Gaming - Page 1211

In our first batch of pre-Computex Taipei 2010 coverage this week, we visited ASRock who had some pretty cool new stuff on display that it will show at the big Asian IT show next week. The second thing we were shown was ASRock AIWI.

We have held onto this news for a little while now, but today we can share news with you all that a new Taiwanese based tech company is bursting onto the scene called BitFenix. The company is making bold claims when it comes to the gaming hardware and peripherals products that it soon intends to bring onto the market.

With GDC (Game Developers Conference) underway this week, OnLive took this opportunity to unveil the launch date and pricing for its upcoming service which is unlike anything else available on the internet at this point in time.

Rumors surface all the time in the tech world and some are more believable than others. Some rumors start out of the blue and others are based in at least a little bit of fact. The new Sony rumor circulating today has a bit of fact behind it.

ASUS has bestest its ROG series of notebooks with the introduction of the new G73Jh which is all about giving the best rounded gaming platform using some of the latest and fastest mobile hardware available.

I have often wanted to put a computer in the living room so I could play games on my big screen. I never did it because I don't want my massive gaming desktop sitting in the living room. A company called iGugu has unveiled a new device called Gamecore that can solve this problem.

Nintendo ruled the roost for the first couple years of the Wii's availability in the gaming console market. Recently the demand for the console has slipped greatly leading to some rough quarters for Nintendo.

NVIDIA's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang recently made the statement that he wants Tegra to be 50% of the company's revenue in the coming years. It looks like not only does he want this to happen, but the engineers working on the Tegra project are also committed to this goal. With the release of the first Tegra and its inclusion in Microsoft's Zune HD we got a first glimpse at the power behind this idea.

But what is more for the first time NV actually released a road map for a product. They showed us just before the Zune HD where they planned on going. On this map was an entry labeled Tegra 2 2010. At the time my thoughts were that we would see this around the end of 2010 (Q3 at the earliest). It seems like might be way off the mark. Instead of waiting for Q3 NVIDIA could be showing off Tegra 2 as soon as January 2010. This introduction would be at CES with the tiny little computer being shown off working in Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) smart phones, and Personal Media Players.

While the details on the Tegra 2 are short we do have NVIDIA's claim that it will be twice the power of the original Tegra (big surprise). As far as rumors go, well there are plenty of them. We hear there will be two Dual Core Arm Cortex (11) CPUs dual GT200 based GPUs (possibly for SLI or to enable Cuda acceleration or Physx) as well as s host of other features. All told the future of Tegra 2 looks exciting.

If you've paid any attentionto the release of ATI's new DirectX 11 video cards or DirectX 11 in general, you would've heard about DiRT2 getting a DX11 face lift for the PC. With the demo just showing up in the past 24 hours and incorporating two tracks and a built-in performance benchmark, Radeon HD 5000 series users really have something to get excited about.

I am not sure if the computer industry needs another boutique gaming PC maker. I can see some room for a firm capable of making unique and powerful gaming machines at a low price, but the gaming PC market is well served right now. I don't see room for more of the same.

The Xbox 360's aging and overpriced 802.11g based wireless adapter is about to be widely replaced by a new 802.11n capable model, as discovered on Costco's online store in which it is currently at a slightly discounted price of $88.

There's a bit of a stir happening over at the Hexus forums at the moment between NVIDIA spokesperson Lars Weinand and AMD's Richard Huddy, responsible as Worldwide Developer Relations Manager for AMD's GPU Division.

The discussion relates to Eidos' game title Batman Arkham Asylum in which AA support using ATI based graphics cards is not possible. NVIDIA's Lars Weinand says :-

"Batman AA is not our property. It is owned by Eidos. It is up to Eidos to decide the fate of a feature that AMD refused to contribute too and QA for their customers, not NVIDIA.

If it is relatively trivial, Mr. Huddy should have done it himself. The Unreal engine does not support in game AA, so we added it and QAed it for our customers. As Eidos confirmed (Not allowed to post links here, but check PCper for Eidos' statement) AMD refused the same opportunity to support gamers with AA on AMD GPUs. I'm sure Mr. Huddy knows how important QA is for game developers. I recommend AMD starts working with developers to make their HW work in a proper way. That's not our job. We added functionality for NVIDIA GPUs into the game. We did not lock anything out. AMD just did not do their work."

