Gaming - Page 1235

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.

This morning K-Mart let the proverbial cat out of the bag on the Sony PS3 Slim. This is the same console that Sony has been denying for the better part of a year. Well K-Mart messed up by putting this up on their website for $299.99. The launch date was set for the 24th of August.

At the same time Sony was preparing for a news conference at Noon Eastern Time in the US. Many knew that they would hear word of the PS3 Slim from the horse's mouth.

Well Sony did officially announce the PS3 Slim and for the listed $299 but the launch date is a little off. Sony says that it will be ready in early September. The new PS3 will have a larger HDD at 120GB but will feature pretty much the same hardware otherwise.

Sony also announced that it will knock off $100 from the current PS3 system bringing it down $299.99 for an 80GB full sized version. Why you would want to do that I am not sure as in a couple of weeks you can have the newer version with a larger HDD for the same price.

So what is the price of Advertising in Gaming? If you are a player of WipeOut HD then it means slow load times, poor performance and host of other problems. Of course to me it means much more.

When I purchase a game I pay for gaming content, this comes in the form of graphics, AI, sound, immersive game play and storyline. I will happily shell out as much as $60 for a good game. This is in addition to any upgrades to hardware I might need to make sure I can play the game properly. What I do not want is to have to deal with advertising in my game.

I despise the presence of ads in games as much as I hate FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) both have no place in gaming and technology in general. Both are the last ditch efforts of the desperate.

Placing Ads in games will no doubt inspire more pirated versions of the games as they can selectively remove those ads like some games get their cut scenes removed. If fully pirated copies are not the outcome then surely tools to block these ads in the games will. So in the end the consumer and the gamer loose out by putting ads in our games.

Well it looks like Rage from id Software will be primarily aimed at the console market. This is in line with what John Carmack said back in 2008.

This is an interesting departure from id's normal work. Usually id titles hit the PC and then are later ported to the console if there is a big demand for it (like Doom). So why the shift to the console? Well if I were a betting man I would say that is the popularity of the newer consoles combined with online access they all now have. I would also add that porting from console to PC is usually easier than PC to console.

id has said that there will be a PC version with a little better graphics but that it will be split onto two DVDs for the install. However, since it is being designed for the console first it will be like many console ports and have controls that will feel awkward and clumsy on the PC unless you use a console style controller.

If you are into the Xbox 360 then there is some potentially good news for you.

The blunder made by Steve Balmer in announcing that Natal would come to the Xbox in 2010 could be correct and not a mistake.

The evidence that points towards this is Aptina being hit up for a few 1.3 MegaPixel cameras (of the type that would be used by Natal). This could put the "Natal Xbox" in the stores in time for the holiday shopping season in 2010.

There is no confirmation on this from Microsoft, but then again they need to clear out their existing inventory and honestly they would not confirm it now anyway. It is way too soon and could give the competition time to counter the move.

You know maybe we should start a new series of awards to honor people that just do not think...oh wait there is already one of those out. Well ok let's just make sure that this guy gets on the list for one.

According to WBIC in Indiana, an 18 Year Old was online playing World of Warcraft when he made a threat to blow up a commercial airliner. Now this is not something you bandy about in an online community that is monitored. You would not even say this out loud in a public place.

Well you can probably figure out what happened. A Moderator noticed the messages and contacted the authorities about them. The idio...Um I mean the person's IP was found, traced and the FBI showed up at his door.

He was interrogated and now may face federal charges.

His comment to the FBI...

He was testing a theory.

And the winner of this year's award goes to...

Ok this has to be the coolest accessory to ship with a game ever.

According to a YouTube video the new Game Modern Warfare 2 will have a Prestige Edition that will come complete with a working set of night vision goggles.

But that is not all, inside this awesome edition of what is going to be one of the best games to hit this year. You get the game, the ability to download the original game, a handy head for displaying your new NVGs, a book full of artwork that is only found on the limited editions and a steel box to keep your DVD in.

The Prestige Edition is available for both XboX 360 and PC. There is no word on pricing yet but you can bet that once they hit the streets they will go fast so on November 10th 2009 I would highly recommend you have cash in hand to grab one of these amazing kits.

If Command and Conquer is your thing you will be happy to know that the slip-up by EA was not a mistake.

It is now official that Command and Conquer 4 will be coming to an overpriced game shop soon. Ok it won't be until 2010 but it is still officially coming.

The new installment is the final chapter in the Tiberium Saga. We can only hope that this one will be up to the rest of the series.

GameSpot what appears to be some nice screen shots up on their site although it is too early to tell if they are actual game play or not.

EA has also announced a rather nasty surprise for console fans, this one will be PC only.

Remember when we told you that Activision was considering dropping Sony if they did not lower some pricing? Well Sony has spoken up about the original comment and it is not a very nice comment either.

It seems that Howard Stringer (Sony CEO) feels that Robert Kotic (CEO of Activision Blizzard) "likes to make a lot of noise". Now I don't know about you but that does not sound like we are going to see a price cut and in the world of poker you just heard "I'll see your twenty and raise you fifty".

In fact when asked if Sony would consider price cuts Stringer said that is they did that they would "lose money on every PlayStation I make -- how's that for logic".

Now we wait to see who has what cards it could be that Activision is only holding a pair of twos looking to bluff, but on the other hand with some popular titles under their belt, coupled with growing XboX, Wii and PC game sales Activision could be holding aces over kings and Sony could be the ones bluffing.