Hardware

You may remember us reporting a little while ago that Nvidia was going to use Halloween to launch some kind of new product connected to their PhysX support. Well, that product is now outed as graphics card maker EVGA has announced the GTX 275 Co-op, a new card that has a chip dedicated just to hardware-accelerated game physics support.

The GTX 275 has a Nvidia GTX 275 graphics chip just for GPU duties plus another Nvidia chip, the GTS 250, that's set up specifically as a PhysX chip only. The card also has SLI support which means you can have three GPUs plus the extra just for PhysX support.. As you can see the card has the Joker's face just waiting to give you the creeps as EVGA and Nvidia are branding this card as the perfect way to play the PhysX-supported Batman: Arkham Asylum. Pricing for the card will be a bit high (over $300) but it looks like Batman: Arkham Asylum will be bundled with the card.

[Via PC Percepective]

Much like Dell's Alienware gaming PC division revamped their entire lineup of desktops last month, other gaming PC makers are doing the same with their products. Today Maingear announced a major revamp of their own desktop line which they have named Shift. Along with the new desktop line comes a new logo for the company and a new case design made specifically for the Shift brand. Inside the case Maingear plans to allow for a ton of high end hardware choices and with prices starting at $2.199.

Big Download got the skinny from Maingear founder and CEO Wallace Santos about Maingear's "shift" in direction, along with what he thinks about the newly launched Windows 7 and the future of gaming PCs.

Remember how Alienware sometimes launches a teaser site when they have a major product announcement? Well it looks like fellow PC gaming maker Maingear is doing something similar. The company's main site has been changed with a countdown clock that is pointing to an announcement on Monday morning.

So what is it? We have no idea although the weird animation of a red cloud sky thingie and the "Something Wicked This Way Comes" on the teaser site makes us thing that something downright sinister is going to launch. And we are all about sinister here. In any case we should know Monday morning if Maingear will launch a new PC or if the apocalypse is due.

One of the big problems with Windows Vista was the fact that Microsoft's next-gen 3D graphics API DirectX10 was exclusive to the OS. That was likely the big reason why game developers were reluctant to offer a lot of DirectX10-supported games since the audience for such games would be limited. The release of Windows 7 last week brought out a new version of the API, DirectX11, but Microsoft promised that it would make an apperance on Vista.

That time has apparently come as a new automatic update for Vista has now implemented DirectX11 support for the nearly three year old OS. With two versions of Windows now supporting DirectX11 we expect game developers will embrace using the API in their games than they did with DirectX10.

[Via Blue's News]

As part of the Windows 7 launch, Microsoft opened up the first retail Microsoft store on Thursday in Scottsdale, Arizona (a second store in California will open next week). In addition to selling items like PCs, Xbox 360s, Zunes and the like, That VideoGame Blog has posted up word that Microsoft are selling PC games in their new retail location, but in a rather cool manner.

Instead of a boxed product you go to a kiosk in the store and select which PC game titles you wish to buy. After you pay for your games, a store employee then creates the disk, case, insert and game manual in the back of the store and hands them to you. The entire process supposedly takes just a few minutes. Perhaps GameStop should consider such a move. It certainly will allow them to offer more PC games than anemic few titles they have in their stores right now. We also wonder why Microsoft failed to mention this rather cool feature in their own promotions about the Microsoft Store.

[Via Joystiq]

Last year, when LucasArts released the console version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the publisher claimed the game couldn't be released on the PC because the system requirements would be too high. That was disproven earlier this summer when LucasArts announced (shocker) a PC port of the game.

Now the PC version's developer, Aspyr Media, has revealed the PC system requirements for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition. As we have reported before, the PC version will have all of the content of the original console game plus some extra missions. You can check out the system specs after the jump:

We suspected that AMD might wait until the Windows 7 launch date to release its regular monthly driver updates for its ATI Radeon graphics cards, and we were right. The Catalyst 9.10 drivers are now available for download from AMD's gaming web site.

The release notes for the new drivers give the 411 on what's new, improved and fixed in this release. One of the new features is a new anti-aliasing method called Super Sampling that AMD claims will improve image quality for its ATI Radeon HD 5800 graphics card (the only ones that currently support DirectX11) while still allowing for solid performance. There are also some bugs addressed for games like Ghostbusters and Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.

Windows 7 launches officially in stores and inside new PCs today and Ubisoft used the occasion to announce that their upcoming RTS game R.U.S.E. will be one of the first major PC games that will use Windows 7's native touch screen features.

