Monthly Archives: June 2012
NVIDIA: Top end PC GPU 24 times faster than that in Xbox 360
Even next-gen consoles are unlikely to match that, says NVIDIA’s principal engineer.
The current top end graphics card on the market is approximately 24 times as powerful as the card inside the Xbox 360, according to Simon Green, principal engineer at NVIDIA.
Speaking to New Scientist, Green said that PC gaming visuals have already dramatically outpaced consoles. He also believes that next-gen consoles are unlikely to reach that level of raw horsepower.
This gap in graphical power was made obvious when Epic Games, makers of the Unreal graphics engine that powers many modern games, showed off the newest version of the engine on a top-of-the-range PC. Even the next generation of consoles is unlikely to match that.
The NVIDIA engineer also believes that the games console might one day be completely redundant: “One day, the whole idea of owning a separate piece of hardware to play games on might be completely redundant,” said Green.
VideoGamer.com Analysis
It’s no surprise that the current PC GPUs are significantly faster than what is inside our games consoles. The Xbox 360 is seven years old this year, and the PlayStation 3 is six. While we aren’t going to get console GPUs that match the raw power of top end PC equivalents, dedicated games consoles are always capable of doing more with the grunt they have.
Microsoft to bring interactive ads to Xbox Live
Microsoft has announced plans for interactive ads on Xbox Live.
The spots, dubbed NUads, will appear within Xbox apps that feature video content, much like the ads that appear on free mobile apps. These NUads are scheduled to start running in the autumn with three launch partners: Toyota, Unilever and Samsung Mobile USA.
A brief history of: Call of Duty
We like to think that games such as Zelda and Sonic have influenced us in our day to day lives, but so have more recent entries into the library of video game history. Call of Duty is one such title, that has been responsible for many aspects of the culture today, and despite the love-it-or-hate-it relationship it has with gamers today, its still going to be around for quite a while.
Here’s a look back at nine years of explosions and facial hair.
OnLive Boasts 100% Uptime at Two Year Anniversary
Onlive Inc. has announced that Onlive has enjoyed one hundred per cent uptime for its entire two year existence. OnLive went live at E3 2010 with just nineteen games in its library on only PCs and Macs over Ethernet. Two years later OnLive is celebrating its anniversary with hundreds of new games, and is not only available on PCs and Macs, but on TVs, tablets and smartphones over wired, Wi-Fi and cellular connections. Onlive Inc. has also announced several ways in which the service will continue to move forward in the coming year.
Konami hints at Kinect support for PES 2013
Users might be able to substitute players using voice commands in this year’s PES.
The Xbox 360 version of PES 2013 could include Kinect support, Konami has hinted, suggesting that users may be able to substitute players using Kinect’s voice commands.
“FIFA has implemented the option to give instructions to players by voice of Kinect feature,” PES 2013′s marketing producer Manorito Hosoda told VideoGamer.
“But we think it is not so intuitive control. Kinect may be used in PES for substituting players. It is just a fresh idea, but it can be used for substituting players in the game.”
At this point, a Konami PR clarified that Kinect support “could” be included in PES 2013, without going so far as to confirm it.
Clearly, Hosoda hasn’t been paying all that much attention to what FIFA 13′s Kinect support offers players.
The game will let players make changes to their team’s formation, make substitutions and swear at the referee using voice commands - a similar feature to what Konami hopes to implement in PES.
Battlefield 3 double XP weekend incoming
Battlefield 3′s Close Quarters expansion pack is all kinds of brilliant. Now there’s even more good news for Battlefield 3 players – EA and DICE are hosting a double XP weekend starting Saturday June 16th – for all maps, all modes, on all ranked servers.
The details of times can found on the official Battlefield 3 blog. Explosions!
Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and others scramble for new top-level domains like .app, .xbox, and .book
.app is one of the most contested top-level domains, with 13 applicants including Google and Amazon. Microsoft has applied for a total of 11 domain names, including .Xbox, .Hotmail, and .Windows. Apple appears to have only applied for one, just .Apple, and Google has applied for over 100 domain names including: .Android, .Dog, and .Blog.
We already knew some applications: Google announced recently it had applied for .docs, .youtube, and .lol, and British non-profit Nominet has applied for .cymru and .wales. Organizations will have to pay a minimum of $25,000 per year to keep the domain, and not all applications will succeed. 231 domain names have more than one application, and 731 applications overlap.
Applications will be dealt with 500 at a time, and more than 1,000 could be live within a year. The first of the new top-level domains will go live in the first quarter of 2013. ICANN says “this is a historic day for the internet and for the more than 2 million people that depend on it, because the internet is about to change, forever.”
Nintendo cuts staff bonuses by 20%, report claims
Nintendo is to cut its employees’ summer bonuses by 20 per cent after poor performance this year, according to a report.
Japanese business outlet Nikkei claims that the console giant has taken the action after declining demand for Wii hardware and software.
The decision to make cuts comes despite the Nintendo 3DS reportedly shifting more than 13.5 million units worldwide. Executives at the company are also set to have their bonuses slashed, although it is not clear by how much.
In April Nintendo reported its first annual loss since entering the console market, posting a net loss of £329 million for the 12 months ending March 31st.
The console giant is expected to launch its Wii U console by the end of the year, which could help turn around the company’s poor recent financial performance.
Diablo 3 Gamers Using Cheats, Hacks, Bots & Exploits Will Be Banned – Blizzard
Diablo 3 players could find themselves banned from playing any version of the game in the near future – if found cheating, Blizzard has confirmed.s,
Blizzard has reiterated its stance on Diablo 3 cheating, reiterating that as per the game’s end user license agreement, players caught “using hacks, bots, or modifications in any form,” can be permanently banned from Battle.net, resulting in no access to the game itself.
“Blizzard Entertainment has always taken cheating in any form in Blizzard games very seriously, and that’s no different for Diablo 3,” reads the Diablo 3 blog.
“If a Diablo 3 player is found to be cheating or using hacks, bots, or modifications in any form, then as outlined in the Diablo 3 end user license agreement, that player can be permanently banned from the game. This means that the player will be permanently unable to log in to Battle.net to play Diablo 3 with his or her account.”
The Diablo 3 EULA is strict about players using playing with unaltered code, Blizzard added: “Playing Diablo 3 legitimately means playing with an unaltered game client. Doing otherwise violates our policies for Battle.net and Diablo 3, and it goes against the spirit of fair play that all of our games are based on. We strongly recommend that you avoid using any hacks, cheats, bots, or exploits. Suspensions and bans of players that have used or start using cheats and hacks will begin in the near future.”
If you’re running any sorts of hacks, bots, or mods you may want to cease and desist right now.
“Hopes are high” for TimeSplitters 4
TimeSplitters 4 could yet become a reality… although it won’t be a retail game.
That’s according to Crytek, which is the current owner of the studio once known as Free Radical and now working under the guise of Crytek UK.
However, the long-awaited multiplayer sequel remains nothing but a dream for now.
“Look, I wish we were working on it. I will say that,” he told CVG.
“I think hopes are high, but change has to happen in the platform space. I’m very excited potentially about the idea of a TimeSplitters for [Crytek’s free-to-play gaming platform] G-Face.
“The thing with TimeSplitters is, if we made a sequel to TimeSplitters, nobody would accept this apart from some fans, and we don’t know how big the fan community is unfortunately.
“And we don’t want to design this as a packaged goods game that launches on a console, and even if we wanted to I don’t think publishers would like the idea. That is the truth, and that was the truth even before we bought Free Radical.”
