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Week in gaming: Spending binges, 3D tech, and new PS3 firmware

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:49:39 +0000

Libraries embrace new technology
Kathleen George began her teleconference with the Mentor Library Profilers Book Club by apologizing.

Discover How To Repair Your Xbox 360 From Home – Beat The Red Lights This Weekend And Get Back To Gaming

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 22:58:59 +0000

Discover How To Repair Your Xbox 360 – Get Rid Of All Errors In Under 1-Hour With Ease
If you found your way to this article then no doubt you probably have one of the many hardware issues that the Xbox360 suffers from. You can get everything from the numerous red light errors, games freezing up and also DVD drive problems where the console refuses to load your games.

Read more on OfficialWire

Discover How To Repair Your Xbox 360 From Home – Beat The Red Lights This Weekend And Get Back To Gaming
If you have found your way to this article then you most likely looking for some sound advice on how you can repair your Xbox 360 and get back to gaming.

Read more on OfficialWire

How Long Will It Last? Xbox 360 Repair Woes? At Last You Can Get Back To Gaming – Rid The Red Lights

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:39:58 +0000

Brand New! Xbox 360 Fix – Red Lights, Freeze Ups And Dvd Drive Problems Gone In An Hour!
If you have an Xbox 360 console that is giving you the red lights of doom then you need to figure out a way to get it fixed!

Read more on OfficialWire

How Long Will It Last? Xbox 360 Repair Woes? At Last You Can Get Back To Gaming – Rid The Red Lights
Beginner Xbox 360 repair guide anyone is to stop the heat!

Read more on OfficialWire

DIY Improvements to your Gaming System with Xbox 360 Mods

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:09:23 +0000

It has been said that avid gamers have too much time on their hands and too much technology in their brains. Well, maybe not yet said, but it should be. This explains the need for many of these fans to make the Xbox system and modify it slightly to make it more comfortable, easier or cooler looking. Type and once the technical assistants have discovered ways to improve the system with its own version of Xbox 360 mods are enough to share with the rest of the techno-challenged world. They do this through a variety of websites that will lead the mods Xbox 360 for the general public with instructions that even the less tech-smart mind can grasp. This last part may not be entirely true, at least I want to finish at Wal-Mart bought another Xbox for a few hundred dollars, you may want to let the mods Xbox 360 for the experts. However, minor adjustments may be just enough to make the machine running at full capacity and then some. At least you can see some sites that have an incredible spirit together to help your Xbox console is the best game possible. The most common Xbox 360 Mods Looking for Xbox 360 Mods purely aesthetic value or more is the role and performance of your thing? You can find ways to change the color of the LED on the front Xbox fairly easily if you want a simple project to try first. For hard-core gamers looking for the extra edge in your game, why not add an extra button or two on your controller to help you defeat the bosses easily? The Internet can help you go step by step instructions. Some Xbox owners have complained about the noise of the machine, so there are instructions online on Xbox 360 amendments that will help soothe your machine in a few easy steps. Of course, a step that requires you to open your system and get down and dirty with their consoles from the intestine. Again, if this type of work makes you feel the slightest scruple, it is better to leave such work to professionals. If you are a professional, maybe you want to share your work in one of the many forums that are designed for the Xbox 360 Mods. You get to show their abilities and others will be inspired by their experience. If you can not beat ‘em, change em’!

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Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:39:00 +0000

Will work with future Xbox 360 Wireless Accessories
Provides up to a 30-foot range for complete wireless freedom
Use up to four Wireless Controllers and four Wireless Headsets simultaneously with one Wireless Gaming Receiver
Easily integrates with PC gaming scenarios and utilizes the same binding technology as Xbox 360
Provides a great value by eliminating the need for additional accessories for Windows-based gaming at an attractive price point

Product DescriptionThe Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows lets you take your quality, wireless gaming experiences that you enjoy on your console and experience them on your Windows gaming platform. The Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver provides up to a 30-foot range for complete wireless freedom. Use up to four Wireless Controllers and four Wireless Headsets simultaneously with one Wireless Gaming Receiver. The Receiver easily integrates with PC gaming scenarios and utilizes . . . More >>

Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows

Will Physics be the Next Big Thing in Pc Gaming?

