Acer eyes future desktop systems, including game machine
,----[ Quote ]
| Right now, the Acer brand name is still equated with PC notebooks only,
| despite Acer's acquisition of Gateway. But in an interview with BetaNews at
| its press event on Wednesday, Acer's senior vice president, James T. Wong,
| said that his company has a game machine in mind, and that it will be based
| on "open standards."
|
| "If you look at most of the other game machines that are out there right
| now -- Nintendo's, the Xbox -- they are 'closed' and proprietary systems," he
| told BetaNews.
|
| Wong said that, beyond "openness," all of the Acer-branded systems being eyed
| right now, including the game machine, are envisioned as offering new and
| innovative form factors and applications.
`----
http://www.betanews.com/article/Acer_eyes_future_desktop_systems_including_game_machine/1205406937
CodeWeavers to release CrossOver Games
,----[ Quote ]
| WoW! it looks as if the folks at TransGaming are in for a little competition
| for Linux and Mac gamers. And the best thing is if your a current CrossOVer
| customer you get a free copy of CrossOver Games!
|
| Jeremy also talks about the upcoming release of CrossOver 7 and what changes
| are in store for it's release.
`----
http://wine-review.blogspot.com/2008/03/codeweavers-to-release-crossover-games.html
The DirectX lock-in is loosening (see below).
Recent:
Tim Sweeney, Part 2: "DirectX 10 Is The Last Relevant Graphics API"
,----[ Quote ]
| Interview - In the second part of our interview Tim Sweeney, creator of the
| Unreal game engine and CEO of Epic Games, discusses the challenges and
| dramatic changes that are just ahead for game developers and gamers: Graphics
| rendering may change completely and Microsoft's DirectX interface may become
| less important. The successors of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, due in
| 2012, could be running entirely on software pipelines.
|
| [...]
|
| Sweeney: There are significant advantages in doing it yourself, avoiding all
| the graphics API calling and overhead. With a direct approach, we can use
| techniques that require wider frame buffer, things that DirectX just doesn't
| support. At Epic, we're using the GPU for general computation with pixel
| shaders. There is a lot we can do there, just by bypassing the graphics
| pipeline completely.
`----
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/11/tim_sweeney_part_2_directx_10_is_the_last_relevant_graphics_api_/
There is Good Gaming in Ubuntu!
,----[ Quote ]
| [myth:] The are no good games for linux.
| Really!? Are you serious!!??? Here are twelve of the best ones I’ve found so
| far, starting with #1: Top 12 Best Games for Ubuntu Linux - #1 Tremulous.
|
| [...]
|
| [myth:] Linux has too many video and hardware support problems.
| I’d have to disagree, but with some explanation: “Hardly Any Hardware Works
| on Ubuntu Linux!”
`----
http://ubuntulinuxhelp.com/there-is-good-gaming-in-ubuntu/
Acer launches latest notebook “Aspire 2920” for Rs 37,115
,----[ Quote ]
| The notebook is available in major cities across the country with the Linux
| model priced at Rs 37,115 and the Vista Home Premium model available for Rs
| 40,615.
`----
http://www.topnews.in/acer-launches-latest-notebook-aspire-2920-rs-37-115-223651
Acer laptops with Ubuntu Linux available now
,----[ Quote ]
| I think this is a temporary offer only, and I don't have many more details
| than what is in the product page, but it looks like Acer is making a limited
| laptop series available now with Ubuntu Linux pre-loaded.
`----
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/freitasm/4387
Related:
Microsoft, Flight Simulator developers use images to paint misleading picture
,----[ Quote ]
| We received this set of screenshots ages ago from Microsoft itself, which
| used this game heavily to promote the beauty of DX10 and how necessary is to
| switch from Windows XP to Vista. These two screenshots ended in quite a lot
| of mainstream magazines, and were all over the place in specialist IT media.
|
| [...]
|
| Nobody buys explanations about why Flight Simulator runs so slowly on
| quad-core processors and most powerful graphics cards, as we concluded in our
| review.
|
| FSX is rendering practically everything, forget about any modern 3D feature
| such as Occlussion Culling, Occlusion Querry and Z-buffer compression and
| putting a bitmap cockpit on blanked alpha texture, while everything else is
| being rendered.
|
| This procedure just kills performance and we could not imagine any game past
| DX7 utilizing such a concept.
|
| We cannot avoid the thought that this plot might have been done deliberately,
| in order to spark interest about the game itself and boost sales of a product
| that usually has a limited customer base.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/11/26/flight-simulator-developer
Vista Offers Nothing to Gamers
,----[ Quote ]
| This is just a small sampling of games obviously, but for our
| intended experiment, I think they did the trick. We wanted to
| simulate what a normal gamer might go through in order to play
| games on Vista, and the end result was just slightly more hassle
| than you would with XP.
