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Santa Clara, CA — NVIDIA on Monday, Feb 04, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AGEIA Technologies, the industry leader in gaming physics technology. AGEIA’s PhysX software is widely adopted with more than 140 PhysX-based games shipping or in development on Sony Playstation3, Microsoft XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii and Gaming PCs. AGEIA physics software is pervasive with over 10,000 registered and active users of the PhysX SDK.

Like graphics, physics processing is made up of millions of parallel computations. The NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT GPU, with its 112 processors, can process parallel applications up to two orders of magnitude faster than a dual or quad-core CPU. More at NVIDIA.

SANTA CLARA, CA— Extreme gaming just got a whole lot better. On Dec 13, NVIDIA extended its SLI technology, which enables the use of multiple graphics processing units (GPUs) on a single computer, allowing up to three GeForce graphics cards to be used in a single machine.

Now hot, new, graphics-intensive titles, such as Call of Duty 4, Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and Unreal Tournament 3, can be played at the highest resolution possible, with all the graphics settings cranked to the max, and antialiasing applied for the first time.

NVIDIA’s new 3-way SLI delivers up to a 2.8x performance increase over a single GPU system, giving high-end gamers 60 frames per second at resolutions as high as 2560×1600 and with 8x antialiasing. 3-way SLI technology means you no longer have to dial back the image quality settings on the newest PC games. For example, gamers with 3-way SLI can play Crysis at high resolutions such as 1920×1200 with all the advanced DirectX 10 effects such as motion blur, ambient occlusion, and soft shadows turned on.

The heart of a 3-way SLI system is an NVIDIA nForce 680 SLI MCP motherboard and three GeForce 8800 GTX or GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards. With 3-way SLI, gamers can harness the power of 384 stream processors, a 110+ gigatexel per second texture fill rate, and over two gigabytes of graphics memory for no-compromise gaming performance.

3-way SLI gives gamers the flexibility to scale their graphics processing power with one, two, or three GeForce GPUs, depending on their desired price and system configuration. 3-way SLI systems are available from leading gaming PC system builders and the components needed to build your own 3-way SLI system are available from leading retailers. More at SLI Zone, nVIDIA.

Taipei, Taiwan — December 06, ‘07 — ASUS today released the world´s first EN8800GT graphics card model with 1GB graphics memory with Qimonda – the new EN8800GT/HTDP/1G.

This powerful graphics card features the latest generation of NVIDIA GPUs; and with an unparalleled large onboard memory size, is designed to provide feature-rich DirectX 10 gaming and the best multimedia playback at ultra-high resolutions and maximum quality settings. Moreover, with the integrated new SmartDoctor feature, users will have the option to overclock the Shader Clock for more than 10% graphical performance boosts, while the unique Glaciator Fansink design keeps the GPU temperature 7ºC cooler than reference designed boards.

Unprecedented 1GB GDDR3 Onboard Memory from Qimonda for Best Graphical Output
“The ASUS EN8800GT/HTDP/1G is the first EN8800GT model in the world to leverage the Qimonda DRAM that comes equipped with 8pcs of 1GB GDDR3 graphics memory,” said C.P. Wu, General Manager of ASUS Graphics and Multimedia Business.

More at ASUSTeK.

Paris, France — Dec 02, ‘07 — The French and US companies behind the hugely popular video games “World of Warcraft” and “Call of Duty” announced Sunday that they are merging in an 18.9 billion dollar deal, which could shake up the global video games industry.

Vivendi, the French media and entertainment conglomerate, said Sunday that it planned to acquire a controlling stake in the US video game publisher Activision in a deal aimed at taking advantage of booming video game markets like South Korea and China.

Under the agreement, which values Activision at $18.9 billion, Vivendi would combine its game division with Activision, creating the largest video game company in the world that is not owned by a maker of game consoles.

Vivendi and Activision executives said that by combining the two game businesses, they could help Activision, which has developed popular games for consoles like the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, move more strongly into online “massively multiplayer” games, which have legions of devoted fans in Asia and elsewhere.