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:56:48 +0000

Realism has been a driving force behind gaming, but games themselves are nothing without the hardware they run on. Without graphics cards we would not be able to experience the immersive virtual worlds we have been spoiled with. There is however a problem with realism; its very resource intensive.

The more game developers try to create more realistic worlds the more current technology is pushed to its limit. If you ask average Joe what realism in gaming is all about they would probably tell you about the graphics, but any gamer knows graphics are nothing if the world they render is skin deep. This is where physics comes into play. Physics have been present in games in some form since the start. Take Pong for example; two paddles on each side of the screen bounce a ball between them, if the ball lands at a certain angle with the paddle going at a certain speed then the resulting bounce will be relative to those variables.

Physics is actually a lot simpler than any explanation can make it, the simplest way to describe how game physics should work is by looking at the real world. This is what game developers have been doing for years; trying to bring real world to the virtual.

Cry Havok

There are two elements to game physics; namely the hardware and the engine. There are two main physics engines at present, these are Havok and PhysX. Havok’s physics engine is unsurprisingly designed by Havok, it was first released back in 2000 and is currently on its 6th version which was released in August 2008. Havok has been used in over 200 game titles; these include Company of Heroes, Soul Calibur IV, and the upcoming StarCraft II and Diablo III. Havok is released to developers (after they pay a license fee of course) as a Software Development Kit also known as an SDK. This SDK allows developers to use the engine in all aspects of their game that require physics. Havok physics is in fact such a successful engine that it has been integrated into the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP Nintendo Wii, and the Xbox 360.

Havok’s success has been due to its easy implementation not only by game designers but also by movie studios. Havok proudly lists on its site a few on the movies that the Havok physic SDK has been used on, this list includes 10. 000BC, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Troy. Havok also quotes on their site the numerous compliments that its engines have received from some of the major development studios. These studios include LucasArts, Bungie Studios, Bethesda Studios, Midway, and Irrational Games.

The competition to Havok is PhysX. PhysX was the start of all the physics commotion. Ageia burst onto the scene touting their new hardware and engine as the greatest thing since sliced bread, unfortunately some people believed them. Not long after the launch of the Ageia PhysX card and the accompanying SDK in 2006 game developers quickly started incorporating the engine into their games.

One of the most notable games at the time was Tom Clancy’s Advanced Warfighter. Ironically Havok claimed that Warfighter used the Havok engine. While Havok was not hardware dependent and therefore could run on any system configuration, PhysX was proprietary and therefore coded to run on specific hardware, namely the Ageia PhysX card. In the beginning the hardware was the Ageia PhysX card but since Nvidia’s buy out of Ageia all CUDA enabled Nvidia graphics cards are capable of utilizing the PhysX SDK. A few gentlemen on the internet have however hacked drivers and have gotten PhysX to run on a couple of HD4870’s.

PhysX has an impressive list of titles under its belt but before the take-over by Nvidia there was very little reason to warrant the purchase of an expensive Physics Processing Unit (PPU). The frame rate hit in the beginning was a shock to some, but after a few tweaks there was new hope for the foundling tech. Unfortunately in the long run, a frame rate boost was too little too late and hardly the point of the PPU, namely to provide more interaction in the virtual world without any performance degradation.

Since the acquisition of Ageia by Nvidia there has been hope for those who wanted a PPU and were unable to afford one. Nvidia released CUDA, which takes advantage of the unified architecture of the 8-series and all subsequent series GPUs and allows the system to use the processing capabilities of the GPU in a more general application such as physics. This approach turns the GPU into a GPGPU (GenerahPurpose processing on Graphics Processing Unit). What this basically means is that if you have a few clock cycles to spare then why not throw some more calculations at the GPU and score a more realistic environment because of it. That would be the Utopian idea, however the facts are that if you want PhysX to work on your Nvidia GPU then you best have at least two of them.

AMD, the swing vote. . .

With the acquisition of Ageia by Nvidia and Havok by Intel, AMD was left to decide which side it wanted to fight on and in this case they chose the devil they knew. It seems that AMD prefer Havok even though Nvidia made PhysX an open standard in March 2008. While AMD has its own SDK available this is more for its own FireStream cards which are not targeted at the consumer market but rather high performance computing sectors such as medical and finance.

