As technology helps make new technology, it is expected for progress to hasten. So major milestones are reached more often and more quickly. Using press releases as a litmus test to measure claims of "breakthroughs" is a little much to ask, IMO. I expect a press release to be biased and grandiose - there's no surprise there. So while maybe the term "breakthrough" is being used a little liberally by corporations looking for investment, I fully expect to see major milestones reached at an accelerating pace.
Ha ha, that's a pretty good point. "Dude, queens are OP, they need to be nerfed!".
I'm not entirely sure its a proper comparison. Games like Chess and Go are so simple compared to CS:S. Even in games theory (which I know almost nothing), I believe there is a strict line drawn between 2 player games and ones with more. It's not black and white, and more distinctions are made obviously, but the level of complexity in a three player game, much less a 20 player game, has got to be enormous.
Another aspect to think about is that clasic board games like chess, go, and mankala aren't owned by any one company. Games like Counter Stike and Battlefield are IP, and it's legally within the publisher's rights to modify gameplay. (This does, however, bring up the question if a game more rightfully belongs to the players or the creators).
It was more than likely a descision based on lisencing fees, not hardware. I wouldn't have minded spending a little extra myself, but also wouldn't have liked a dongle either. My hope is that the ability will be hacked in later, but it's a shame it won't be built into the OS, as it's looking pretty nice.
I think of the nunchuck as a core gamer controller. Games my girlfriend can enjoy will more than likely only need the wiimote, ie "Mario Party", "Wario-ware", and many puzzle games. The nunchuck will be essential for navigating 3d enivorments, but many gameplay mechanics benefit from being simpler. Also consider that the wiimite alone has as many directional controls as an xbox controler with 6 dimensions of movement. I don't think a whole lot will be lost by limiting some games, esp. casual one, to one wiimote.
Indeed, performance is quite a bit lower, and there is no possibility for full screen DX or OpenGL apps. With the solution you suggested, that'd be perfect for strictly 2D applications, but in the case of the parent post, where he has a large video swtiching demo, seperate video cards have a hard time dragging a running video file from one window to the next (in my experience). They just turn to black when they get dragged over to another screen thats getting rendered on another card. So sometimes you have to bite the bullet and go with other VGA implentations even when it's more expensive.
The real promise of PPUs, I believe, is when they can feedback to the CPU and affect gameplay. Eye candy is nice, and they'll have to only be used for that, atleast for multiplayer games, until it becomes mainstream. But honestly, PhysX has a long uphill battle with card based PPUs when the likes of ATI, nVidia, Intel, and AMD all have their own ideas for physics co-processing.
There were no demos being ran on a "modified gamecube." The games at E3 were Wii's in a GCN shell. Though devs were told to use the GCN for their Wii development until the hardware was finalized.
For the performance equal or better than a 7950GX2 for $100 cheaper, this actually seems like a reasonable card. Unfortunately, for reasons unclear to me, ATI cards cannot render a 3840x1024 ultra wide screen. I've got a Matrox Triplehead2Go on the way, so these kinds of high end solutions are enticing to me. But without the capability to properly display at this level, TH2G users are forced to all but disregard ATI GPUs.
The lack of decent linux support is just another nail in the coffin.
Good reply with many good points. The only thing I would add is to also thinkn about SED displays. It's basically flat screen technology using pixel sized CRT's. So great black, motion, and thin as well. Am not sure about yields but seeing as Toshiba's SED released this year *starts* at 50", I'm not too worried.
I picked this up randomly when I got a new mouse on newegg. For those who don't know anything about it, Corepad is a huge mat (same mousepad foam) that offers tons of space. It really makes sense once you use it.
I have a huge Logitech g15 keyboard and a shuttle contour pro in conjunction to a mouse. The pad is still large enough for me to game on. Not only does the pad clean up the look of my desk a lot, it's nice not having to worty about keyboard placement, mousepad placement. I put it down once and it stays there. It needs a roller once in a while to remove cat hair and such, but it looks and works great.
It's not "edgy" or "high-tech", but it is fairly innovative. So while its not made out of the same carbon-fiber they use on the space shuttle or whatever, its actually a fairly practical approach to, a... mousing. But seriously it does work well IMO. I like mine a lot.
Its great as a portable web browser. It doesnt like flash sites but mounting a swap helps with that, and the other memory issues it has. SSH works great, and it can even connect to a VNC server or MS windows terminal.
Movies work great when encoded down to a playable size (240x320 or so). The email client is a little shody and many use web based gmail. Battery is great and the sleep mode is very effective. The HCI is crap, you need the stylus for everything. Its role as a PDA is limited as it doesnt sync with Outlook unless youre willing to pay $10/month. On the other hand, if youre fine entering all you appointments onto the PDA yourself, it has capable software to serve as a PDA.
