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You are wrong

I only saw this one : http://ve3d.ign.com/videos/play/23773/PC/Speed-Racer

IGN has the first video review.

http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/827005/grand-theft-auto-4/videos/gta4_review_042508.html

They have proclaimed it the best game of the decade.

Text review: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/869/869381p1.html

IGN has the first video review.

http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/827005/grand-theft-auto-4/videos/gta4_review_042508.html

They have proclaimed it the best game of the decade.

Text review: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/869/869381p1.html

As TFA says, Asus's card does the same thing in Vista, but performs the EAX acceleration (including the latest version 5.0) using the CPU. Also, they performed an EAX 5.0 listening test in Vista (on page 6) and EAX seemed to "work" just fine. From TFA:

• After an afternoon of gaming, I came away quite impressed with DirectSound 3D GX. Creative may be correct in saying that it doesn't deliver a genuine EAX 5.0 experience, and I wouldn't be surprised if its emulation isn't an exact 1:1 replica of EAX effects. But that didn't diminish my gaming experience in the least. Bioshock is packed with aural ambiance, and the underwater city of Rapture was every bit as creepy with the Xonar as it was with the X-Fi. I couldn't detect any difference between the cards in Battlefield 2, either, even in intense firefights loaded with explosions, gunfire, and frantic cries for a medic.

Since EAX doesn't work in Vista anymore, does this really matter anymore?

I can't get past the name of Iggy's Wrecking Balls (N64).

http://ign64.ign.com/objects/002/002272.html

Goddamnit where's OUR tribe!


Here: http://pc.ign.com/articles/554/554250p1.html

Apple have got theirs, Linux sure as hell got theirs, but we have to fend for ourselves, and believe me it get's lonely sometimes. ... ...

Not sure if it is multi-platform...

IGN

1. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
2. Sins Of A Solar Empire
3. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
4. The Sims 2 Free Time Expansion Pack
5. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
6. World Of Warcraft
7. The Orange Box
8. The Sims 2 Deluxe
10. Crysis

Courtesy of NPD

February's Top 10 Best Selling PC Games [March 13]

Amazon.com

1 Hoyle Card Games 2008 $12
2 [Logitech Laser Mouse]
3 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
4 The Sims 2: Free Time
5 Command & Conquer: Kane's Wrath [Out March 24]
6 Sins of a Solar Empire
7 SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition $15
8 Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War Soulstorm
9 World of Warcraft 60 Day Pre-Paid Time Card $30
10 The Sims 2 Deluxe

March 21 [early AM - updates hourly]

The Amazon list is interesting for its diversity - and for its demonstration of the endurance of a classic PC game. SimCity 4 for the Mac will set you back about $60.

You're not a gfx programmer yourself, are you? Otherwise you'd be linking to nVidia specifications, not consumer reviews. The relevent OpenGL extension is GL_ARB_color_buffer_float, which was indeed implemented for G70-class hardware as of R75 drivers (actually, GL_NV_float_buffer.txt was implemented even earlier).

Yes, you can use this for offscreen framebuffer objects and pbuffers, which is all you need when float texture blending for HDR rendering, but this is then tone-mapped to the 32bit displayable framebuffer for output. It's still not possible to get more than 8bit RGB actually out of the chip. Apart from SGI (who patented float rasterisation), I've only heard of an old Matrox card claiming to do real 10bit integer RGBA output (under quite specific conditions, apparently). Even nVidia's current high-end Quadros can't do it (well, unless you count 10bit 4:2:2 YUV from the SDI connector on some models). I'd welcome any comments showing real evidence to the contrary (preferably from someone who hasn't been repeatedly modded down as a troll), but I've never seen it done.