AMD and Intel have been working on improved implementations of Havok on the hardware level; this alone should be a statement of epic proportions. Does Nvidia’s PhysX really stand a chance if both of the largest microprocessor manufacturers are supporting the competition? AMD’s decision to stick with Havok is probably due to Havok’s maturity as an engine, and that it was more ‘open’ than PhysX, which kept in line with AMD’s market strategy. AMD has said that it sees no reason to switch to PhysX at this point but as true to form they didn’t deny the future potential.

Newton’s four horsemen

The simulation of real world Newtonian physics is a partnership between hardware and software. While the SDKs and APIs can pass the information onto the hardware, the hardware itself must be capable of handling the immense calculations required to provide this realism factor. In the world of physics hardware there are four options; namely: Ageia, Nvidia, AMD, and Intel. Ageia is now redundant thanks to Nvidia, who AMD are copying while Intel is reinventing the wheel.

An interesting state of affairs when considering that Havok is for now limited to CPUs. Fear not though for as you read this, very smart people are punching away at their keyboards, hammering out code that will move current Havok calculations from the CPU to the GPU changing the landscape once again and justifying AMD working so closely with the Havok team.

So where does Intel fall into the picture? Well the answer is two-fold. Firstly as owners of Havok they benefit from AMD’s interest and support, having a major GPU player supporting your software is just the kind of support that a company needs when their competition is in a similar situation. AMD GPUs are present in two of the three major gaming consoles. It is this pressure that might see developers adopt Havok instead of PhysX.

Larrabee all that you can be

Intel’s upcoming GPU, Larrabee is rumored to be the next big thing in GPU design. Intel has designed Larrabee from the ground up to be a GPU based on the x86 instruction set. What this means is instead of simplistic stream processors found in current GPUs, Larrabee will be hypothetically 8, 16 or 32 CPU cores speculatively based on the new Core 17 fab process. These CPU cores are all based on the old Pentium design and even though they have been updated to support x86-64 are unable to achieve out-of-order execution. Since these are CPU cores they would require an entirely new approach to graphics meaning that while GPUs are trying to be CPUs, the opposite is also taking place. Larrabee is based on x86 CPUs. This will make the transition for Havok a lot smoother as it currently works on the same platform. Intel has hinted that Larrabee will be capable of the absurdly illusive art of real-time Ray Tracing amongst others, something GPUs have never been powerful enough to achieve. Details are still sketchy but the graphics world is holding its breath to see if a multi-core CPU can be a GPU and if so, what API it would use.

Long story short, if they get it right, Intel will have the hardware capable of doing physics calculations and thanks to their acquisition of Havok they will be laughing all the way to the bank if Larrabee is launched capable of GPU and PPU tasks.

How will the Apple Fall?

Things are not as cut and dry as they appear. Information is sketchy regarding some deals but it seems that AMD could have also adopted PhysX. The challenge that developers face is whether they should code for Havok or PhysX; this little choice could spell disaster for both. Some speculate that developers could start calling for Microsoft to write a physics API into DirectX because supporting a single universal API is easier than supporting two. An API war could see one side, or even both, making their API fully open in an attempt to lure developers and make it a standard.

This sort of competition is good for consumers in the long run but unfortunately will leave early adopters cursing if it doesn’t go in their favor. Whichever way you slice it, physics is still young, and like graphics of old, requires time to mature. Hopefully in a year or two the future of physics will be a clear path and consumers can spend their hard earned money on technology that they can actually use.

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Grandma, Can Wii Play Now? Consoles Target Family Gaming

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:48:50 +0000

Christmas as a child was always spent building up to the big day when you would wake early, rush to the tree and start shaking the boxes underneath it that mysteriously appeared during the night before. In years gone by we got excited about our 16-bit state of the art Super Nintendos and MegaDrives, only for the unpacking and plugging-in to create a divide between the gamers and non-gamers in the house. This has largely remained the status quo whenever a new console or game was given as a gift, but surely the ideal would be for the whole family to gather round and enjoy it together?

