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I agree the idea is stupid. Here is the bill.

Here's a review/comparison of the two. In summary, they've got different strengths and weaknesses, but offer very similar (good) performance.

Sometimes the simple games are the best.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo for the original PlayStation is a great example of this. Everyone that I have showed this game to has become hopelessly addicted, yet it could easily be coded by a small team.

Even though it was released back in 1997, it consistently goes for good money on eBay, because it is so much fun and so hard to find.

I also found this: Future Crew formed bitboys, a graphic cards company.

But I have a vague memory of that they also made some games...

Nintendo updates GBA
Much as sources including reputed UK gaming mag Edge have been speculating over
the last few months, the GBA SP boasts an updated clamshell design, improved ...

Nintendo announces Backlit GBA
Dubbed GBA SP, the new model comes in a redesigned clamshell case with
a screen that flips up (think cellphone) to reveal the control pad. ...

New Game Boy Advance revealed ... conditions. Partly to offset the demands of the internal light, Nintendo
has added rechargeable batteries to the GBA SP. And to ...
The Next Game Boy Is Here
Nintendo to sell premium model of Game Boy Advance

Yep, ATi Radeon 9700 Pro beats nVidia Ti 4600 big time at 1600x1200 with 4x AA (AntiAliasing) and 8x AF (Anisotropic Filtering); see here.

If GeForceFX can't beat the 9700 Pro at 2x AA then probably it won't stand a chance vs the R350 in todays games; the R350 (and RV350) should come at about the same time as GeForce FX, or shortly thereafter.

The xbox is the killer app here. Any graphic card develope touching it looses development speed on their high end cards (read nVidia).

the 9500 lost in every single test vs the 4400, and even the 9700 lost a few

maybe, but the test resolution was 1024x768. I run my monitor at 1600x1200.

Check out these test results. And these tests are with 8x anisotropic filtering and 4X AA. High stressing for any card.

The 9700 Pro, 9700, and 9500 Pro spank ALL the current nVidia cards at resolutions above 1024x768.

As for the "ATI's looks like crap" I'm not sure what you mean. ATi has always had the best picture. nVidia was always faster but not nearly the same quality picture.

And I pray that ATi has fixed their driver issues. I always hated that they updated their drivers every 6 months. But since the Catalyst 3.0 drivers were released so soon I have new hope.

The only difference is 1/2 the memory bandwidth. While that may seem like a lot, the 9500 pro actually gives @ 70% of the performance of the 9700 Pro.

and....

The 9700 Pro, 9700, and the 9500 Pro use the exact same GPU. So download a new bios at www.3dchipset.com/temp/warp11.zip and you can overclock the GPU to get almost 90% of the performance of a 9700 Pro.

Read all about it here Firingsquad.com

Also make sure to get DirectX 9

and New Catalyst 3.0 Drivers

And the 9500 Pro is a cheap at $180 delivered.

www.pricewatch.com

Daikatana: The second game in history to be deemed to be so bad that it got "The Microwave Award" (TM) from Thresh's Firingsquad. Here is a link for all you lazy bastards out there who don't want to do any searching.

If you buy quality nVidia boards from ASUS, or Visiontek (now defunct) you will be sure to have quality parts in them.

Also add Leadtek to the list starting with their WinFastTi500. I have their Ti200 (the 128MB with hardware monitoring) card, and to my eyes, they match my Matrox Marvel G400.

Well not exactly, I mean the clones would need to grow up on a strict diet of /. -- but that was so obvious I didn't feel it needed to be mentioned.

On the serious side, did Einstein learn his greatness from school?

How about John Carmack? After all, he just implemented everything he learned about bsp's and fps's from his college classes. Oh wait he couldn't have because he dropped out of college. I guess all his peers who stayed in college must have made much bigger contributions to the software gaming industry since they kept learning in school.

How about Srinivas Ramanujan? Self taught and dirt poor, he made substantial mathematical contributions.

All of these guys transcended their environments to achieve greatness even before the advent of /. Just think what the clones will achieve!

Firing Squad, also has some preview (with pictures) up here. From a technical stand point, seems to be pretty nifty, but I'm not convinced I'd rather have this card instead of 3 hours with a "massage therapist".

Firing Squad, also has some preview (with pictures) up here. From a technical stand point, seems to be pretty nifty, but I'm not convinced I'd rather have this card instead of 3 hours with a "massage therapist".

