Capcom Announces GeForce 3D Vision Support for Resident Evil 5

When NVIDIA first launched their GeForce 3D Vision at this year's CES, no one was sure how it would take off, if at all. 3D gaming up to this point has been nothing more than a joke, and personally, I've never been impressed with any implementation up until I first put on the 3D Vision glasses. Even NVIDIA's implementation isn't perfect, but we're on the right track, and assuming you aren't expecting a fully immersive 3D experience, it can help make certain games much more enjoyable.

Until now, the company hasn't had any real support from game developers to build their game around the technology, but today Capcom announced that the PC version of Resident Evil 5 (due later this year), will come bundled with support, although we'll have to wait and see just how they develop the game to take better advantage of it.

We can assume that the game will look no different for those without the glasses, but there's likely to be a mode to enable that will allow you to tell the game that you have the proper hardware. RE5, to me, is the perfect kind of title for this usage, because any more realism in a horror game is sure to get blood pumping. Hopefully when the game gets released, 120Hz monitors will be much more affordable...

Featuring a revolutionary new co-op mode of gameplay, Resident Evil 5 will let players experience fear together as terror moves out of the shadows and into the light of day. The PC version of Resident Evil 5 will feature online play for co-operative play sessions over the internet and will also take advantage of NVIDIA's new GeForce 3D Vision technology (wireless 3D Vision glasses sold separately).

Common Reasons People Leave Linux

From the title alone, you can probably guess what this article is going to entail, and you're probably going to be correct. But, it's good to be refreshed of things from time to time, because Linux does need some improvement in order to take over alternative OS', at least in my opinion. All too often I'll hear complaints from people who've tried Linux and have gone back to Windows, and I'm certainly not the only one.

In a brief article at PC World, there's a list of seven reasons that people decide to leave Linux, with the number one reason being the inability to run many applications that people are familiar with. That issue in particular is getting better over time, but I believe Linux will really start to take off when more commercial applications become available for the OS. Many people shun non-open-source applications, but it's clear that there are some commercial applications that far exceed the capabilities of free alternatives.

Other common complaints include the fact that Linux didn't pick up on some hardware, but in truth, Windows is no different. Never have I installed Windows and not have had to install drivers for something, whether it be networking or audio, or WiFi. There are other reasons listed in the article that are good, and I symphasize with newbie Linux users over them. Things are certainly getting better all the time though, that's the important thing.

There are also those who take a haughty position and project their fear onto others: "I had to type commands! Ergo Linux just isn't ready for the ordinary person!". Here, the individual concerned seems to be implying that the " ordinary user" (whoever that might be) suffers from an intelligence deficit and is incapable of typing commands. It that really true? Why do we always assume that other people can't possibly be as smart as we are?

AMD Celebrates 40 Years

Today officially marks the 40th anniversary for Advanced Micro Devices, and what an exciting forty years it's been! The company was founded on May 1, 1969, just one year after Intel, and was formed to produce a number of "logic chips", and believe it or not, they even at one point produced Intel processors, such as the AM286 pictured below.

Their first in-house processor was the K5, a chip that featured 4.3 million transistors built on a 500nm process, 8KB+16KB Cache and a clock-rate up to 100MHz. These chips plugged into either a Socket 5 or Socket 7 motherboard, the latter of which was my first experience with frying a motherboard (hurrah for not properly soldering fan wires!).

If you want to take an exhaustive trip down AMD's history, I recommend you check out the Wikipedia page on the company. To help celebrate things though, the company is offering up a few different contests in order to repay their fans, and the first is for you to create a quick video (under 60 seconds) with you expressing your love for AMD, and you must say in some manner, "Happy 40th Anniversary AMD".

Prizes include all of of AMD's current high-end offerings, such as an X4 Black Edition CPU and ASUS motherboard and also the new budget (but powerful) Athlon 7850. If you're not camera shy, get to making a video... you may just win!

In our 40 years, users and enthusiasts the world over have been integral in the development and marketplace adoption of our product lines. We’ve always appreciated the feedback and wishes of our customers and end users, and during this anniversary year we’d like to celebrate by saying thanks. So we’re rolling out a series of contests that will take place over the coming months to give back to our dedicated fans, and let you show your AMD spirit. In total we’re giving away 80 prizes, and the winners will take home some of the most innovative products in the market today.

Tech Roundup - May 1, 2009

Motherboards & Processors
• ASUS M4A79T Deluxe - Benchmark Reviews

Displays & Video Cards
• Panasonic Viera TC-P42S1 - Digital Trends

Memory & Storage
• Super Talent Luxio 64GB Flash Drive - Bjorn3D

Peripherals & Gadgets
• TRENDnet TEG-240WS 24-Port Gigabit Web Smart Switch - TweakTown

Cooling
• Recoltec PipeTower Pro - Technic3D
• SilverStone Nitrogon NT07-775 Low Profile CPU Cooler - TweakTown
• Titan Fenrir CPU Cooler - Overclockers Club

Chassis & Power Supplies
• Antec NSK-4480 II Chassis - Hi Tech Legion
• Eagle Tech Consus P-Series Portable 2.5” Hard Drive Enclosure - Overclockers HQ
• Enermax Revolution85+ 950W Power Supply - Overclock3D
• Hiper Anubis Mid-Tower Chassis - Tweaknews
• In-Win 'NA 3.5 HDD Enclosure - Overclockers HQ

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Btrfs Is Not Yet The Performance King - Phoronix
• Finding the Perfect Bluetooth Headset - Digital Trends
• Gateway P-7808u FX Edition Gaming Notebook - i4u
• Worst Vaporware and High-Tech Hoaxes - Digital Trends