I can see it easily with my own eyes

The PS3 can decode TrueHD into PCM

There it is right there. Yes, the PS3 player supports TrueHD, but it does notpass it over the HDMI link - it gets decoded to good ol' HDMI 1.0-standard multichannel PCM first. Read the rest of the article - a Sony rep has confirmed this. And AFAIK the PS3 still does not yet support DTS-HD; it only passes through the DTS component. Incidentally, I found it ironic that you're accusing me of trolling :-)

You don't have to convince me that the PS3 is good hardware. It certainly has the edge in CPU power, and the Blu-Ray player is a valuable addition (though it's also the primary reason Sony released late and expensive, throwing away their lead from the PS2). Its graphics are debatable though, and most unbiased people consider PS3 and Xbox 360 GPU power to be roughly equivalent. More on topic, the PS3's HDMI port is more capable than the 360's (which can't even pass multichannel PCM) - but the HDMI 1.3 output is pure marketing, nothing more. Most TV sets (even those that accept deep colour) still can't actually display it, only use it for cleaner tweaking. Certainly no plasma or consumer LCD panel that I'm aware of is capable.

MY POST WAS NOT OFFTOPIC! He listed a link that can't be seen and he got an extra point for that! Furthermore, here is proof that Halo II is VISTA ONLY! http://www.megagames.com/news/html/pc/halo2pc-vistaonly-bungieqna.shtml http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/reviews/738/Halo-2-Vista-Review But if you want to crack, that is up to you. http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6146&Itemid=2 Seriously, get it together you moderators.

I personally loved Twilight Princess. Played it on the GC, although I'm pretty sure it's the exact same game. I don't know why people found the game so boring. I loved it. Seems the consensus based on user reviews, and the website review are that the game was pretty good.

I have a 60GB PS3 and there's not a BD or a special feature out there that it won't play. Nor will there ever be.

Um, how do you figure that? It's not like the early versions of the PS2 didn't have tons of problems with a fairly wide selection of DVDs. Sure you can argue that since Sony is in charge of both the Blu-Ray format and the PS3 that such problems will be less likely, but they wouldn't be coming out with the 2.0 version if there weren't either problems that needed to be fixed or new functionality they want to add that the old players won't be able to handle, and there's no way they can magically make old PS3s handle the changes. They might be fixable with a driver upgrade... or they might not. (I was told that it wasn't possible to upgrade my 1.xx PS2 to 2.xx, i actually had to trade it in on a new PS2, which my local EB Games kindly did free of charge.)

Is anyone actually surprised that on a day that the PS3 and PS2 both outsold the XBox 360, hardware shortages and the Blu-Ray win lead to a perfect storm, and we actually get some numbers on 360 failure rate, that /. doesn't have a thing about it.

There was a playable demo at the 2006 e3. Vaporware is software that doesn't exist outside the marketing department, not just software that has not yet been released.

What are you talking about? There are plenty of Light Guns for the consoles. Heck, the Wii has an official gun-like holder that Nintendo sells. While it's true that there are not a lot of games for them, it doesn't seem like it matters much given that they're all Area 51 clones anyway. That's my big complaint with gun games, they're all the same. A rails shooter where you point offscreen to reload and shoot at targets as they pop up.

Yeah there is a really good post here by the developers of Sins explaining their take on Copy Protection.

I'd want to change that to say *potential* library. I love my Wii, but it seems to me that there's actually a lack of many games. Sure, the entire history of NES/SNES would be great, but they don't have everything out yet. Where the heck is Dr. Mario on the VC?

You won't get a VC copy (NES, SNES, or N64) of Dr. Mario, but they announced a WiiWare version that will support 2 players online.

BTW, the XBox portion of MS (the games division) -has- stopped hemorraging cash.

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/26/2052251

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/847/847658p1.html

Yes, 2 quarters in a row now, it has turned a profit.

I agree that there is a lack of good titles for young children.

I started playing video games with my oldest son when he was about your daughter's age - about 2.5.

Time limits, "lives", complicated puzzles and strict boundaries kill most games for young kids.

I found the best games for young kids are those that offer free play with no time limits, lives, damage and simple controls. I try to avoid violence too.

Some of the older games that now come in PnP joysticks worked well. My boys like Pole Position.
http://gear.ign.com/articles/526/526873p1.html

I've found the controls in these devices/games to be simple enough that the young kids can "get it" pretty early on. They see cause/effect of button-pushing and action on the TV. After that they can grow into the more advanced controllers.

On our PSX/PS2 the best young kids games I've found are:
- the Spyro series has areas of decent free play for exploring and low violence
- the ATV racing games in free ride with no time limits

As my son has grown older (6 now) he likes the go carts games and Star Wars Lego series.