These past few Christmases have bucked the trend with the release of SingStar and Buzz games on the Sony PlayStation 2, not to mention the success story of the Wii. In each of these cases it seems that the main barrier to non-gamers, namely the complicated control systems, has been bridged by innovations in user inputs. For SingStar anyone can pick up the microphone and start singing – the main problem lies in whether they can sing in tune!

What was seen as a haven for gamers became an accessible forum for budding singers who had their sights set on the pop music industry. Practising alongside their idols, every singer is comfortable with a microphone in their hands and the success of SingStar proves this.

It was this innovation that led to the creation of a new input to accompany the Buzz series of games. For anyone that has ever watched a quiz show and thought they’d be able to do better, now is their chance. Buzz, with its simplified controller and multiple rounds of random questions based on TV game show formats, has allowed all the family to gather around the TV and be a part of the entertainment. It is not uncommon to see parents revelling in the delight of triumphing over their children in an arena normally renowned as belonging to the kids. Since the original music quiz version there have been another seven Buzz titles (with more in the pipeline) including versions specifically for younger children, realising the goal of inclusive gaming across generations.

Not to be out done and taking things one step further, Nintendo developed their most recent console with this ‘gaming for the family’ idea at the core of the project. The end result was the release of the Nintendo Wii with its distinctive controller and advertising campaign all new to the video game market.

We’ve all seen the adverts that focus on lots of people of all ages, genders and nationalities playing, especially family groups all enjoying the game of choice, but the focus is not on the game anymore, it is on the people playing. This is no gimmick; the Nintendo Wii has outsold its Sony and Microsoft counterparts and bares no sign of losing popularity any time soon.

On the internet you do not have to look far before you come across forums extolling the Wii for bringing new avenues of joy to family get togethers. From pensioners to youngsters, the intuitive controls have brought the whole family to the video game arena and it’s been such a success that one chain of retirement homes in the US has implemented the Nintendo Wii games system into the everyday life of residents after a grandchild brought in their new toy to show their grandma!

Andrew Regan writes for a digital marketing agency.

The unparalleled world of gaming with Wii games and PS3 games

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:38:15 +0000

The world of gaming refuses to die anytime soon as interesting gaming titles on platforms such as PS3; Xbox; Wii continue to rock indeed! Flawless; impeccable games with incredible graphics; gameplay is in fact not easy to find these days.

We Love Golf for Nintendo Wii; Top Spin 3 for Nintendo Wii and World Championship Off Road Racing for Nintendo Wii are some of the outstanding wii games that exude powerful aspects from every step of the gameplay.

We Love Golf for Nintendo Wii helps you transform your Wii Remote into a virtual set of golf clubs, by helping you create the most blistering; immersive golfing experience available off the greens! Thanks to the partnership with Camelot Software Planning, a reputed player for developing successful sports games for home systems; including Hot Shots Golf and the Mario Golf series.

Ardent sports fans can enjoy titles like Top Spin 3, the industry’s most amazing action-packed tennis video game experience, featuring today’s biggest tennis sensations, including young guns like Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova with inclusion of classic players such as Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg and Monica Seles.

You will be stunned to witness more than 40 prestigious; visually stunning venues from around the world such as Roland Garros in Paris (French Open) and Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne (Australian Open). A new and innovative Player Creator to customise their own unique tennis stars with free-form body sculpting, makeup and tattoos makes room for a scintillating gaming feel and experience.

World Championship off Road Racing for Nintendo Wii takes you the most breathtaking; powerful off-road vehicles in this hair-raising quest for sand supremacy by experience incredible thrill; danger in wheel-to-wheel racing action over some of the wildest and most treacherous terrain of the Bajahas. When Wii games are going full swing; one can expect a masterpiece from ps3 games as well.

EA SPORTS FIFA 09 on PS3 can be a riveting sporting; gaming feel as you step onto the pitch and play professional football in your own unique style. Savour the most authentic football simulation sporting more than 250 core gameplay additions and enhancements that deliver the most responsive, intelligent and realistic action ever in the FIFA series! Truly a remarkable gaming journey; one that is going to change the definition of your agony; elation; jubilance and indeed the whole perspective and outlook as far as games are concerned!, Sony PSP and in fact every other platform of gaming at its best!

Angelina Maben is an expert in writing on technology related issues particularly on games and hands free technology. For more information for ps3 games and wii games
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