AMD interviews DICE for use of DirectX11 in their next game

AMD interviewed DICE and asked some interesting questions about next-gen hardware and how they plan to implement it in their soon to be released Battlefield Bad Company 2 video game. Here is an exerpt from the interview,

(2) Can you share any details of how you plan to use DirectCompute 11 to implement deferred shading? What does that mean in terms of how your games would look or perform?  Can you think of other way you might use DirectCompute 11?

Our plan is to improve performance and at the same time be able to have many more dynamic light sources than we’ve been able to have previously — and by a wide margin even. This is possible as the culling & processing of large light sources can be done much more efficiently and directly in a compute shader compared to traditional deferred rendering techniques.

To red the full interview, head on to the following link,

AMD DICE Interview - 11 Days of DirectX 11

Pirate Bay Convicted

In an unexpected turn of events, Pirate Bay were found guilty by a Swedish court today. I was really hoping that they would win, but things had to go in another direction I guess.

The four men connected with The Pirate Bay were found guilty of being accessories to copyright infringement by a Swedish court on Friday, delivering a symbolic victory in the entertainment industry’s efforts to put a stop to the sharing of copyrighted material on the internet.

Source: thelocal

Virgin Galactic Unveils Space Liner

They finally unveiled the marvel in the Mojave desert.

A sight to behold, this baby's total development cost was just 100 million dollars. That is just a fraction of what NASA spends at most of their projects. Quite an accomplishment indeed. According to Virgin, this could start taking flights for space tourism by the end of 2009 of early 2010, but did not give an exact date. To read the full story, click here or click the picture above.

Source: SPACE.com

Puma based Toshiba laptop benchmarks

Notebookreview.com was able to snag some benchmarks of the next generation AMD Turion X2 Ultradualcore processor (PUMA) based Toshiba laptop at this year's Computex exhibition.  Here are the benchmark results. The reason why it seems to be slower here is that the Toshiba laptop was an early engineering build and may not reflect the performance of the final version of the laptop when it finally comes out later this year.

Notebook / CPU
wPrime 32M time

Toshiba Satellite A305D (Turion Ultra ZM TL-80 @ 2.1GHz)
38.437s

Toshiba Satellite A305D (Turion X2 TL-64 @ 2.2GHz)
37.220s

Toshiba Satellite A305 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz)
36.442s

Asus M51S (Core 2 Duo T5550 @ 1.83GHz)
46.293s

Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz)
50.184s

HP Pavilion dv6700t (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz)
50.480s

Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)
43.569s

Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)

37.485s

Portable One SXS37 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)
41.908s

Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)
58.233s

Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)
38.343s

Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)
37.299s

HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)
40.965s

Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)
76.240s

Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)
42.385s

Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)
37.705s

Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz)
38.327s

Hewlett Packard DV6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)
38.720s

Samsung Q70 (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)
42.218s

Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz)
42.947s

Samsung X60plus (Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.0GHz)
44.922s

Zepto Znote 6224W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)
45.788s

Samsung Q35 (Core 2 Duo T5600 @ 1.83GHz)
46.274s

Asus announces the Eee PC 901, 1000 and 1000(H)

Upon reaching the milestone of surpassing 1 million Eee PC sets sold in just 6 months after its launch, ASUS has provided yet another wave of anticipation with its release of the new Eee PC 901, 1000 and 1000(H) models. These new iterations of the ever popular electronic gadget add even more options to users. With its shockproof Solid State Drive (SSD) design, users will be able to enjoy stable and reliable computing on-the-go – making it the ideal and travelling companion for outdoor activities. This new range of Eee PC are also equipped with the exclusive Super Hybrid Engine technology that can provide longer battery lifespans of up to 7.8 hours*, exclusive web storage and high speed connectivity**, and large displays for easy viewing. Available on both Windows and GNU Linux platforms – this range expands upon the original 3 ‘E’s to further its “Easy” concept to cater to even more discerning users.
* Exact battery life subject to actual usage and model.
** 3.5G concept sample will be displayed at Computex 2008.