I just introduced Pole Position to my 3 year old last week.

I use the games to encourage exploring, hand-eye coordination, number/letter/color recognition on menus and "keep trying, you'll get it"

best of luck,

-Joe

As for that "case designate" reference, anyone who has seen the clips from the film knows that "Cloverfield" is the case name that the government has assigned to whatever or whoever is doing all that destruction in New York.

It's been out in the US since the 18th, and is coming to Japan at the end of the month, and Europe the end of next month. Kinda slipped under the radar, didn't it? Here's a link to more information, including a more detailed review.

Exactly, Spore immediately comes to mind for having a remarkably extensive trailer and a live demo. It's still been plagued by delays.

Perhaps you'll like Rygar: The Battle of Argus? Not exactly my cup of tea, but I am more of a casual gamer lately. Moreso because of time constraints than anything. Check out the release list, there are a lot of promising titles.

I also recommend Super Mario Galaxy (the best so far), Super Paper Mario, Excite Truck, Zelda (that took me forever to finish!), and you already have Metroid Prime 3.

Perhaps you'll like Rygar: The Battle of Argus? Not exactly my cup of tea, but I am more of a casual gamer lately. Moreso because of time constraints than anything. Check out the release list, there are a lot of promising titles.

I also recommend Super Mario Galaxy (the best so far), Super Paper Mario, Excite Truck, Zelda (that took me forever to finish!), and you already have Metroid Prime 3.

but can't quite get used to using a gamepad for shooters.

Did it take you long to switch over (assuming you even play FPSes)?

I really don't see the reasoning here. Tons of people have downloaded modules or played online because they have completed the OC and are looking for more gameplay. People look for other things to play on the NWN platform besides the OC -- this is a pretty standard expectation in the NWN community. By your reasoning, no one would ever play the community content because of the distraction of the OC -- something which is demonstrably false. http://nwvault.ign.com/index2.shtml

I would say the problem is not so much that the NWN platform is used; rather, that the module that's been built simply isn't fun/entertaining/good, etc. They don't need to have monsters/dungeons necessarily, but they do need something that's going to engage players -- sounds like they simply missed offering some sort of hook or gameplay mechanic to keep players busy/entertained.

Heed.

The first half of the score is not out of bounds, most games just aren't that bad anymore, and the games that are that bad usually don't get much publicity. 6 means the game is mediocre. The game isn't technically flawed, nor is it pointlessly frustrating (by all accounts). It's just not very good. The industry considers that the 2-4 point range you suggest for Kane and Lynch is for games that are totally irredeemable. They crash, don't behave consistently or have nothing to offer in terms of game play. I could see someone loving Kane and Lynch, and that is what the 6 is for. Not a good game, but you might like it. Check this game out, it got a 3.0, and tell me if it genuinely deserves the same score as Kane and Lynch http://ds.ign.com/articles/838/838959p1.html .

Remember, games are subjective. A 7.0 game in your favorite genre will be funner for you than a 9.0 in your least favorite genre. I know no matter how good a football games gets, it's not my thing, but if a RPG scores a high 7, I'll probably consider it. Don't let the scores drive you, take it as a hint of what is there.

It a controversial issue, since GameSpot claim the PS3 version performs better whilst IGN say exactly the opposite. (Having played neither version I have no idea who is correct.)

For anyone not familiar to this game, it was already given an AO rating. Rockstar was set to release it in early August when it received the AO and Nintendo and Sony refused to let it be released on their consoles. Rockstar then reworked the game to remove the most objectionable content until it was able to get the M rating. (Link)

I have played this game on the Wii and it is definitely not for kids. Some of the killings actually made me squirm uncomfortably. However, the worst killings have been blurred out (a "rage-like" red fills the screen and everything gets noisy). Overall, it is what the rating says it is: a game for Mature adults... not for kids.

No I didn't.