That said, I'd wait for the new model this fall. It'll get a much needed memory bumb and apparently they'll use a much more capable processor. I even expect Nokia to take a swing at Sony and Nintendo with games. I really think it could be the N-Gage's Pheonix rising.
Really any "perfect setup" is in the eyes of the beholder. Whats important is that it works for you.
My build philosophy, as a semi-broke college student, is that your money goes further when you purchase just below top of the line (law of diminishing returns). I look at my system more as a process than a static unit, so I wouldn't have gone with that CPU. But everything else is pretty reasonable, including the GPU. Since you can double it later, it makes sense to reach for just near top of the line.
I tell this to everyone - consider a Matrox Triplehead2Go. May as well put that GPU to work, at least for older games.
God isn't that the truth. I think the AI issue is what is holding up S.T.A.L.K.T.E.R. (http://www.stalker-game.com/index_eng.html). It's been delayed for almost 2 years now and is trying to create a real ecology of AI entities. They were trying to create AI that just lived and even interacted with other AI in a procedural way.
Because of this innovative goal, I think it must be cause of their numerous delays.
It's no wonder Intel is working closely with major graphics engine makers - they have to keep driving demand for multi-core to sustain sales.
We'll have to wait for impartial benchmarks to be sure, but intel's tests showed a 20% boost in FPS on average in games, with FEAR benefiting the most.
I'm not an Intel bootlicker, but more frames are more frames, and it appears that there will be an advantage performance-wise with Conroe. I'll happily buy an AMD solution if trounces Intel.
In conjuntion, Intel's procs are typically cheaper than AMD's. Fortunately for AMD, they are doubling their manufacturing capacity so they can compete on price for a while until they work out their 65nm process.
But I totally see your point about GPU dependency these days. It's reached the point the only way to challenge these high-end systems is to output at ultra-high resolution. Talk about a need for innovative gameplay.
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed. In fact, if the spin-off is done well, it adds more value to the franchise. What matters is how enjoyable the game is.
As technology helps make new technology, it is expected for progress to hasten. So major milestones are reached more often and more quickly. Using press releases as a litmus test to measure claims of "breakthroughs" is a little much to ask, IMO. I expect a press release to be biased and grandiose - there's no surprise there. So while maybe the term "breakthrough" is being used a little liberally by corporations looking for investment, I fully expect to see major milestones reached at an accelerating pace.
Ha ha, that's a pretty good point. "Dude, queens are OP, they need to be nerfed!".
I'm not entirely sure its a proper comparison. Games like Chess and Go are so simple compared to CS:S. Even in games theory (which I know almost nothing), I believe there is a strict line drawn between 2 player games and ones with more. It's not black and white, and more distinctions are made obviously, but the level of complexity in a three player game, much less a 20 player game, has got to be enormous.
Another aspect to think about is that clasic board games like chess, go, and mankala aren't owned by any one company. Games like Counter Stike and Battlefield are IP, and it's legally within the publisher's rights to modify gameplay. (This does, however, bring up the question if a game more rightfully belongs to the players or the creators).
It was more than likely a descision based on lisencing fees, not hardware. I wouldn't have minded spending a little extra myself, but also wouldn't have liked a dongle either. My hope is that the ability will be hacked in later, but it's a shame it won't be built into the OS, as it's looking pretty nice.
Sadly, Nintendo has removed the DVD functionality to keep costs down, citing that most people have a DVD player. :P
In response to games the dont use the nunchuck -
I think of the nunchuck as a core gamer controller. Games my girlfriend can enjoy will more than likely only need the wiimote, ie "Mario Party", "Wario-ware", and many puzzle games. The nunchuck will be essential for navigating 3d enivorments, but many gameplay mechanics benefit from being simpler. Also consider that the wiimite alone has as many directional controls as an xbox controler with 6 dimensions of movement. I don't think a whole lot will be lost by limiting some games, esp. casual one, to one wiimote.
Indeed, performance is quite a bit lower, and there is no possibility for full screen DX or OpenGL apps. With the solution you suggested, that'd be perfect for strictly 2D applications, but in the case of the parent post, where he has a large video swtiching demo, seperate video cards have a hard time dragging a running video file from one window to the next (in my experience). They just turn to black when they get dragged over to another screen thats getting rendered on another card. So sometimes you have to bite the bullet and go with other VGA implentations even when it's more expensive.
The real promise of PPUs, I believe, is when they can feedback to the CPU and affect gameplay. Eye candy is nice, and they'll have to only be used for that, atleast for multiplayer games, until it becomes mainstream. But honestly, PhysX has a long uphill battle with card based PPUs when the likes of ATI, nVidia, Intel, and AMD all have their own ideas for physics co-processing.
