and absolute position in 3D space of PlayStation Move motion controller, allowing users to intuitively play the game as if they themselves are within the game. PlayStation Move motion controller delivers unmatched accuracy through its advanced motion sensors, including a three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis accelerometer, and a terrestrial magnetic field sensor, as well as a color-changing sphere that is tracked by PlayStation Eye camera. Through PlayStation Move system, both fast and subtle motion can be detected, whether the user is swinging a tennis racket, or painting with a brush. With PlayStation Move motion controller, users can provide direct input through action buttons and an analog trigger, while receiving physical feedback from rumble functionality and visual feedback from the sphere's ability to display a variety of different colors. Furthermore, PlayStation Eye camera can capture the player's voice or image, enabling augmented reality experiences.
The newly announced PlayStation Move sub-controller is a one-handed controller, developed to further expand the game play options that PlayStation Move games can offer*(2). PlayStation Move sub-controller features a sleek curved design that pairs with the motion controller and comes with an analog stick and directional buttons that allow users to easily control the game when moving characters or choosing a direction. Like all other Wireless Controllers for the PS3 system, it comes with a built in lithium-ion rechargeable battery as well as Bluetooth® technology, enabling the controller to transfer the input information wirelessly to the PS3 system without a cable. PlayStation Move motion controller and sub-controller will further broaden the gaming experience on the PS3 system for all genres, from games that use one motion controller to games that use both controllers.
The introduction of PlayStation Move controllers has been well received within the industry and now 36 third party developers and publishers*(3) have decided to support PlayStation Move platform. In fiscal year 2010, SCE Worldwide Studios will also release more than 20 games that are either dedicated to or supported with the PlayStation Move platform.
SCE, with strong support from software developers and publishers, will deploy various measures to enhance the PlayStation Move software title line-up and vigorously promote the PS3 platform.
Is the world ready for 6-core computing? With the Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, Intel says yes. The CPU features a 3.33GHz clock speed and 12MB of cache, yet delivers power consumption similar to the 975 EE. See how it performs and overclocks in today's article!
We are giving away a brand new OCZ Neutrino Netbook with 30 GB SATA II SSD (solid state) hard drive and OCZ 2GB High Performance Premium PC 5400 RAM!! The contest is open to readers in the US, Canada, UK and Australia.
Based on the Intel® Atom™ processor, the 10.1” Neutrino was developed to push the envelope in the growing area of netbooks as the first DIY offering. Proving that good things come in small packages, the Neutrino provides all the day-to-day file viewing and web-surfing needs for on-the-go traveling, education, office or home use. Equipped with a built-in camera and microphone, Neutrino will expand your horizons through communications between family, friends, and colleagues.
Thanks for participating and good luck! We'll announce the winners on March 30th!
Looking for an inexpensive SSD you can use as a boot drive? OCZ enters the fray with their 32GB Onyx:
OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (OTCBB:OCZT), a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDDs), today unveiled the OCZ Onyx SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drive (SSD) Series, an ultra-affordable MultiLevel Cell (MLC)-based solid state storage solution designed for consumers looking to take advantage of flash-based storage technology. Offering a faster and more durable alternative to traditional hard drives in a cost-efficient SSD, the Onyx delivers reliable performance without the high price normally associated with SSD drives.
“As new technologies become available, OCZ continues to expand both our enterprise and consumer SSD lines, and one of our goals is to make SSDs more affordable to end-users. Our new Onyx series SSD does exactly that and is a perfect solution for netbooks, laptops, or home desktop PCs,” commented Ryan Petersen, CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. “Designed to offer the best of both worlds, the new OCZ Onyx SSD delivers the speed and reliability of solid state storage to mainstream consumers at an aggressive price point that makes the technology more accessible to customers who want to take advantage of all the benefits of the SSDs without incurring the high cost normally associated with the solution.”
With a sub 100 dollar MRSP the aggressively priced Onyx 32GB SSD delivers an enhanced computing experience with faster application loading, snappier data access, shorter boot-ups, and longer battery life. Onyx SSDs feature HDD-dominating access times, up to 125MB/s read and 70MB/s write speeds, 64MB of onboard cache, and unique performance optimization to keep the drives at peak performance over the long term.