“With constant innovations and implementation of the latest technologies in the new Eee PC range, we have since expanded the original 3 ‘E’s into ‘Easy’, ‘Excellent’ and ‘Exciting’. ‘Easy’ will still encompass the core value of Easy to learn, work and play, ‘Excellent’ will highlight the Eee PC’s role as an Excellent mobile Internet device and ‘Exciting’ entails utilizing the Eee PC for Exciting multimedia enjoyment.” said Jerry Shen, CEO of ASUS.
Solid State Drive for Shockproof and Reliable Computing
With mobility being one of the key factors that contributed to the Eee PC’s overwhelming success, the new range of Eee PC continues in this trend and utilizes the built-in Solid State Drive (SSD) technology. This technology is shock proof, quiet, produces less heat and is energy saving for reliable and stable computing on-the-go. Traditional hard disk designs spin at 5400 RPM (Revolutions per Minute) – creating more chances of data loss or damage in the event of shocks or bumps. The Eee PC, on the other hand, are able to safeguard against such incidents – making them the perfect solution for outdoor computing and ideally suited for reporters, wildlife photographers and other like-minded outdoor enthusiasts.

Exceptional Features for User Convenience
The new Eee PCs are also equipped an expanded battery that provides up to 7.8 hours* of battery life; while the exclusive Super Hybrid Engine technology provides three GUI modes to easily adjust CPU frequency, voltage, and LCD brightness to minimize system noise and power consumption to save up to 15% power consumption, or to maximize system performance according to individual needs. What’s more, the addition of exclusive 20GB Internet storage makes data backups simple and convenient.
* Exact battery life subject to actual usage and model.

Enjoy Easy Viewing with Large Displays
The new Eee PCs will integrate large 8.9” to 10” displays – allowing users to view more screenspace and enjoy easier viewing of A4 documents and online webpages – without the need to scroll left or right. Furthermore, the Eee PCs pair a built-in 1.3M Pixel webcam with high speed wireless Internet connection capabilities for easy web communications anywhere, anytime – increasing work efficiency or just making it easier to chat with friends and family. What’s more, the keyboard is 92%* the size of generic notebooks – making it more comfortable to type for more relaxed usage.
* Only available on the Eee PC 1000 models

Exciting New Covers to Suit Your Trendy Lifestyle
The new range of Eee PC also makes its mark with trendy and colorful Infusion cover patterns inspired by various elements. The Infusion technology utilizes a unique manufacturing process that is inlaid into the chassis itself – forming an integral part of the Eee PC. It is also extremely resilient – resisting scratches and scrapes, and thus will not fade with time. Additionally, these new cover designs are tastefully designed and provide vibrant colors to suit the user’s individual personalities – making the new Eee PC the ideal companion for your computing needs.

Tags: eee pc, netbook

NVIDIA Announces 9M GPUs

Nvidia announced their 9th generation mobile GPUs at Computex. Here is the scoop:

“Beginning this summer, GeForce 9M GPUs and Hybrid SLI, paired with AMD and Intel CPUs, will enable a new breed of notebooks,” said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of the GPU business at NVIDIA. “These new notebooks will be optimized to deliver a visual experience and raw computing performance that traditional cookie-cutter notebooks with integrated graphics simply can’t touch.”

With the launch of the GeForce 9M Series of notebook GPUs, NVIDIA has once again engineered the world’s fastest notebook GPUs, designed for running today’s graphically intensive games, 3D applications and HD movies at extreme resolutions. In addition, this new GPU features a multi-core architecture which will not only speed up entertainment applications, but will also speed up today’s lifestyle applications, like video encoding from a PC to a small personal media device, where the speed up in the video conversion is up to 5x faster with the GeForce 9M family GPUs.”

In addition, the new GeForce 9M notebook GPUs enable the world’s first notebooks with Hybrid SLI technology. The new technology enables two NVIDIA GPUs, one low-power and one high-performance, to work cooperatively in the same PC to deliver two features—GeForce Boost and HybridPower. These features deliver more performance from both GPUs for visual computing when needed, or save power by switching to the low-power GPU when not. Hybrid SLI gives users the quality and performance benefits of a high-performance GPU without sacrificing battery life.