If game companies were smart they would give playable demos to the mags like crazy. Too bad I have yet to see one demo disk for the Wii, it might have prevented me from buying NBA 07, Rapala Fishing and that horrible piece of trash chicken shoot (I thought my 5 & 7 year olds would like it, I was horribly wrong)

Then I guess they're not so dumb for not including demos of crappy games, eh? Oh, and a tip... next time try some of the game reviews online before purchasing a non-AAA game (Rapala fishing got an awful 3.0/10 - VERY unheard of). I like IGN's reviews personally. Not because I agree with them (I often don't), but they rarely give a game 9+ without it being excellent.

Rabbits don't shoot back.

Dude, the game does not officially release until Sunday and the reviews are GLOWING! I want it NOW!

The DS definitely has the most education software. Tons of Brain Training sequels and clones, and a bunch of maths, reading and language training games aimed at younger kids. Some of these are only available in Japan, but a lot make it to the US or Europe (and you can import Europe releases to the US and play them on US DSs).

There are a few brain training clones on the PSP, but they are few and far between.

But maybe the best solution would be a "real" computer like the OLPC box. You can even easily create your own learning tools on the OLPC, and your kids may even learn a bit about programming.

Dead or alive extreme beach volleyball, as reviewed at IGN:
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/383/383421p1.html Score: 9.2

As reviewed by Gamespot:
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/sports/deadoralivextremebv/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;review Score: 6.0

When I read the IGN review for this game, having played it, I was yelling at my computer screen at how rediculous it was. 9.2 for that game!? I don't need to say anything else, really, just read the two reviews. The gamespot one is much more accurate. Not to say gamespot hasn't done the same thing, I just don't have any examples.

I like ign's reviews, I'm not a heavy gamer but I know what I like, I know what they like, and I know how their up to 10 reviews match mine, and I know that anything under 6 really isn't worth it (they give them: http://pc.ign.com/articles/831/831573p1.html ) I know when it sounds like they were paid, I know when the score is too high that it's either great or a total bust. It's all a matter of learning with the reviews you are dealing with. Do I want to read the whole review? Not really, I'm very picky. I want to see the score. Too low, or too high, I check online and google for reviews from forums, and go from there. I know what types of games I like and just because it's a 9 or even a 8 doesn't mean I'll think it's more than a 1 or 2 if it's not what I like. You just learn as time goes by. There's no perfect solution. I think the numbers work well, and failing that, forums with actual people, remembering that most people hate stuff, if for no other reason than to hate. So expect 75% it sucks 25% it's sooo awesome, look for the inbetweens and look for changes to that ratio.

Well, this should make your day: http://ds.ign.com/articles/815/815899p1.html Metroid Dread, what seems to be Metroid 5, is nearing completion. Personally, I find the Prime games fun in their own way, but I'm still looking forward to a new 2D Metroid.

Doom and Doom II are both available on for the GBA, and quite playable! (Though it is not easy to find copies...)

Doom and Doom II are both available on for the GBA, and quite playable! (Though it is not easy to find copies...)

I feel like it'd be preferable to just have the two controllers dock

Before the PS3 was released as a gaming console, the company my brother works for (aerospace, not a gaming company) received a few from Sony that were for development only and will not play games at all. They're gray in color and much larger, heavier and noisier than consumer PS3s.. but everyone on the dev team there was in awe of its speed.

The biggest problem I have with Harmonix and their PR with downloadable content is they really burned XBox360 users with GH2. Their PR campaign before the games release was that GH2 for the 360 would have "more online content than anyone has ever seen in a game..." (link to interview). This gave people who had already spent $100+ on GH2 for the PS2 (Game/Controller + Additional Controller) a valid reason to buy it again.

Here we are six after GH2 for the XBox360 was released. What downloadable content do we have? Four song 'packs' with songs that were already in GH1, and a song pack of indie bands few have heard of.

So, although the offer of copious amounts of downloadable content for Rock Band is tempting and easy to get excited about, it should be taken with a big, big big big grain of salt.

Well as it is now, in order to keep stats and whatnot when playing, you have to have exchanged friend codes with whom you're playing... You can play against random people, but never see their name, can't talk to them, and no stats are tracked. So for all you know, it may still be the computer ;-) Ign for more info

Wow, I had no idea. Thanks for the info!

Here's a link to the PoR module:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=1706

I'll have to try this out tonight. :)