OCZ Onyx SSD drives feature a durable yet lightweight housing, and because OCZ SSDs have no moving parts, the drives are more rugged than conventional hard drives. Available first in 32GB capacity the Onyx state drives are ideal for use as a boot up drive or for mobile PCs and Netbooks as a quality hard drive replacement. Designed for ultimate reliability, Onyx SSDs have an excellent 1.5 million hour mean time between failure (MTBF), and OCZ also offers a leading 3-year warranty and award-winning technical support with the series, making SSDs a more viable upgrade for users requiring ultimate levels of customer service.
The PC Gaming Alliance says that PC gaming revenue grew by 3% last year, with the industry bringing in $13.1 billion in software sales. While retail sales were down 20%, the rise in digital distribution easily offset this:
The PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA) today unveiled its 2009 Horizons Report, an exclusive research study encompassing all aspects of the PC gaming industry worldwide. Among the key findings is that PC gaming software revenue was a $13.1 billion industry in 2009, up 3% from 2008.
The Horizon’s report encompasses PC Gaming revenue from every region around the world, and from every part of the PC gaming industry including retail, online gaming, digital distribution, and online advertising. Horizon’s research clearly shows that participation in PC gaming among consumers around the world continues to drive significant opportunities for PC vendors, gaming ISVs, supply-chain partners and accessory makers.
The latest figures were released in the annual PCGA Horizons software report prepared by market research firm DFC Intelligence. The report also looks at some of the key trends in the PC game market. Despite the severe worldwide recession, growth in the Asia Pacific region fueled the global PC game market.
"The most notable trend in recent years has been the movement to digital distribution and payment for subscriptions, and the growing popularity with consumers of online games as a service," said Randy Stude, PCGA president and Intel director. "In 2009 we saw North America and Europe experience a rapid uptake in purchasing virtual items. This model is what drove growth in Asia and we think it is just starting to come to Western markets."
The transition to free-to-play games and the emergence of social network sites like Facebook did cause revenue to decline in some established markets. High-end subscription games that charge a fee of $10 a month or more suffered from the lack of major new releases and a decline in usage for some older products. However, the biggest downturn was in retail boxed sales of PC games, which now accounts for less than 20% of total revenue. Nevertheless, the downturn in established markets was largely offset by the growth of digital distribution. Most countries in North America and Europe saw revenue declines in 2009 of only 10-15% from record highs in 2008. In addition, free-to-play games and social network sites continue to draw in thousands of new game players that can be progressively monetized.
"In our surveys of PC gamers in North America and Europe we found that over 70% indicate they have bought a full game online. Furthermore, over 50% indicate that they have bought a virtual item," said DFC Analyst David Cole. "This is very positive because, when done successfully, companies in Asia have found the digital distribution model to be significantly more profitable than the traditional retail boxed goods business."
OnLive Inc has announced that their cloud-based gaming service will be released in the US June 17th (the week of E3) priced at $14.95 monthly. Games from EA, THQ, and Ubisoft will be available at launch:
San Francisco, CA — March 10, 2010 — OnLive, Inc., the pioneer of on-demand, instant-play video games, today announced that the PC and Mac® versions of its game service will begin rolling out to consumers on June 17, 2010 during the E3 2010 show. The OnLive® Game Service is a revolutionary, on-demand video game platform capable of delivering the latest and most advanced games instantly via a broadband connection on virtually any PC or Mac, via a small browser plug-in, or on an HDTV, via OnLive's MicroConsole™ TV Adapter. The OnLive Game Service enables an entirely new way to discover, explore, purchase and experience video game content. Additionally, the game service offers instant access to purchase or rent new release games on an à la carte basis from many of the world's leading publishers including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft® 2K Games, THQ and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
"This marks a huge milestone for both OnLive and the interactive entertainment landscape as a whole, changing the way that video games are developed, marketed, accessed and played," said Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive. "We are opening the door to incredible experiences for gamers and enormous opportunities for developers and publishers."