The NVIDIA GeForce 9M family of GPUs also feature:

• New graphics engine that delivers up to 40% faster performance than the previous generation of GeForce notebook GPUs and up to 10x faster than generic integrated graphics solutions
• New PureVideo HD video processing for improved color and contrast
• Full support for the latest Blu-ray Profile 2.0 features and Blu-ray Live
• Extensive multi-display connectivity with support for all the latest display standards including DVI, HDMI 1.3, Display Port 1.1, and VGA
• Support for the new MXM version 3.0 graphics module specification

“With the recent addition of advanced features to Blu-ray Live and complexity of DirectX 10 games like Crysis, PC users need more graphics processing performance than today’s generic integrated graphics can deliver,” said Rene Haas, general manager of the notebook business at NVIDIA. “The new GeForce 9M series meets this need while also delivering processing muscle beyond gaming and graphics.”

Tags: nvidia, 9m, gpu

Acer's Aspire UMPC Gets Official

At this year's Computex, there seems to be a whole barrage of UMPC announcements. Acer also announced it's UMPC with the following specifications:

• 8.9-inch 1024 x 600 LED-backlit display
• 1.6GHz Atom N270
• 512MB DDR2 SDRAM (expandable)
• 1.3 megapixel camera, SDHC and multi-format media readers
• 802.11b/g, Ethernet, three USB 2.0, VGA, and 3.5mm audio out
• One free mini PCI slot for WWAN
• 80GB hard drive (with XP) or 8GB solid state (with Linux)
• 2.5 or 5 hours on 3 or 6-cell batteries in XP model, 3 or 7 hours on Linux
• 1kg (2.2 pounds)

The Linux flavor is going to cost around $400 while the Windows version will cost $600.

Tags: acer, umpc, aspire

ID Software is Hiring for Doom 4

ID Software today announced that they are hard at work at developing the next title in their flagship franchise, Doom 4. The official Id software website states that,

"DOOM is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. "It's critical for id Software to have the best creative minds in-house to develop games that meet the standards synonymous with our titles."

They have also opened up for job hiring of 13 lucky individuals who will be set to work on this project which I suspect will launch at least a couple of years from now taking into account how long the previous incarnation of Doom took to develop. I may be wrong, it can even take 3 or 4 years but it remains to be seen whether or not they will be using their Tech 5 engine to develop Doom 4 or some other engine not developed yet. If that is the case, the production may take much longer than 2 years but if they use Tech 5 (most probably they will), the game should launch in a couple of years from now.

To read more about the story, you can go to the official website of Id Software at www.idsoftware.com

Obama speaks out on GTA 4

Obama's comments came during a campaign stop in Indianapolis. He told the crowd, "I was just catching the news this morning about Grand Theft Auto, this video game, which is gonna break all records and make goo-gobs of money for whoever designed it.

"Now, this isn’t intended for kids, although I promise you there are kids who are playing it, but these video games are raising our kids," Obama continued. "Across the board, middle-class, upper-class, working-class kids, they’re spending a huge amount of their time not on their studies, but on entertainment. "

Hey the game was rated 10/10 and if kids want to entertain themselves, hell yes they should (of course not the ones under 17), but I hope its not another Jack Thompson in the making!!

Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe: One word, AWESOME!!!

This is one of the coolest news I have come across in a long long time! I had pretty much lost interest in the Mortal Kombat series after Deadly Alliance as its sequels just didn't live up to the greatness of the old Mortal Kombat games! Behold! The new Mortal Kombat is coming out with a really fresh idea that is going to rock everyone's socks off for sure, they are making Sub-Zero fight against Batman...yep, you heard it, the most popular characters from the Outworld will battle it out with DC's top comic book heroes including Batman and Superman!


Gamespot has a video interview with the game's creator Ed Boon up on their site and he revealed that the game will even include mid air battles. So, for example if Sub-Zero punches Batman through a wall and on his way down, both the characters can fight in mid-air! There might also be some tweaking to the fatalities, although the details are still sketchy, Ed Boon revealed the characters will pretty much fight to the death with each other. (oh and of course there will be loads of blood and gore in the game as well) This game will be out on the PS3 and Xbox 360 this fall!

An interesting fact: The character Noob Saibot from the Mortal Kombat game was named by reversing the names of the game's creators, Boon and Tobias =)

Official Website: Worldscollide
More: Gamespot Preview and interiview

AMD CTO Resigns.