There were no demos being ran on a "modified gamecube." The games at E3 were Wii's in a GCN shell. Though devs were told to use the GCN for their Wii development until the hardware was finalized.
For the performance equal or better than a 7950GX2 for $100 cheaper, this actually seems like a reasonable card. Unfortunately, for reasons unclear to me, ATI cards cannot render a 3840x1024 ultra wide screen. I've got a Matrox Triplehead2Go on the way, so these kinds of high end solutions are enticing to me. But without the capability to properly display at this level, TH2G users are forced to all but disregard ATI GPUs.
The lack of decent linux support is just another nail in the coffin.
Rofl
Just a good example of why to keep it simple (stupid).
Good reply with many good points. The only thing I would add is to also thinkn about SED displays. It's basically flat screen technology using pixel sized CRT's. So great black, motion, and thin as well. Am not sure about yields but seeing as Toshiba's SED released this year *starts* at 50", I'm not too worried.
http://www3.toshiba.co.jp/sed/eng/index.htm
The editor from GR went on to do "Play". Its the spiritual successor and the only gaming mag I read. Good stuff.
I picked this up randomly when I got a new mouse on newegg. For those who don't know anything about it, Corepad is a huge mat (same mousepad foam) that offers tons of space. It really makes sense once you use it.
I have a huge Logitech g15 keyboard and a shuttle contour pro in conjunction to a mouse. The pad is still large enough for me to game on. Not only does the pad clean up the look of my desk a lot, it's nice not having to worty about keyboard placement, mousepad placement. I put it down once and it stays there. It needs a roller once in a while to remove cat hair and such, but it looks and works great.
It's not "edgy" or "high-tech", but it is fairly innovative. So while its not made out of the same carbon-fiber they use on the space shuttle or whatever, its actually a fairly practical approach to, a... mousing. But seriously it does work well IMO. I like mine a lot.
Plus its like $20 on newegg.
What has Nokia said? Ofcourse they're not going to announce anything now. It'd kill any sales up till then.
I'm looking for the diagram that detailed the 2 procs versus each other. The memory upgrade is assumed though and I have not seen any announcements.
I responded to the ither request for feedback in the 770.
8 9&cid=15563473
Please look here: http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1888
Its great as a portable web browser. It doesnt like flash sites but mounting a swap helps with that, and the other memory issues it has. SSH works great, and it can even connect to a VNC server or MS windows terminal.
Movies work great when encoded down to a playable size (240x320 or so). The email client is a little shody and many use web based gmail. Battery is great and the sleep mode is very effective. The HCI is crap, you need the stylus for everything. Its role as a PDA is limited as it doesnt sync with Outlook unless youre willing to pay $10/month. On the other hand, if youre fine entering all you appointments onto the PDA yourself, it has capable software to serve as a PDA.
That said, I'd wait for the new model this fall. It'll get a much needed memory bumb and apparently they'll use a much more capable processor. I even expect Nokia to take a swing at Sony and Nintendo with games. I really think it could be the N-Gage's Pheonix rising.
Really any "perfect setup" is in the eyes of the beholder. Whats important is that it works for you.
My build philosophy, as a semi-broke college student, is that your money goes further when you purchase just below top of the line (law of diminishing returns). I look at my system more as a process than a static unit, so I wouldn't have gone with that CPU. But everything else is pretty reasonable, including the GPU. Since you can double it later, it makes sense to reach for just near top of the line.
I tell this to everyone - consider a Matrox Triplehead2Go. May as well put that GPU to work, at least for older games.
Sshhh, dude, I just got a new case.
Wasan't that demo pre-rendered?
Yeah I can easily imagine Wii getting to 6 million sales before PS3.
But not all titles are "must have" no matter what console.
God isn't that the truth. I think the AI issue is what is holding up S.T.A.L.K.T.E.R. (http://www.stalker-game.com/index_eng.html). It's been delayed for almost 2 years now and is trying to create a real ecology of AI entities. They were trying to create AI that just lived and even interacted with other AI in a procedural way.
Because of this innovative goal, I think it must be cause of their numerous delays.
It's no wonder Intel is working closely with major graphics engine makers - they have to keep driving demand for multi-core to sustain sales.
We'll have to wait for impartial benchmarks to be sure, but intel's tests showed a 20% boost in FPS on average in games, with FEAR benefiting the most.
I'm not an Intel bootlicker, but more frames are more frames, and it appears that there will be an advantage performance-wise with Conroe. I'll happily buy an AMD solution if trounces Intel.
In conjuntion, Intel's procs are typically cheaper than AMD's. Fortunately for AMD, they are doubling their manufacturing capacity so they can compete on price for a while until they work out their 65nm process.
But I totally see your point about GPU dependency these days. It's reached the point the only way to challenge these high-end systems is to output at ultra-high resolution. Talk about a need for innovative gameplay.