Starting on June 17, 2010, the OnLive Game Service will be available to early registrants throughout the 48 contiguous United States. The initial offering will be supported by a $14.95 monthly service fee, which will provide access to an ever-increasing library of high-end, new-release, instant-play game content without the need to purchase expensive PC gaming or console systems.
Loyalty programs, such as multi-month pricing, and special offers will be announced by the start of E3. For starters, OnLive is announcing an exclusive, pre-registration offer, wherein the first 25,000 qualified registrants will have their OnLive $14.95 monthly service fee waived for the first three months of service. During this special three month introductory period, full versions of games will be available for purchase or rental on an à la carte basis. For important details regarding the OnLive Pre-registration special offer visit www.onlive.com/special1.
The OnLive Game Service will include standard online game service features such as gamer tags, user profiles, friends, and chat. In addition, an evolving slate of OnLive-exclusive features will include state-of-the-art 3D graphics performance; instant-play free game demos; multiplayer across PC, Mac and TV platforms; Brag Clips™ video capture and posting; massive spectating; always-updated games; cloud-saved games—pause and instantly resume from anywhere, even on a different platform; and much more. Individual game titles will be available for purchase or rental on an à la carte basis, with specific game pricing announced prior to the consumer launch event at E3.
"The OnLive Game Service creates a new opportunity for consumers to play the latest games without spending hundreds of dollars on a hardware system to make it happen," said Mike McGarvey, COO of OnLive. "As a Mac user myself, I'm excited about the opportunity to help bring high-end gaming to this new and significant market."
OnLive also confirmed ongoing platform support from the world's largest and most influential game publishers. While launch titles will be announced prior to E3 in Los Angeles, a few of the anticipated games include Mass Effect 2™, Dragon Age Origins™, Assassin's Creed® II, Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands™, Borderlands™ and Metro 2033™. OnLive will soon be announcing the availability of its MicroConsole TV Adapter which will bring the OnLive Game Service directly to consumers' television sets for the first time. An announcement about expected availability will be made later in the year.
OnLive's digital distribution model, instant-play capability and revolutionary video compression technology offers gamers of all skill levels the ability to experience the newest, most advanced, always-updated games with no downloading, no hardware upgrades, and virtually instant response time. As a result, consumers can enjoy more games more rapidly and with lower overall up-front investment than ever before.
This VentureBeat story says the service will initially be limited to resolution of 720p only. 1080p will "take time, perhaps not until 2011". In addition, the site says 12-25 games will be available on launch day.
As this article from the BBC points out, upcoming hard drives shipping early next year will utilize 4KB (versus 512-byte) sectors. The move will mean less wasted space, particularly on today's large capacity terabyte drives, allowing drives to get larger while consuming the same amount of power.
The downside though is that older operating systems like Windows XP weren't designed with 4K sectors in mind. Hard drives utilizing the 4K sectors in a WinXP environment will emulate 512-byte sectors, but this comes with a performance hit in some write situations. Seagate says the hit could be as high as 10%. "All other things being equal you will have a noticeable hard drive reduction in performance," said Seagate's David Burks.
Newer operating systems such as Vista, Windows 7, and Linux builds newer than Sept 2009 are all 4K aware.
VG247 says that Infinity Ward's first map pack for Modern Warfare 2 will ship for Xbox 360 gamers at the end of the month. Due to an exclusive with Microsoft, PS3 and PC won't get the map pack for at least 30 days.
No other details have been provided, so we have no clue how many maps will be included or how much it will cost.
While speaking with CNN Money/Fortune about their patent spat with Intel, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said that his company is "looking forward" to going to court over the dispute, and they aren't looking to settle.
At the heart of the issue is chipsets, and whether NVIDIA can make platforms for Intel's latest Core i and Pinetrail-based Atom CPUs. Intel says they can't, while NVIDIA argues they can. NVIDIA has countersued Intel, and feels they've damaged their chipset business, which had been doing quite well for the company.
You can watch the interview in its entirety at Engadget.
Codemasters announces that F1 2010 will hit Xbox 360, PC, and PS3 this Sept:
A new generation of FORMULA ONE games will come to high definition consoles and PC later this year as Codemasters® today announced that F1 2010 will be released this September for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC Games For Windows®.