Vivendi has specialized in multiplayer games like “World of Warcraft,” which has more than nine million players worldwide, including millions of paying subscribers in China and South Korea, making them some of the only successful Western entertainment exports in a region ravaged by piracy.

Blizzard is the biggest player in online gaming and Warcraft is the global market leader of what are known as massively multi-player online role-playing games, or MMORPGs.

It is currently owned by the French media group Vivendi. As part of the merger plan, Blizzard will invest $2bn in the new company, while Activision is putting up $1bn.

The merged business will be called Activision Blizzard and its chief executive will be Activision’s current CEO Bobby Kotick. Vivendi will be the biggest shareholder in the group.

Jean-Bernard Levy, Vivendi chief executive, said: “This alliance is a major strategic step for Vivendi and is another illustration of our drive to extend our presence in the entertainment sector. “By combining Vivendi’s games business with Activision, we are creating a worldwide leader in a high-growth industry.”

Meanwhile, as news of the merger reached the ears of videogamers Sunday morning, many of them began to wonder if they should be getting ready to play a merged game called “World of Guitarcraft.”

More at Vivendi. (in pdf)

Taipei, Taiwan — Nov 30, ‘07 — DigiTimes is reporting on AMD’s plan to drop the price of its Radeon HD 3850 and 3870 GPUs by around $20, citing sources at graphics card makers.

DigiTimes further writes,”In response to AMD’s plans, Nvidia also notified its partners that it will consider following up with price reductions of its own, causing several makers to delay mass orders to prevent themselves from absorbing the price damage, according to the sources.”

The original official Radeon HD 3850 and 3870 prices were US$179 and US$219. More at DigiTimes.

SANTA CLARA, CA—November 19, 2007—This holiday season a new era of PC games, featuring advanced new graphics effects, will immerse gamers in cinematic realism like never before. Games like Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3, and Call of Duty 4 are sure bets to be at the top of the holiday gift list for the significant gamer in your life.

And to supply the best visual experience when playing these new games, a new generation of notebook PCs equipped with ultra-modern GPUs (graphics processing units), such as the just-released GeForce 8800M notebook GPUs from NVIDIA, will soon be available for order from notebook makers.

Delivering the best performance for both DirectX 10 and DirectX 9, the GeForce 8800M GTX and GeForce 8800M GTS GPUs fill the top enthusiast GPU product positions in the popular NVIDIA GeForce 8M Series product line, continuing the company’s five generations of performance leadership in notebook GPUs. The new GPUs feature NVIDIA’s new, extremely efficient, unified architecture that delivers astounding levels of performance compared to previous generation GPUs.

In addition to serving as the core of a great, notebook gaming platform, the NVIDIA GeForce 8M Series GPUs feature the NVIDIA PureVideo HD engine for superior quality playback of HD DVD, Blu-ray, and HD movie downloads. The GeForce 8M Series also contain NVIDIA’s PowerMizer technology that intelligently balances battery life and performance.

“Alienware’s philosophy when designing the industry’s most powerful 17 and 15-inch notebooks was the commitment to using only the best components designed around the most current technologies,” said Frank Azor, Executive Vice-President for Alienware’s Product Group and Marketing. “Alienware proudly announces that our next generation notebooks, the Area-51 m17x and Area-51 m15x, launching early next year, will feature the raw power and vivid detail of NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800M GTX.”

Notebooks with the new GPUs will soon be available for order from notebook makers worldwide including Alienware, Eurocom, Gateway, and Sager in North America; AIRIS, Chiligreen, Cizmo, Cybersystem, Ergo, Nexoc, Novatech, Plaisio, Rock, and XXODD in Europe; MouseComputer in Japan; and Pioneer Computers in Australia. More at nVIDIA.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — November 15, 2007 –AMD today announced the introduction and immediate availability of the ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series of graphics processing units (GPU).

As the world’s first series of graphics processors to deliver Microsoft’s DirectX 10.1 support, 55nm process technology and tri and quad multi-GPU support with ATI CrossFireX, the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series ushers in a new era of enthusiast gaming performance at mainstream price points.