They also have a preview. (which is as good as most reviews)

The conclusion, just point to any tech site and you will find a review.

In other words, I feel they just wanted Rare (and Bungie for that matter) for the sake of owning Rare and preventing those popular franchises continuing to make mega$$$ for Nintendo.

Nintendo still owns the popular franchise and can have its "HAL" division develop them instead. The important things that Rare took with it are 1. banjo-kazooie, 2. conker, 3. perfect dark, and 4. the 3D model data for the characters in Donkey Kong.

I'm sure if Bungie had their way, HALO would be on every console available

Even the Game Boy Advance? Either they'd have to turn it into a side-scroller or they'd have to make it look like Doom 1 in 120x120 pixel "lo-detail" resolution at 15 frames per second.

Final Fantasy on Gamecube

After all the Doom and Duke Nukem versions were just flat out pathetic.

Don't you disrespect Doom Advance. Even though it runs in 120x120 resolution, it preserves almost everything that was good about Doom for PC, and a GBA is much lighter (i'm talking mass not brightness), provides more battery power per charge (even with the Pelican cover/light turned on), and costs a lot less than a typical used late-486 laptop. And you don't have to play on a steenkin keyboard.

I'll agree that Duke Nukem 64 by 2D Realms was no fun (having to walk through a wall to beat the early "prison" level smacks of trolling for 1-900 hint line revenue), especially when put up against Rare's Goldeneye.

It's an old article but it's a start

here

That is my understanding as well. Despite the fact that it has 128K L2 Cache like its Celeron sibling, the cache is 8-way set associative like the PIII.

Sources: Anandtech (specifically discussing Xbox and other consoles), and Firingsquad discussion of PIII and Celeron differences.

Hans

The reason for a lack of a Matrix game is the fact that they're waiting to produce a massively multiplayer subscription-based one, so they can get every penny *every month*.

Power lines are noisy, and not just a little bit. Then you've got the whole shielding issue (mentioned in other posts). X10 made a home communication thing that used powerlines as the means of transmission (had to build a reciever for one in college) and the amount of crap that comes through on those lines is disgusting.

Look at the reviews of home networking / print sharing equipment over powerlines... the speed is pretty poor. Heres a review over at firingsquad While those speeds may be fine for internet sharing in one household, imagine trying to put together an entire town?

Maybe they've got something else going on though. Best of luck to them.

• [H]ard|OCP Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.80GHz : Intel is breaking out the big guns with their sights set directly on the competition. Will the 2.80GHz Northwood be enough for Intel to hold onto the performance crown?
• Anandtech Intel's Pentium 4 2.80GHz - Moving to the Head of the Class
• Tom's Hardware Speed Isn't Everything: P4/2800 Meets Athlon XP 2600+
• Ace's Hardware Faster Still: The 2.8 GHz Pentium 4
• FiringSquad Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz Review
• Hexus.net Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz Review
• SimHQ.com Intel "Northwood" 2.80GHz Pentium 4 Processor using .13 Technology
• Tech Report Intel's Pentium 4 2.8GHz processor - Two billion eight-hundred thousand hertz
• Hot Hardware The Pentium 4 2.8GHz Processor - Intel ups the anti once again
• xbit labs Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz against Athlon XP 2600+
• VR Zone Intel Fastest Pentium 4 2.8Ghz Review
• HardcoreWare A Thorn in AMD's Hide
• Lost Circuits Pentium4 2.8 GHz - Another Hit And Run

• [H]ard|OCP Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.80GHz : Intel is breaking out the big guns with their sights set directly on the competition. Will the 2.80GHz Northwood be enough for Intel to hold onto the performance crown?
• Anandtech Intel's Pentium 4 2.80GHz - Moving to the Head of the Class
• Tom's Hardware Speed Isn't Everything: P4/2800 Meets Athlon XP 2600+
• Ace's Hardware Faster Still: The 2.8 GHz Pentium 4
• FiringSquad Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz Review
• Hexus.net Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz Review
• SimHQ.com Intel "Northwood" 2.80GHz Pentium 4 Processor using .13 Technology
• Tech Report Intel's Pentium 4 2.8GHz processor - Two billion eight-hundred thousand hertz
• Hot Hardware The Pentium 4 2.8GHz Processor - Intel ups the anti once again
• xbit labs Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz against Athlon XP 2600+

There are several more 2600+ reviews, and these are much better too.
AMDZone.com
Hot Hardware
Tech-Report
Overclockers.com.au
Ace's Hardware
Firing Squad
Hexus
xbit
Anandtech
Van's Hardware
VIA Hardware
The Inquirer

I gained interest in Leadtek when I read a review about the quality of the 2D filters they use on that Ti500 card. It rivals both ATI and even Matrox! (That's what really sparked my interest since I enjoyed the sharp 2D of my G400, but it just didn't cut it when it came to 3D games.)