AMD's CTO Phil Hester resigned followed by AMD's shares falling 5 percent to $6.22 in the afternoon trading. AMD certainly needs a magic product like its Athlon XP and FX series of processors which outshined Intel a couple of years back, otherwise AMD is in for a decline from which it might not be able to pull itself out.

ASUS Unveils Essentio CS5110 Mini PC

Taipei, Taiwan, April 8, 2008 – Extensive research and development have resulted in ASUS innovations that help pack more versatility and performance into compact frames. Packed with innovations, the ASUS Essentio CS5110 is a Mini PC that features exceptional graphics performance as its main focus – and is the world’s smallest Desktop PC equipped with a fully embedded discrete graphic card to give you high definition movie pleasure and smooth gaming fun.

Mighty Fluency - 1080P High Definition Pleasure
Playing HD movies easily and smoothly, the CS5110's superior graphic quality and HDMI display output allows for entertainment enjoyment in high definition. Through the HDMI-equipped TV or monitor, the digital video and digital audio can be transferred seamlessly.

Mighty Sound – High Quality Audio
The CS5110 supports S/PIDF-output and is equipped with 7.1 Sound output. By connecting to the user's 7.1 speakers or audio devices, it can deliver an experience of vivid surround-sound for movies and games.

Mighty Quiet – Low-noise Computing Experience
Through the world's first 2-in-1 thermal module that insulates heat from the cooling fan, the CS5110 has the fastest, most quiet and reliable heat dissipation system. The operation noise level is only at 23.9dB at idle mode, quieter than most other computer systems in the market to provide you with a very comfortable computing environment.

Mighty Versatile – 802.11n & Bluetooth 2.0 Connections
The CS5110 supports 802.11n wireless standard with transmission rates of 300Mbps – 6 times faster in speed and 8 times larger in coverage than the 802.11g standard. Its built-in Bluetooth™ also supports multi-linkage with Bluetooth devices, such as laptops, handheld devices (mobile phones, PDA, etc.), and head/ear phones.

SPLENDID™ Video Intelligence Technology
This technology optimizes the video performance with intelligent color, brightness, contrast and sharpness correction. It also provides video preset mode selections (via the hotkey) and 3 skin-tones to choose from based on the user’s preference. It produces vivid and vibrant colors by enhancing real-time depth and color intensity. With its advanced Area Pixel Processing Algorithm constantly evaluating and adjusting every pixel in every frame, the end result is a dynamically-optimized image with deep and strong colors that are very natural to the human eye. When the visual is dark, for instance night scenes, this technology is programmed to adjust the brightness output of each detail and create a well-balanced contrast so that rainy days will not just look like a total blur on the screen.

Mighty Stylish – Gloss Satin Finish
The outer case of the ASUS Essentio CS 5110 Mini Desktop PC is made by applying high quality double injection techniques, similar to that of famous Italian designer furniture for a luxurious feel. Then the double-injected molding is polished to create the crystal-like glossy dark look to give it that beautiful satin finish.

Specifications

Chipset	- NB: G35 - SB: ICH8
CPU	- Intel Core2 Duo/Pentium Dual-Core/Pentium 4/Celeron D - 800~1333 MHz FSB
Memory	- DDR2 800, Dual Channel - So-DIMM Slot: 2 - Support max. 4GB
ODD	Slim slot-in Blu-ray SuperMulti or DVD SuperMulti
HDD	3.5" 250G~1TB SATAII
Graphic	MXM MN8600M GT 256M
AUDIO	- Azalia 7.1 Sounds - S/PDIF out (Optical)
LAN	1000/100/10 Mbps
WiFi	802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
IR Receiver	Built-in
Front IO	- 1 x 1394 (4pin) - 1 x 10-in-1 Card Reader - 1 x Headphone - 1 x Microphone - 2 x USB 2.0
Rear IO	- 1 x HDMI - 1 x VGA - 1 x DC Power in - 1 x Line-In/Line-Out(Front L/R)/Mic-in - 1 x Back Surround LR/Side Surround LR/Center LFE - 1 x SPDIF out (Optical) - 1 x RJ45 LAN - 4 x USB2.0
OS	Vista Home Premium
Dimension (mm)	200mm (D) X 290mm (H) X 80mm(W)
Weight	3.4 kg
Power	120W
Accessory	- 1 x Slim Multimedia Keyboard/Mouse - 1 x Vista MCE remote controller(IR) - 1 x HDMI to DVI adapter - 1 x Anti-Slip Pad