The WWII-themed strategy game was first introduced earlier this year via a trailer that used a fictional touch screen interface to show off the game's unique RTS features such as no fog of war and using deceptive units to throw off opposing players. At E3, Ubisoft showed the game being demoed on a table that used Microsoft's Surface touch technology. Today's announcement means that any PC running Windows 7 with a supported multi-touch monitor will be able to manipulate R.U.S.E. on the screen itself instead of just the usual mouse and keyboard set up. R.U.S.E. is currently scheduled for a first quarter 2010 release date.

[via email press release]

It's the day before Microsoft unleashes Windows 7 to the world at large and their latest operating system for PCs has gotten a lot of praise compared to Windows Vista, which was released with tons of performance problems and compatibility issues.

But what if you want to upgrade your existing PC or even buy a new one? The big question for you is whether an upgrade to Windows 7 is right for you. We try to give you the 411 in this latest feature.

AMD has the current edge over its main rival Nvidia in the PC graphics card race. AMD's new DirectX11-based cards under their ATI brand are out now while Nvidia's DirectX11 cards are not expected to launch until sometime in early 2010. However, Nvidia is apparently prepping some kind of new graphics card product for a launch this fall.

This week Nvidia sent out invites for people to come to their Santa Clara, California offices on October 30 for a Halloween-themed launch event that will introduce "a rocking new graphics card designed by NVIDIA and EVGA to take PhysX to the next level." That's all we know at this point but if you happen to be in the area on that date there may still be time to send in your RSVP.

Last January at CES, BFG Technologies, best known for their graphics cards, launched their high end (and highly expensive) Phobos desktop gaming PC. Besides the powerful hardware options, the Phobos line also had a Concierge Service that not only set up your PC but serviced it for free for six months. Now BFG has launched the Deimos, a high end gaming PC laptop.

With prices starting at $2299, this is definitely not a "netbook". The Deimos X-10 has an Nvidia SLI graphics set up as standard, an optional Blu-Ray disk drive, up to 8 GB of RAM, eight programmable gaming macro keys, and more. They even throw in a free backpack for your laptop and one free service visit within the the laptop's warranty period. In order to lower the sticker shock slightly, BFG is taking 10 percent off the laptop's final price until October 30.

Logitech is well known for their PC gaming-oriented products and this week the company announced plans to launch a new gaming PC keyboard to replace their current G11 product. The Logitech G110 keyboard has features such as 12 programmable buttons, a way to create profiles for all of your PC games, customisable back lighting for the keyboard buttons, connections for headphones and microphones and a USB 2.0 port.

Other features include one touch media buttons on top and a way to disable the Windows/Context Menu buttons while playing games. There's no word just yet on when the Logitech G110 keyboard will be released but according to the product's web site it will be priced at $79.99.

Just a reminder: You have until 11:59 pm Eastern Time tonight to enter our giveaway contest. One of you reading this right now could enter and win a Razer Orochi laptop themed gaming along with a Razer Kabuto gaming PC mouse pad to accompany it. If you are interested (and if you are not, there's something wrong with you) head over to the contest web page, read the official rules to see if you are eligible and if so have at it.

We are also giving out five Steam codes for the full version of Cities XL but you still have a few days to enter that contest.

More and more PC gamers use their laptops for either their secondary gaming rig or even their main one if they have a high-powered machine. But what if you still have a bulky mouse that's meant for a keyboard. Razer released their Orochi laptop themed gaming PC mouse recently and now Big Download is giving one of our readers a chance to win one. We will even throw in a Razer Kabuto gaming PC mouse pad to go along with it.

As with most of our contests, entering the giveaway is simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on October 16
  
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• The winner will be sent a Razer Orochi gaming PC mouse (valued at $79.99) and a Razer Kabuto gaming PC mouse pad (valued at $19.99)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.

Our thanks to Razer for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.

We are just days away from the launch of Windows 7 and the official launch of DirectX11. But maybe you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars to get one of those new AMD graphics cards that support DirectX11 features. Fear not, however, as AMD has just announced two new cards that are designed for the more budget minded PC gamer who still wants to have high end graphics.

The ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card (shown to the left) and the ATI Radeon HD 5750 card both support DirectX11 and early reviews from hardware sites indicate that both cards give a lot of performance bang for the buck. In this case the bucks come to between $109-$159. Meanwhile Nvidia still has yet to release their own DirectX11 card and likely won't be able to until sometime in 2010.