As the official game of the 2010 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™, F1 2010 will include all of the official teams, drivers and circuits from the coming season. F1 2010 will feature the return of seven times FORMULA 1 Drivers’ World Champion Michael Schumacher, the introduction of several new teams, and the brand new Korean International Circuit that will host the 2010 FORMULA 1 KOREAN GRAND PRIX.
The September launch will see F1 2010 become the first official FORMULA ONE game to appear for Xbox 360 and marks the return of FORMULA ONE to PC after an eight year absence. The arrival of the HD editions of FORMULA ONE follows Codemasters’ extremely successful launch of F1 2009 for Wii and PSP, which became a top five best seller throughout the past holiday period.
In F1 2010 gamers will take on the full, expanded grid in a variety of game modes including GRAND PRIX, Championship, Time Trial and an extensive, innovative Career mode. F1 2010 will also feature a highly advanced damage model, fully dynamic weather system and extensive competitive multiplayer options.
In production at Codemasters Studios Birmingham, F1 2010 is being developed using the EGO Game Technology Platform, Codemasters’ proprietary tech that powered the critically acclaimed, million-plus selling Colin McRae: DiRT 2 and Race Driver: GRID. The award-winning technology has been further developed to accurately recreate the unique aerodynamics and handling of 200MPH+ FORMULA ONE cars. The tech combined with Codemasters’ unprecedented access to FORMULA ONE teams and drivers will ensure that F1 2010 delivers the most authentic FORMULA ONE racing experience yet. F1 2010 will be released September 2010 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Games for Windows.
Looks like NVIDIA's got some pretty sweet tournaments lined up for PAX this year, both involving DICE's Bad Company 2:
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Tournaments, Hosted by NVIDIA, EA, DICE, Alienware, and Bigfoot Networks!
Get right to the best action with the Battlefield Bad Company 2 Battle for PAX Tournament. Squad up with three of your closest buddies and dominate the all new Squad Deathmatch multiplayer mode as four teams of 4 duke it out in the fully destructible environments online. The top four teams of the online tournament will be invited to Penny Arcade Expo East, in Boston, Massachusetts for a chance to win in the $10,000 finals*! Register now before it’s too late.
While at PAX East, not only will you have the chance to compete in the $10,000 finals on Sunday the 28th, but you will also get your chance to compete in another tournament featuring Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on Saturday; the world’s first 3D tournament! This event will feature its own set of exciting prizes, brought to you by the folks at NVIDIA, Alienware, and Bigfoot Networks. Details on how to sign up for this tournament will be made available soon at http://www.geforcelan.com/?page=tournaments.
Rocksteady may be giving Batman company for Arkham Asylum 2, as Kotaku notes that an IMDB listing reveals that Vincent Martella will be lending his voice for Robin in the game. Martella already plays as Robin in the Batman: Under the Red Hood animated feature, which is coming to DVD later this year. IMDB also revels that Bruce Greenwood will play Two-Face in the game.
When Kotaku asked Warner Bros for comment, they received the following response: "To our knowledge, what you asked about is inaccurate information. We are not yet discussing details for the sequel."
DigiTimes says that Gigabyte is catching up to ASUS in motherboard shipments. The site believes Gigabyte has shipped 3.1-3.3 million motherboards through February, this is roughly the same figure as ASUS, which has shipped 3.2-3.3 million motherboards according to their estimates.
What does this mean for you and me? DigiTimes believes ASUS will have to counter with cheaper motherboard prices. Some believe this could ultimately lead to a price war between the two motherboard rivals.
I rarely post these sorts of deals here in news, but this is a pretty damn good deal if you are in the market or have a friend who is looking.
This is a 15.6" LED-backlit Inspiron 15 with 2.2Ghz Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4400 w/VT, 3GB DDR2 SDRAM, 250GB HD, 8x DVD+/-RW DL, 802.11b/g wireless, Windows 7 Home Premium x64, 15-month antivirus, and 1 year warranty for just $399 with FREE shipping, plus add a 10.1" Dell Mini 10v Netbook for just $149! This deal expires at 6am on March 10.
View NVIDIA DirectX 11 GDC Tech Demos -- 4 Image(s)