Richard quickly responds :-

"NVIDIA has done the right thing in bowing to public pressure to renounce anti-competitive sponsorship practices and given Eidos a clear mandate to remove the vendor ID detect code that is unfairly preventing many of Eidos' customers from using in-game AA, as per Mr. Weinand's comments. I would encourage Mr. Singleton at Eidos to move quickly and decisively to remove NVIDIA's vendor ID detection.

It's also worth noting here that AMD have made efforts both pre-release and post-release to allow Eidos to enable the in-game antialiasing code - there was no refusal on AMD's part to enable in game AA IP in a timely manner.

I trust that you will also confirm that no similar activity will take place on any other games?

The entertainment continues at the source link below :-

Futuremark is known for its benchmarking software. If you were to ask the average computer user they have heard of Futuremark and can tell you about 3Dmark and PCMark. But what many do not know is that Futuremark has entered the game arena. They did this a while ago under the name Futuremark Game Studios (FGS).

With the formation of this independent company they embarked on an ambitious project. They wanted to create a game that took place almost entirely in zero gravity. The game was to take place in a future setting where the moon has exploded and sent millions of tons of debris into earth orbit. In this zone clans fight for resources. The challenge for FGS was to implement the complexities of Zero G compat while making sure players were not overwhelmed by the environment and controls.

Codemasters is a company that has a good reputation for coding graphically impressive games. Both DiRT and Racecar Driver Grid look simply stunning. So what should we expect from DiRT2 for PC now that it has DX11 support?

PC Games Hardware sat down with Bryan Marshall, Technical Director of the Codemasters Dev Team, and asked that very question.

According to Marshall, DiRT 2 takes advantage of three of the main features to produce some stunning visual effects. These are Hardware Tesselation, Direct Compute 11 (compute shaders) and multi-threading the command pipeline. Tesselation allows Codemasters to greater detail to the objects in the game (such as water surfaces, crowds and cloth) while Compute Shaders allow for better post processing of visual effects.

Multi-threading of the command pipeline means that the game engine can be optimized to improve performance and game response. Of course the major problem is that right now getting DX11 hardware is a little rough as many do not want to pay the cost of a new high end GPU (without seeing one from the competition) as well as a few supply issues with the 58xx series that are being reported.

Still the overall impression of the interview was an optimistic one and seemed to indicate that Codemasters will continue to work on their game offering to improve it for DX11, DX10 and even DX9 users.

DX11 is supposed to be the next big thing. At least that is what AMD and Microsoft would like you to think. On the surface (and in reality) it is a good step in the right direction for gaming. The problem lies in the way that it might be implemented by developers.

When we first heard that DiRT 2 and Racecar Driver Grid 2 were going DX11 we were very excited. Now we hear that the DX11 implementation will be a partial effort. Codemasters is not going to launch the game with full DX11 support.

Our sources tell us that there will be some of the more visible DX11 eye-candy enabled, but not all. This is a little disappointing to be honest, especially given the fact that AMD is offering coupons for a free copy of the game when it launches around the 23rd of October.

Speaking with other sources we see a pattern of developers half-heartedly implementing DX11 support. This is a shame as DX11 IS a much better gaming API than DX10. It should be easier to code for as well. To me this shows a sense of laziness on the part of game developers. If they would stop reusing code and engines far past their graphical usefulness then we might see some truly great games visually.

Then again considering the terrible plots and awful gameplay in most of today's games it is not surprising to see this happening. I mean, if they cannot be bothered to write a compelling story or side plots, why bother to write complete code for DX11 support.

Of course, there are and will always be bright spots. Word has gotten to us that while Modern Warfare II will not have DX11 support it will be as immersive as the first in the series. We also hear that the next Battle Field title will have full DX11 support.

In similar fashion to ATI's deal with Valve in providing coupons for copies of Half Life 2 upon launch when purchasing select DirectX 9 based ATI graphics cards, it's been said that the imminent release of ATI's next family of desktop graphics cards, the Radeon HD 5800 series will come shipped with a coupon that allows the buyer to grab a copy of Dirt 2, the first DirectX 11 based game to hit the market.

However, no doubt due to shaking hands on optimization processes that favour ATI based graphics cards, the game's original launch date of September 10 has fallen back and at the least it won't be available until sometime in November, whilst the 5870 will inevitably be on shelves well before then, so you'll have to hold onto your coupon for a while before you can make use of it.