They also mentioned that every Nvidia-based card Leadtek releases will have the same high quality 2D filters on it. Since then, I ended up buying a Titanium 200 TDH from them and its 2D display is up to par with my G400.

I'm happy :)

Be your own judge.

http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/cinefx/defa ult.asp

Joy.

>> Nobody will accept Ziff Davis doing games.

Huh? They have owned Computer Gaming World for quite a while.

>> Best they stick to what they do but focus their attention at serving their customer base and not catering to the OEMs.

News flash: Their customer base is the OEMs, not the readers. Your paltry few bucks per issue barely covers the cost of postage or distribution. The advertisers pay most of the costs.

Um, I see a lot of comments along the lines of "NVIDIA aren't including loops in the language because GPUs just can't do loops". It seems NVIDIA aren't aware of that, the next-generation "NV3x" hardware supports loops up to 64 levels of nesting... They've also grown the maximum pixel shader program size by a nice little factor of 512 (65,536 rather than 128 instructions per program). Also, it says "dynamic flow control" in the chart, which sounds like maybe arbitrary branching (there's your GOTO right there) could be supported.

That said, it does seem a bit weird not to make Cg strong enough to include features that are obviously needed for their own next-generation of hardware... But all the conspiracy theories have already been used up, I'll just settle for introducing some facts in the discussion. ;^)

Here is another review by Thresh's Firingsquad.

Here ya go! It's Cheetos, but so what?

Nope, the first Q3 test was for Linux; after that the Mac and windows versions.

Bzzzt, wrong. (Sorry, had to say that.)

Q3test 1.0 was released for Mac on April 24, 1999; the first q3test release for Linux, 1.03, came out on April 29. The first q3test client for Win32, 1.05, was released May 10.

Nope, the first Q3 test was for Linux; after that the Mac and windows versions.

Bzzzt, wrong. (Sorry, had to say that.)

Q3test 1.0 was released for Mac on April 24, 1999; the first q3test release for Linux, 1.03, came out on April 29. The first q3test client for Win32, 1.05, was released May 10.

Nope, the first Q3 test was for Linux; after that the Mac and windows versions.

Bzzzt, wrong. (Sorry, had to say that.)

Q3test 1.0 was released for Mac on April 24, 1999; the first q3test release for Linux, 1.03, came out on April 29. The first q3test client for Win32, 1.05, was released May 10.

Nope, the first Q3 test was for Linux; after that the Mac and windows versions.

Bzzzt, wrong. (Sorry, had to say that.)

Q3test 1.0 was released for Mac on April 24, 1999; the first q3test release for Linux, 1.03, came out on April 29. The first q3test client for Win32, 1.05, was released May 10.

Ok, here's some more booth babe links here they are! and here! more and more here too here's a documentary on the species and here's an interesting article including interviews with the babes

When asked about his favorite games, Wright's answers reveal his love of simplicity, wide-open experiences, and gameplay. Number one on his list is Go, the ancient boardgame; number two is Sid Meier's Civilization; and number three is the original Legend of Zelda on the NES.

So what's next? First up is Wright's current obsession: The Sims Online. "It's an interesting project," he explains, "because I'm discovering that, in many ways, this game is a combination of The Sims and SimCity."

And after he's sucked our lives away with The Sims Online? The Hall-of-Fame designer hints that he's got a brand-new project in development, but he chuckles, "If I talk about that, Maxis and EA are going to kill me."

From the Carmack interview:

Doom III is pushing the fear factor over the raw action.

My main fear is how raw my wallet will feel after I pay for a graphics card that can handle this "complete unification of lighting, shadowing, and bump mapping across all visual elements".

