With the console editions of Batman: Arkham City out the Bat-door, publisher Warner Bros. has announced that the delayed PC version will follow on November 15. In celebration, graphics card manufacturer Nvidia is showing off the shiny PhysX and DirectX 11 effects exclusive to PC.
PC gamers may be getting LA Noire a few months later than console gamers, but unlike PS3 and Xbox 360 players, they are getting the "Complete Edition" of the game. On November 8th, Team Bondi's detective thriller will be available on PC, Steam and OnLive.
The PC version is being developed by Rockstar Leeds and will offer "increased resolution and graphical detail." In addition, the publisher is planning a complete keyboard remap for the controls, as well as support for NVIDIA 3D Vision.
All three versions of Mafia II--PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360--will use NVIDIA's PhysX physics technology, publisher 2K Games announced today, with the PC version getting a "thorough integration" of PhysX plus some APEX clothing and particle effects.
In addition, Mafia II PC will support NVIDIA's 3D Vision headset for stereoscopic 3D visuals when the game hits August 24 in North America and August 27 elsewhere. Read more »
In their suite at CES, publisher Capcom showed off the finished PC version of Airtight's Dark Void running on some beefy machines to show off the support for Nvidia's 3D Vision and PhysX effects. After playing for a while, I found they both enhanced the game when used individually but didn't work together too well.
Stardock today announced that a new "Nvidia Edition" version of its PC digital download platform Impulse is set to be released later this summer.
The application will function just as Stardock's current incarnation of Impulse does, but will also automatically detect and install driver updates for Nvidia graphics cards.
"The single biggest issue preventing PC gamers today from having an optimal experience is a failure to update their video card drivers," said Stardock CEO Brad Wardell. Read more »
Computer hardware maker Intel has filed a lawsuit against graphics technology manufacturer Nvidia, claiming that Nvidia does not have the license to produce chipsets that are compatible with Intel processors packing integrated memory controllers.
The lawsuit stems from a 2004 license agreement between the two companies. Nvidia believes the agreement allows it to produce nForce motherboards that support the latest Intel hardware, such as Nehalem processors. Intel, quite obviously, disagrees. Read more »
Nvidia today released a new line of wireless shutter 3D glasses--another revival of a technology long perceived as a gimmick.
The real shocker? These things might be worth a look. Read more »
In light of the class action lawsuit that accused hardware makers Nvidia and ATI of fixing prices to keep video card prices artificially high, Nvidia proposed a $1.7M settlement.
The settlement, which is pending court approval and would resolve all claims against Nvidia, would see that $1.7 million sum split amongst those that bought hardware directly from ATI or Nvidia websites between December 4, 2002 and November 7, 2007. Read more »
While ATI launches new hardware, rival Nvidia today released a new set of drivers that adds support for AGEIA's PhysX physics acceleration technology to the existing GeForce 8, GeForce 9, and GeForce GTX 200-series cards.
The new drivers are part of the free GeForce Power Pack, which also contains a PhysX-enabling mod for Epic's Unreal Tournament 3, the full version of NetDevil's physics-heavy title Warmonger, and a few tech demos, including a fluid simulation. Read more »
Hardware manufacturer Nvidia is set to add PhysX support to several lines of its graphics cards on August 12, according to Tech Report.
Nvidia GeForce 8, GeForce 9, and GeForce GTX 200-series cards will support the new physics acceleration initially.
PhysX began as Ageia Technologies' attempt at a dedicated hardware physics processor. The idea of an expensive physics processing card never took off, and Nvidia purchased Aegia in February of this year, announcing that it would directly incorporate Aegia's technology into its line of cards. Read more »
That anti-trust suit against Nvidia and ATI from back in 2006 is still ongoing, with some interesting developments occuring recently. The two graphics chip manufacturers were hoping to keep certain evidence from being presented to a jury, but Judge William Alsup was not impressed. Especially since this was emailed by Nvidia's Dan Vivoli to ATI's Dave Orton in 2002:
Read more »
TechReport has the details on Nvidia's follow-up to its monstrous GeForce 9800 GX2 video card, the GTX 260 and GTX 280
Nvidia VP of content business development Roy Taylor believes that the success of consoles "don't threaten PC gaming," but rather provides an "exciting future" as PCs will later receive enhanced editions of console games.
"The console is a baseline, the PC is going to be an improved version," he explained to Eurogamer. "If you look at Gears of War or Assassin's Creed...the PC versions had additional aspects to them that also made them attractive, whether you owned the console version or not. The PC version was better. That's an exciting future." Read more »
Nvidia content relations VP Roy Taylor said that PC gaming has moved beyond reasonable justification for pirating PC games.
The executive suggested that it was unfair to steal content from the same developers who are struggling to keep the PC gaming market alive in a market dominated by surging console sales.
"I think that we've arrived at a point now where I don't know how anyone could ever possibly justify pirating a game," Taylor told Eurogamer. "I just don't know how anyone could consider that a cool thing to do - it's not. It sucks." Read more »
In the face of a changing PC landscape, graphics card manufacturer Nvidia is now hoping to market their products in a way that makes more sense to average consumers.
"It is a challenge that we're looking at right now. There is a need to simplify [the Nvidia product line] for consumers, there's no question," said Nvidia business VP Roy Taylor to GamesIndustry.biz. Read more »
"LOL so an 8800 gt runs the game just as well as a 560 ? Except you get flying paper and debris? ..."
- desevil See all 30 comments