`----
http://tomshardware.co.uk/2007/03/01/vista_offers_nothing_to_gamers_uk/index.html
Crysis DX10 Fraud Exposed - DX9 to DX10 Patch
,----[ Quote ]
| Crytek developers have deliberately crippled Crysis for the only purpose of
| marketing DX10 and Windows Vista. the proof is a simple config file tweak
| allows the use of 'Very High' quality textures, shadows, etc on DX9 and
| WinXP.
`----
http://haleyshothouse.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5159
DX9 and DX10 performance compared
,----[ Quote ]
| So, it seems, there is some difference to crow about - although it is our
| suspicion that, given the time and inclination, most of the flasher DX10
| features could be retro-fitted without much hassle, and the differences are
| more a product of time and money than capability.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41958
Inside CNET Labs: Lamenting DirectX 10
,----[ Quote ]
| We compared the same title side by side on a system running DX10 on Vista to
| the same title on an identical system running DX9 on XP, and it's
| difficult--sometimes impossible--to detect significant differences in how the
| games look or perform.
`----
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9750536-1.html
Adding DX10 has "done nothing"
,----[ Quote ]
| Having tested the DX10 rendering path against the DX9 version, the chaps at
| the fantastically named Elite Bastards say that they can't "Help but feel a
| little disappointed to see yet another game where the inclusion of DirectX 10
| functionality has done nothing for the title either graphically or from
| performance standpoint".
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41043
OpenGL 2.x and 3.0 APIs arrive this year
,----[ Quote ]
| Approximately three months after that, Mount Evans (OpenGL 3.0) will
| run specifically on hardware born after November 8th, 2006. You've
| guessed it correctly, we are talking about DirectX 10-class hardware,
| bringing all the features of unified 3D architecture to the world of
| OpenGL. Mount Evans is compatible with Longs Peak, but of course -
| you will require OpenGL 3.0 class hardware to run everything.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39846
Valve survey shows hundreds of thousands steamed up
,----[ Quote ]
| However, the survey also shows how far Microsoft et al have to go
| - currently, DX10-capable gamers (ie those with Vista and a DX10 card)
| make up 1.21% of the gaming population.
| ^^^^^
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40049
DAAMIT! AMD's DX10 is not up to scratch
,----[ Quote ]
| The gap isn't much, but there's a good 10-15 per cent difference between
| the two cards, and this is rather disappointing for a card that has
| been repeatedly marketed as future proof.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40048
Lord of the Rings Online: DX10 Patch
,----[ Quote ]
| The DX10 codepath offered by the latest update to the Lord of the Rings
| client software gives us no reason to recommend anyone upgrade to Windows
| Vista right now to use it. It offers a couple of real visual quality
| upgrades, but currently with a monstrous performance penalty.
`----
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQxMywxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
ATI: Linux vs. Windows Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Wow! We were completely blown away when our final results came in and the
| Linux 8.42.3 driver had outperformed Windows Vista with Catalyst 7.10 in
| Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. It wasn't just a neck-and-neck race but Linux
| was about 10 frames per second faster when running at 1280 x 1024 and 1680 x
| 1050.
`----
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=897&num=3
Gears of War PC Performance and IQ
,----[ Quote ]
| DX10 On = No Advantage
|
| We are not sure exactly what turning on DX10 does, but we do know it causes a
| large performance drop on every video card. In our testing we found
| absolutely no image quality differences by turning this to “On.” The only
| benefit was being able to use “On/Antialiasing” for 4X AA, but you need a
| very fast video card to use that setting. If you have a GeForce 8800
| GTX/Ultra level video card you can enjoy that setting. But on the GeForce
| 8800 GT/GTS and Radeon HD 2900 XT you will have to sacrifice other in-game
| options or resolutions in order to use 4X AA. It is rather a shame because we
| noticed that 4X AA does improve the visual quality of this game in a
| noticeable way.
|
| Disappointing In-Game AA Controls
|
| [...]
|
| Overall Summary
|
| Gears of War plays very well with DX10 set to “Off,” and this is the mode you
| will find the best gaming performance with.
|
| [...]
|
| The Bottom Line
|
| We found no image quality differences inherent to enabling DX10 mode, but we
| did find a large performance drop on every video card. Simply put there is no
| reason to run this game in DX10 unless you have a powerful enough video card
| to handle 4X AA with this mode enabled. For the best performance run this
| game with DX10 “Off” and crank up the resolution with maximum in-game
| settings for a very fun, fast paced, action game.