The ATI Radeon HD 3800 series will be introduced in two variants at launch, from US $179 MSRP, the ATI Radeon HD 3850 with 256MB of GDDR3 memory and from US $219 MSRP, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB GDDR4 memory. The launch of the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series redefines the enthusiast segment and puts high performance gaming in reach of more users than ever before. This innovative new series of graphics products also represent the first step in the launch of AMD’s upcoming enthusiast platform codenamed “Spider.”

The ATI Radeon HD 3800 series also introduces the world to ATI CrossFireX, AMD’s innovative next-generation multi-GPU technology designed to deliver unprecedented performance scaling with support for two, three and four graphics processors in CrossFire configurations. At launch, the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series will support dual-GPU CrossFire with tri and quad-GPU support scheduled for January 2008.

Graphics bandwidth is also greatly enhanced with the introduction of PCI Express 2.0. Delivering over 16 gigabytes per second of bi-directional bandwidth, PCIe 2.0 doubles the bus data rate over the previous generation. The combination of PCIe 2.0 and HyperTransport3 on next-generation AMD platforms provides a dramatic increase in the amount of system bandwidth for high definition, multi-GPU PC gaming.

With the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 3850 and ATI Radeon HD 3870, AMD has answered the call of HD video enthusiasts with top-to-bottom support for the Unified Video Decoder (UVD). The addition of UVD ensures exceptional platform efficiency and image quality in HD-DVD and Blu-rayTM decoding for both H.264 and VC-1 specifications. Enhanced HDMI functionality also continues on this series of products with integrated HDCP and audio for HDMI video. More at AMD.

In line with earlier reports nVidia has released new mainstream GeForce 8800 GT today.

Santa Clara, CA—OCTOBER 29, 2007—The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, the latest in the standard-setting GeForce 8 Series of graphics processing units (GPUs), is hitting store shelves today. Specifically developed to answer enthusiast gamers’ demand for high-performing graphics at the $199 to $259 price point, GeForce 8800 GT offers a hyper-reactive, intensely robust gaming experience for the latest next-generation DirectX 10 games, such as Crysis, Hellgate: London, and Gears of War, as well as full support for current DirectX 9 games. 

“When we introduced the GeForce 8 Series family, our most savvy customers and press demanded a product with 64 stream processors and a 256-bit memory interface to deliver more performance at the popular $199 to $259 price point. Today we decided to raise the bar and deliver GeForce 8800 GT with 112 stream processors, a fast 256-bit memory interface, and our second-generation PureVideo HD technology, giving our customers an incredible value proposition.” said Ujesh Desai, general manager of GeForce desktop GPUs at NVIDIA. “At this price point, gamers are getting more performance and features than ever before.” 

In addition to 112 stream processors—each individually clocked at 1. 5GHz—and a 256-bit memory interface running at a blazing-fast 900MHz, the GeForce 8800 GT is designed for the new PCI Express 2.0 bus standard and is backwards compatible with the original PCI Express standard. 

The GeForce 8800 GT also marries the best-in-gaming with the best-in-HD. It leverages NVIDIA’s revolutionary second-generation video processing engine to deliver high-quality playback of HD DVD and Blu-ray movies on everyday PCs. The new programmable video processing engine takes on all of the high definition H.264 video decoding, freeing the CPU to perform other tasks and significantly reducing power consumption, heat, and noise. More at nVidia

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2007 — Hundreds of industrial designers attending the Connecting’07 conference in San Francisco this week are experiencing the HP mscape software platform as they roam through the city’s neighborhoods playing Defenders of Design, a customized and highly interactive location-based mobile game created especially for the conference.mscape is a software suite that enables people to design, play and share “mediascapes” – location-based experiences, games and tours. Developed by HP Labs, the company’s central research facility, the technology has been used to recreate historical moments, bring a community’s stories to life and develop new ways of socializing, entertaining and learning.

Earlier this year, HP made the mscape authoring toolkit and mobile player software available via download from the community website, mscape, at no cost for non-commercial use on specific iPAQ models and other compatible handheld devices. The toolkit allows people to associate physical locations with digital media, such as video, music, images and text.