Corsair Receives 80+ Certifications on all Power Supply Units

80 PLUS Certification is the gold standard for power supply energy efficiency. The 80 PLUS specification requires computer and server PSUs to be at least 80 percent efficient at 20 percent, 50 percent and 100 percent rated load, ultimately improving computer stability and saving money on electricity bills. In addition, there are also performance benefits, such as reduced heat output which increases system reliability and minimizes the need for loud, high rpm cooling fans.

“We at the 80 PLUS program are delighted to recognize and applaud Corsair for having a complete power supply product line that is 80 PLUS certified,” said Jason Boehlke of the 80 PLUS Organization.

Source: HotHardware

Assasin's Creed PC Now Available

PC players will experience four brand-new exclusive types of investigation missions, providing even more ways for players to explore the various locations of the Third Crusade.

The four new investigation missions are an addition to the five original ones found in the console version; meaning, players will never have to complete the same (investigation) mission twice before moving on to assassinate their next target.

• Rooftop Race Challenge: Upon meeting an informer, the player will have a set amount of time to reach a second informer. The reward for reaching the second informer on time will be information on the mission target.
• Archer Stealth Assassination Challenge: The player will need to assassinate all archers, without being seen, in a certain zone to help other assassins carry out their missions.
• Merchant Stand Destruction Challenge: An informer requires the player to break a set number of merchant stands. The merchants have ties to Altair's target and their activities must be stopped.
• Escort Challenge: The player needs to securely escort a fellow Assassin from point A to point B.

Source: Actiontrip

Writer Stephen King Slams Attempt to Ban on Violent Videogames

Here is what he had to say,

"What makes me crazy is when politicians take it upon themselves to play surrogate parents. The results of that are usually disastrous.... What really makes me insane is how eager politicians are to use the pop culture as a whipping boy. It's easy for them, even sort of fun, because the pop-cult always hollers nice and loud. Also, it allows legislators to ignore the elephants in the living room."

Source: Techdirt

Sweat Ducts may act as giveaway antennas

Here is a snippet from the news story,

Our skin may contain millions of tiny "antennas" in the form of microscopic sweat ducts, say researchers in Israel. In experiments, they found evidence that signals produced by bouncing electromagnetic waves off the tiny tubes might reveal a person's physical and emotional state from a distance.

The research might eventually result in lie detectors that require no physical contact with the subject.

Source: NewsScientist

Yahoo! Responds to Microsoft's 3 Week Ultimatum

In a response to Microsoft, a letter signed by CEO Jerry Yang and chairman Roy Bostock, Yahoo! stated that, "We will not allow you or anyone else to acquire the company for anything less than its full value." they further add that, "We consider your threat to commence an unsolicited offer and proxy contest to displace our independent Board members to be counterproductive and inconsistent with your stated objective of a friendly transaction."

Ziff Davis (1UP/EGM/GFW) Files for Bankrupcy

Officials from Ziff Davis Media, owner of consumer press outlets 1up.com and Electronic Gaming Monthly, have announced that the company is filing for a voluntary bankruptcy to implement its restructuring plans, hoping to emerge from the Chapter 11 by this summer.

read more | digg story

Google Offers Search Within Search

Google has started offering search boxes within their search results. In the example above, a search box is offered for Amazon. The new service seems to be restricted to larger sites with a slant towards retails sites. Borders, BestBuy and OfficeMax offer the secondary box, as does a search for Wikipedia and The NY Times.

Unreal 3 and Gears of War PC Modding Tutorials

I spent quite a lot of time looking for some solid tutorials in order to make mods for UT3 and GoW PC and came up with the following helpful links.

http://www.veoh.com/channels/HouseofUnreal&

CannedMushrooms has some great video tutorials both for Gears of War PC as well as UT3.
Another helpful link for the basic modding and mapping tutorials for the Unreal 3 engine is

http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/

If anyone comes up with anything useful for the modding community, please notify me in the comments section below and I will update this post with their links and their names! Cheers!