`----
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQxNiwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA
Vista-only game cracked
,----[ Quote ]
| Falling Leaf Studios had previously reported that they were working
| on the 'Alky Project' that would contribute 'Alky Compatibility
| Libraries' to allow the successful running of Halo 2 and Shadowrun
| on Windows XP machines.
|
| Looks like it was a lot simpler than that.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40538
Vista RTM and SP1 do not come with all the necessary DirectX 9 updates for some
programs
,----[ Quote ]
| This was a strange one that I had forgotten about. Even though Vista ships
| with DirectX 10, it doesn't contain the DirectX 9 updates that have been
| released in the past year or so. This makes sense if you think about it,
| because Vista RTM'd in November 2006. It is almost 2008 now.
`----
http://blog.tiensivu.com/aaron/archives/1419-Vista-RTM-and-SP1-do-not-come-with-all-the-necessary-DirectX-9-updates-for-some-programs.html
http://tinyurl.com/34wcjn
Hacked DX10 for Windows appears
,----[ Quote ]
| A chap called Cody Brocious from San Diego, California, claims to
| have started to create an wrapper for Windows executables so that
| they can be ran on another operating system, with no prejudice
| about that operating system.
|
| A year in, the Alky Project has gone live under the cover of a
| company Falling Leaf Systems. Members of its Sapling Program will
| be able to get the wrappers for DirectX10 applications and run
| them not just on DX10 hardware under Windows XP, but with some
| DX9 hardware as well.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39095
Valve questions Microsoft's commitment to PC gaming
,----[ Quote ]
| Half-Life 2 developer Valve thinks that Microsoft's current
| "Games for Windows" marketing push is a cynical ploy to sell
| more copies of Windows Vista, rather than a genuine effort to
| invigorate the PC gaming market.
`----
http://tomshardware.co.uk/2007/03/12/valve_questions_microsofts_commitment/
Man wins damages from Acer over Windows refund
,----[ Quote ]
| Initially, Acer had offered only €30 if the man returned elements of the
| install at his own expense .
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=42546
[Acer] I've installed Linux, now give me my Windows refund
,----[ Quote ]
| Unfortunately, due to unfair licensing practices, Windows comes
| with most computers that are purchased and most people have to pay
| for Windows whether they like it or not, even if they are looking for
| a naked machine, ie one without an operating system installed. As
| you may well know that finding a naked notebook is difficult and
| can be expensive. Because of this several complaints have been put
| to the European Union asking them to investigate. This has been
| reported in the press (see
| http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/276088_msfteu01.html). This,
| as you may have heard, is referred to as the 'Microsoft Tax'.
`----
http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=139627
Acer: PC industry 'disappointed' with Vista
,----[ Quote
| Acer president Gianfranco Lanci became the first major PC manufacturer to
| openly attack Microsoft over the Windows Vista operating system in the
| Financial Times Deutschland on Monday.
|
| Lanci said the operating system was riddled with problems and gave users and
| businesses no reason to buy a new PC, according to the report. Taiwan-based
| Acer is the world's fourth-largest PC manufacturer, after HP, Dell and
| Lenovo.
|
| "The whole industry is disappointed with Windows Vista," Lanci said.
`----
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=9579
Acer: Vista Home Basic is a lemon
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is effectively smuggling through a price hike for Windows
| Vista - by making the entry-level version so poor that no-one will
| want to use it. So says Jim Wong, senior veep at Acer, the world's
| number four PC maker, who told UK hack Jon Honeyball: "The new
| [Vista] experience you hear of, if you get Basic, you won't feel
| it at all. There's no [Aero] graphics, no Media Center, no
| remote control."
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/27/acer_slams_vista_home_basic/
Acer revises down this year's revenue growth projection
,----[ Quote ]
| Acer Inc yesterday revised downward its revenue growth to less than 40
| percent, citing a weaker-than-expected impact from the release of
| Microsoft's Vista operating system.
`----
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2007/06/15/2003365394
Now get a laptop for just Rs 20k!
,----[ Quote ]
| Windows fanatics or those used to the MS operating system, however may be
| disappointed as it runs on a Linux operating system.
`----
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jul/07acer.htm
Acer Aspire 3680 Series with Linux OS in India Only $400
,----[ Quote ]
| The good part is that it is a full laptop and even its wireless
| network works well.
`----
http://laptopcom.blogspot.com/2007/06/acer-aspire-3680-series-with-linux-os.html
|
|