I thought this article brought up two very interesting points which oddly enough I was discussing this AM with my wife after we learned of the GC pricedrop (we have a PS2 and "classic" PSX):

* Production control
* Platform Longevity

When talking about hardware, it's all about controlling production and cutting costs whenever possbile. Since Sony controls the production, any increased efficiencies they realize in their PS2 chip fabs directly impact their profit margins. However, on XBOX, if Intel/NVidia become more efficient in creating XBOX components, they pocket the $$$.

In addition, and in the spirit of MS' campaign for "innovation", Sony is taking it to the poor XBOX team, which obviously isn't in this for the long run. Nothing against Blackley and crew, but Sony plays consumer electronics for keeps, has teams dedicated to multiple PS product generation, and are showing it with how they control manufacturing process where, for Sony, a penny saved on costs is a penny Sony keeps (don't think Sony is selling the PSOne for a loss @$49USD :).

In addition to controlling its own production, Sony obviously employs a number of highly-talented hardware engineers (and yes, some of the Emotion Engine peeps belong to Toshiba) dedicated to creating mind-expanding and truly innovative hardware for the consumer market which will age gracefully and provide high-performance for years to come (For those who insist on comparing XBOX/PS2 from a MHz/RAM standpoint, see the ArsTechnica article on the Emotion Engine). PS2 has lots of room to grow.

Sony knows consoles aren't like PCs: the majority of buyers keep the consoles much longer than a PC and periodically purchase additional software titles. When the next round of the Console Wars commences, you know Sony will be selling the PS2 around $99 . . . and it will still be making a profit on each unit. Will Intel still be making the P3? What about NVidia . . .

To save people from having to do the awful copy/paste job, here it is as a proper link :)

Fixed link for the lazy

You're probably right. I blame the mistake on gamers.com.

This month's CGW[1] has a pretty decent preview of Star Wars: Galaxies. It sounds like all the things they promise for EQ2 will be in Galaxies, plus a whole lot more. If I were an EQ player (recovering, thank you), I would just continue to play EQ until SW:G came out.

I could be biased, though. EQ was too easy to burn out on...

[1] http://www.gamers.com/game/436655

In about a week from now, at the end of April, the GeForce 4 TI 4200 will be released. According to Firingsquad benchmarking tests, the GF4 TI 4200 (quite a mouthful) out-scores the Radeon 8500 while being less than half the price, even while not overclocked. And while it doesn't have some of the features of the ATI card, that isn't an excuse for the $200 price gap. So, in conclusion, Nvidia is far better and ATI isn't even close to controlling the market. PS: Oh, and that was all before the new drivers Nvidia released today, which are said to increase performance greatly on the GeForce 4 line of cards.

Here's an article linked from the front page of the Official PlayStation Magazine web site. That's pretty durned official, isn't it? There's no word from either IGN or GameSpot, but it looks like they take the weekends off and haven't updated since Friday.

The article offers just a wee bit more information than the one linked to by Slashdot, however: "Sony's plant in Nagasaki, Japan will create the new chips, and this development is expected to nearly triple the possible yearly output of PS2 hardware."
Ian

Here's an article linked from the front page of the Official PlayStation Magazine web site. That's pretty durned official, isn't it? There's no word from either IGN or GameSpot, but it looks like they take the weekends off and haven't updated since Friday.

The article offers just a wee bit more information than the one linked to by Slashdot, however: "Sony's plant in Nagasaki, Japan will create the new chips, and this development is expected to nearly triple the possible yearly output of PS2 hardware."
Ian

Firingsquad just posted a report about the new GeForce TI 4200. They're coming out with two seperate versions, one with 64mb of faster memory, and one with 128mb of slower memory. The 64mb one was faster in the benchmarks that they ran, even though it was $20 cheaper than the other variant. Plus, it even beat their comparison TI 4400 in some of the benchmarks.

But it gets better. The TI 4200 can be overclocked to speeds comparable to the TI 4600, Nvidia's fastest card. Get the fastest performance available for half the cost!

Well, there were the Reese's Pieces in ET for Atari but that was probably just because they made it in the movie. Here's a gratuitous link.

And if you read this article (read through it now, dont just "skim"), you'll see that the tom-foolery that ATI has pulled with their mip-mapping in Quake3 has nothing to do with FSAA, and everything to do with cheating the user.

And if you read this article (read through it now, dont just "skim"), you'll see that the tom-foolery that ATI has pulled with their mip-mapping in Quake3 has nothing to do with FSAA, and everything to do with cheating the user.