nvidia posts

Big Download has been contacted by PC Gaming Alliance president Matt Ployhar who has confirmed that two of the organization's founding members, Microsoft and Nvidia, have indeed left the non-profit organization. Ployhar would not comment on why the two companies have left the PCGA, saying that he would prefer both Microsoft and Nvidia to communication their reasons directly to us. At the time of this post, neither company has provided Big Download with an official reason for leaving the organization that both helped to form in 2008.

Ployhar told Big Download in a brief phone interview that he doesn't feel that the departures will affect the PCGA, He also told us that he is moving the organization away from just being a group that does research and issues reports on the industry to a group that will be more active in trying to assist game developers, publishers and hardware companies make better PC games. In a post on Ployhar's Intel blog, he states, "Another key thing we'll be doing is creating a more technical based advisory board that you'll all be hearing more about very soon. We're doing this to flesh out the PCGA's technical expertise while simultaneously addressing perceived gaps in membership."

The PC Gaming Alliance, the non-profit organization who has been both promoting and trying to improve the PC gaming industry, may have lost two of its founding members. The official PC Gaming Alliance web site no longer shows Microsoft and Nvidia listed as members of the group. In addition another founding member, AMD, is now listed as a contributing member of the organization rather than the higher Promoters membership tier.

The PC Gaming Alliance was first announced in 2008 during GDC and since then a number of members have both left and entered the organization. However if Microsoft and Nvidia have indeed left it would be the biggest defection that the group has had since it was first formed. We have contacted the PC Gaming Alliance's president Matt Ployhar for comment along with Microsoft and Nviidia

[Thanks Mikko]

Orion: Prelude has had a successful fund raising effort via Kickstarter.com (it raised well over $5,000 more than its stated goal of $10,000). Now the upcoming sci-fi shooter from developer Spiral Game Studios has announced plans to team up with Nvidia to present a special five minute movie showing off the dinosaurs in the game.

According to the post, the development team will use Nvidia's 3D Vision technology to let folks see how the dinosaurs in the game (T-rex, Raptor and Pteranodon) interact with each other and the game's environment. The video will be released before the planned multiplayer beta for Orion: Prelude.

While there's been a lot of buzz about 3D gaming lately, especially this week with the launch date revealed for the 3D-enabled Nintendo 3DS console, the folks at PC graphics chip company Nvidia have been promoting the fact that it has enabled support for hundreds of PC games to have 3D support over the last few years with its 3D Vision tech. In its latest article, Eurogamer's Digital Foundry takes a close-up look at 3D Vision and compared how games that support the tech look next to its Xbox 360 and PS3 counterparts.

In short, there was no comparison with the article saying, "These are console games radically transformed: they look better, they feel better to play, and they're getting us involved in the action in a way the console versions just can't match. This feels like the future of 3D." Nvidia's 3DTV Play support also allows PCs to hook up to 3D-enabled big-screen TVs for some living room PC gaming although if you turn up the resolution to the full 1080p frame rates suffer. Digital Foundry suggests dialing it down to 720p for TV-based 3D playing which still blows away the graphical looks of console games at that same resolution.

In summary, while a 3D Vision supported PC will still cost more than a PS3 or Xbox 360, Digital Foundry states, " .. the sheer power you're getting for that outlay is phenomenal, the games you're buying will be much cheaper and the available catalogue of 3D software outstrips any other platform."

Big Download has learned from developer Epic Games that its upcoming first person shooter Bulletstorm will be the latest PC game that will feature support for Nvidia's 3D Vision technology. That means if your PC has an Nvidia GeForce-based graphics card and if you own the 3D Vision glasses and a compatible monitor you should be able to see all of the over-the-top shooter action of Bulletstorm in 3D.

The 3D support is exclusive to the PC version of the game which hopefully will remove some of the sting of PC users not being able to get a demo for the game like their console counterparts. Bulletstorm , which is co-developed by People Can Fly and will be published by Electronic Arts, is due for release on February 22.

Another day, another ice storm in the Northeast. Winter has just started and we are already pretty tired of it. We are already thinking about E3 in June ... nice and warm and (hopefully) sunny LA weather.

• Nvidia has released new reference graphics drivers (version 266.58) for its GeForce-based graphics cards.
• Paradox Interactive has released a new video interview with its CEO Fredrik Wester ahead of this week's big press event for the publisher.
• The mother of one of Dead Space 2's team members isn't scared by footage of the game.
• The wife of the late Brian Wood, one of the lead designers of Company of Heroes Online, talked about him again on the Today show and showed off their daughter for the first time.

Not too many PC games get official patches over eight years after the game is released. Today that is happening with Arx Fatalis, the 2002 released fantasy first person action-RPG that was also the first game from developer Arkane Studios. Today its new owner Bethesda Softworks announced via its Bethblog that the developer has released a new official patch for the game (1.21) that's designed to improve performance on some Nvidia-based graphics cards, improve stability while playing on Windows Vista and Windows 7 and fix a few bugs. You can check out the change log right here.

In addition to this patch, Arkane Studios has also released the full source code for Arx Fatalis for mod users to alter as they wish. Arkane is currently working on an unannounced game for Bethesda Softworks.

Download the Arx Fatalis 1.21 patch at Big Download
Download the Arx Falalis source code at Big Download

Developer Atomic Games' modern day first person shooter Breach has been in development for some time and today the company finally announced that the game has "gone gold", meaning that the main development has been completed. The PC version of the game is due out on January 26 and will be priced at $19.99. The PC version will be available via download and will also be found in retail stores.

The PC version will have support for Nvidia' PhysX tech which means folks with Nividia graphics cards will have "larger explosions, particle effects and more" compared to the Xbox 360 version. The PC port will also have an additional Hardcore game mode as well as dedicated server support.

Creating a PC gaming rig requires a lot of components, including finding a solid graphics card that can run all of your game titles. But what if you wanted to show off your games on a TV to your friends in a living room while you played in your home office or game room? If you are one of the very few people who want this kind of feature then perhaps the KFA2 Nvdia GeForce GTX 460 WHDI graphics card is for you.

The European-based KFA2 claims this product is "world's first wireless Graphics Card" and with the included receiver is designed to wirelessly send the graphics image to another monitor or TV screen. There's no word if this actually works as advertised but you have to admit it looks, well, odd.

And so another week ends as we await the next week when the first big PC game of the year, DC Universe Online, will be released. Will this game make super hero MMO players forget all about City of Heroes or Champions Online?

• Steam has an automatic update available for Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Source, Day of Defeat Source and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch.
• The Star Wars The Old Republic web site has added some more character biographies to check out.
• Medal of Honor-branded radio controlled vehicles are coming out later this year.
• We love cool PC case mods and this one that Nvidia showed off at CES 2011 may be one of our favorite.