Defenders of Design was created by The GoGame, which produces and stages interactive participative team-building games for corporations and other groups. The group incorporated mscape’s location capabilities into the game, which supplies clues and other information that guide Connecting’07 participants to some of San Francisco’s premier design studios and through special missions that challenge their creativity.

“mscape is a great tool that opens new possibilities for the designers of our high-tech urban adventure,” said Finnegan Kelly, co-founder, The GoGame. “The mscape platform gives us the ability to integrate customized digital media that we can link to a specific location in our futuristic storyline. We can send fun facts about a design company just as players walk in the door of a studio, or a video containing an important clue before participants approach an undercover actor with a secret password.”

HP Labs offered the mscape platform to the public so consumers, gamers and designers could experience its capabilities and explore new uses for location-sensitive technologies. The mscape site hosts numerous ready-made mediascapes, which can be downloaded by anyone to use with a GPS-enabled HP iPAQ or other compatible handheld device running the Windows® Mobile operating system. The website provides everything people need to develop their own mediascapes, including training and tips to get started, and it encourages people to upload their mediascapes so others can enjoy them.

“mscape matches digital media with the physical world, providing an immersive and location-aware experience,” said Phil McKinney, vice president and chief technology officer, Personal Systems Group, HP. “Mobile devices will increasingly incorporate context and location awareness in the coming years, and mscape helps us better understand how associating digital media with physical locations can not only be fun and informative, but also useful in our personal and professional lives.”

More at HP, mscape

LONDON (AP) — A British intelligence agency is seeking spies in cyberspace. GCHQ, the surveillance arm of British intelligence, said Thursday it hopes to attract computer-savvy young recruits by embedding job ads within video games such as “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent.”

GCHQ, which stands for Government Communications Headquarters, said it was looking to reach “an Internet-savvy generation of graduate groups.” In a statement, GCHQ said it hoped the campaign would “capture the imagination of people with a particular interest in IT.”

The monthlong ad campaign, which starts at the end of October, is being run by GCHQ, the recruitment firm TMP Worldwide and Microsoft-owned in-game ad agency Massive Inc. GCHQ employs about 5,000 people at its high-tech headquarters in Cheltenham, western England.

Ads headed “Careers in British Intelligence” will appear as billboards in scenes in “Splinter Cell” and other games including “Need for Speed Carbon” and “Enemy Territory: Quake Wars” when they are played on computers and Microsoft Xbox consoles in Britain. Kate Clemens, Head of GCHQ’s digital strategy at TMP Worldwide, said the campaign would target frequent gamers who “are particularly receptive to innovative forms of advertising.”

The foreign intelligence service MI6 launched a Web site in 2005, which cautions that its work is far from the “level of glamour and excitement” of James Bond films. Its domestic counterpart, MI5, has an online section tackling “myths and misconceptions” that stresses “we do not kill people or arrange their assassination.”

MI5 has placed job ads on the side of double-decker London buses and tried to attract more female applicants with ads in women’s changing rooms at gyms. A British security official said the locker-room posters had brought a wave of applicants, doubling the number of women employed as surveillance officers.

Digitimes reports on upcoming launch of nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (G92). “Nvidia is bringing forward the launch date of its upcoming GeForce 8800 GT (G92) GPU to October 29 from the original November 12, targeting AMD’s new Radeon HD 2950PRO (RV670) as the major competitor, according to sources at graphics card makers.

With G92 and RV670 having a tight performance/price ratio, Nvidia’s earlier launch should give the company an advantage in the market, noted the sources. In addition to G92, Nvidia will also launch the G98 GPU to replace the GeForce 8600 series, however the launch date has not yet been set, added the sources.”

More at Digitimes…

Irvine, CA based Broadcom announces “sampling of the industry’s first low power multimedia processor that enables a HD (720p, H.264 Encode and Decode) video camcorder and playback in cell phones and portable media players. The Broadcom® VideoCore® III multimedia processor also supports an up to 12 megapixel digital camera and delivers high performance yet ultra-low power 3D graphics for a world-class gaming experience. HD video, 3D games and high resolution 12 megapixel pictures can be displayed at top quality on full-sized HD televisions and monitors using an on-chip industry standard HDMI interface.

More at Broadcom…