Nintendo has finally come out of its tiny little hole. What hole is this you might ask? Well it is the hole they have been living in while they thought it was ok to charge for the internet, or at least their internet channel.

Starting today you can get this handy little feature (complete with a new version of Flash Lite 3.1). This means that now you can browse the internet from your couch with a lazy wave of your hand. What could be better?

Well I guess there is more; you get access to a virtual QWERTY keyboard, favorites and even a home page.

If you already bought the browser for the previous 500 Wii Points you will get to pick an NES game of your choice just to make up for it.

Since the browser is provided by Opera and there are no alternatives on the Wii for Internet browsing; I have to wonder if there will be a complaint about people not being given a choice to use firefox, Chrome or IE...I will have to look into that one.

If you are a fan of BioShock then this is right up your alley. After a couple of years wait BioShock 2 is coming closer to its release. The developers of BioShock and BioShock 2 are the remnants of Looking Glass Studios. LGS was the mastermind behind the games System Shock and System Shock 2 (are you seeing a trend here?)

As with the move from System Shock to System Shock 2 BioShock 2 takes place years after the event. Unlike System Shock 2 you are returned to the scene of the original event; the City of Rapture. You take on the character of the first Big Daddy.

This time due to your status as a very powerful Big Daddy you have access to the outside of the city. This was not possible before and adds a new level to the scope of game play. The same role-playing like style exists in BioShock 2 that was pioneered in System Shock 2 is present in the new BioShock. This system has been copied by many other games including Lucas Arts and even id Software in their latest release Wolfenstein.

2K Games has improved this system by allowing you to arm multiple "Plasmids" at once. You can place one in each hand and even combine them into something unique. This adds to your power and death dealing ability.

But all is not beer and pizza as a Big Daddy. Although you are much faster than you were as a Big Daddy in the first game, 2K games have created a character to oppose you that is just as powerful and what's more, much faster than you are. This is the Big Sister.

As the Sea of Dreams takes place 10 years later 2k Games has gone to great lengths to make sure the environment matches what you would expect from the dead city. The illumination is flickering and dim. Everything appears dank and dirty. This all adds to the horror based theme that came across so well in BioShock.

This is one game that I know we are looking forward to very much. 2K games says it should be out sometime in 2010

The rumors about Microsoft dropping the price on the Xbox 360 Elite have come true. But the secondary rumor about the Xbox 360 Pro going the way of the Dinosaur also seems to fallen through a lttle.

According to Microsoft the new pricing will put the Elite at $299.99 a full $100 cheaper than before while the Pro will drop down to $249.99. These will continue to be sold until current supply is gone and then they will be no more.

The pricing puts the Xbox 360 Elite in line with Sony's new PS3 Slim. But according to MS that was not the plan. MS says that they had the price reduction in mind for the holiday season. They have also removed the HDMI cable from the packaging saying that their research indicates most people do not use them.

I am not sure about these claims from MS. They might be thinking of the Holiday Season but I have a feeling they are thinking about how well the Xbox will do against the PS3 Slim and Wii. As for the HDMI cable considering that HD content is now available from Xbox Live and more and more people are using HDMI on their home entertainment systems it does not seem to fit the current state of the market.

Another thing that is odd is the decision not to put in BluRay or a Browser. MS says this is because people can get HD content from Xbox Live but it seems to me that many people might see a BLuRay Player as a bonus. This was many people's reasons for getting the PS3 when it came out. It was the least expensive BluRay player and they got a console to boot.

As for the Browser, well MS says it would be awful. Of course Twitter and Facebook are ok just not the full internet. In the entire situation around the price drop is confusing, I get the feeling that MS is not being completely honest.

Here is some news that we all have been waiting for. The crew over at DICE has been hard at work on the Frostbite Engine. This is the engine that is used in the Battlefield games. The current version supports up to DX10 and can be run on the XboX 360, PC, and PS3. The new version will have support for DX10.1 and DX11.

The main feature they are interested in is the highly parallel workings of the engine. It is capable of running two to eight threads. This is perfect for the i7 and represents a real multi-core advancement over past games.

The actual port of the game was not that difficult as it reportedly only took three hours to complete. You can now add Battlefield to the list of coming DX11 games. This shows a much faster adoption than DX10 did when it was at the same place. Of course there are not as many differences between DX10 and 11 as there were between DX9 and 10.

In all it makes the outlook for DX11 games and hardware for the coming year.