Microsoft has used a trick up their sleeve in order to get people to try out Windows Vista, and has created a series of we-told-you-so videos revolving around the "Mojave Experiment".
A Microsoft Crew has disguised Windows Vista in a brand new box, called it Windows Mojave, and claimed it to be the latest Windows OS in development. In the Mojave Experiment volunteers were asked about their opinions and notions about Windows Vista, many of which said they hated it although personally never using the system. These volunteers, after viewing and using some of the features of Vista, became quite impressed with the Mojave features. One volunteer even said that it was "everything that they would need".
Spinning off the Mojave Experiment Windows has begun using the slogan see for yourself in order to convince people to give it a try. While Vista may look pretty and incredibly accessible and easy to use, I would like to see videos about these people actually installing the OS on their computers or notebooks and asking them about what they thought after a few weeks of use.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Windows Gaming Performance: Vista SP1 vs. XP SP3
Since Vista's first release in the winter of 2006, many a gamer have sworn not to upgrade to the latest OS because of its poor application compatibility and driver errors. Since Windows Vista received its first and highly anticipated service pack in April, many of its obvious flaws have been smoothed out making Vista a viable OS for many users. XP has also recently received its third (and final) service pack update which has resolved many security issues and bug fixes. With both of these operating systems getting a very recent upgrade through a service pack, one glaring question remains that begs to be answered by all PC gamers.
Just how well do these operating systems stack up against each other in the gaming performance department?
While Vista has a distinct advantage over XP, mainly due to DirectX10 compatibility, PC gamers have largely ignored this unique feature and have refused to switch to vista in favor of XP's more reliable system features. In order to test XP Service Pack 3 vs Upgraded Vista SP1 gaming performance, an average PC was built in order to test what most users would be likely to experience. The specs are as follows:
The testing was conducted through the use of two identical hard drives, one with each operating system, and physically interchanging the hard drive cable after each reboot. Two benchmark tests were used, PCMark05 and 3DMark06, as well as three games, Crysis, World in Conflict, and Supreme Commander. While testing each game DX9 was used as well as two presets. A low details preset at 1024x768 resolution, and a high details preset plus 4X anti-aliasing at 19200x1200 resolution. The results are as follows:
If you were expecting a huge performance drop between Windows XP and Windows Vista, sorry for the disappointment. As you can plainly see through the test results, Vista's gaming problems have largely been solved and the performance gap between XP and Vista has finally been closed.
Source: ExtremeTech
Just how well do these operating systems stack up against each other in the gaming performance department?
While Vista has a distinct advantage over XP, mainly due to DirectX10 compatibility, PC gamers have largely ignored this unique feature and have refused to switch to vista in favor of XP's more reliable system features. In order to test XP Service Pack 3 vs Upgraded Vista SP1 gaming performance, an average PC was built in order to test what most users would be likely to experience. The specs are as follows:
The testing was conducted through the use of two identical hard drives, one with each operating system, and physically interchanging the hard drive cable after each reboot. Two benchmark tests were used, PCMark05 and 3DMark06, as well as three games, Crysis, World in Conflict, and Supreme Commander. While testing each game DX9 was used as well as two presets. A low details preset at 1024x768 resolution, and a high details preset plus 4X anti-aliasing at 19200x1200 resolution. The results are as follows:
If you were expecting a huge performance drop between Windows XP and Windows Vista, sorry for the disappointment. As you can plainly see through the test results, Vista's gaming problems have largely been solved and the performance gap between XP and Vista has finally been closed.
Source: ExtremeTech
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Can E3 Pick Itself Up for Next Years Event
To recap, E3 drew more than 80,000 attendees in 2006, but big companies complained their costs were skyrocketing. The Entertainment Software Association, which sponsors the show, shifted the 2007 E3 event to Santa Monica and carved back attendance to 5,000, mostly journalists, in order to cover up some of the costs. This year, the show was held in the cavernous Los Angeles Convention Center, but the attendance did not resemble the 2006 showing at all. Instead only a mere 5,000 showed up to what had hoped to be the biggest gaming convention of 2008.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter comments on how E3 is "headed for extinction, unless the publishers and console manufacturers wake up to the fact that nobody cares about the show anymore."
"The show was small in scope, and the spectacle of E3 is dead. The Los Angeles Convention Center concourse was as quiet as a college library during summer, with little to attract media attention. The main game display area was similar in size to a school cafeteria (as compared to filling the entire convention center), and the "fireworks effect" of past shows was reserved for the evening parties."
"The lack of a spectacle will likely keep media away in the future, the lack of surprises will keep retailers away, and the lack of interaction with management will likely keep investors away. Without these three constituencies, the show will likely lose its relevance. We strongly believe that E3 should be held no later than early June (when companies can meet with investors and when some “secrets” have yet to be revealed), and believe that the spectacle should be restored by increasing the size of the show space."
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter comments on how E3 is "headed for extinction, unless the publishers and console manufacturers wake up to the fact that nobody cares about the show anymore."
"The show was small in scope, and the spectacle of E3 is dead. The Los Angeles Convention Center concourse was as quiet as a college library during summer, with little to attract media attention. The main game display area was similar in size to a school cafeteria (as compared to filling the entire convention center), and the "fireworks effect" of past shows was reserved for the evening parties."
"The lack of a spectacle will likely keep media away in the future, the lack of surprises will keep retailers away, and the lack of interaction with management will likely keep investors away. Without these three constituencies, the show will likely lose its relevance. We strongly believe that E3 should be held no later than early June (when companies can meet with investors and when some “secrets” have yet to be revealed), and believe that the spectacle should be restored by increasing the size of the show space."
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Sony Cable Embraces Wireless Technology
Sony Electronics has become the next company to embrace the Tru2Way, behind LG Electronics, Panasonic, and Samsung. Tru2Way is a wireless technology that enables televisions and other devices to receive encrypted wireless signals without the need to install a box. Apart from simply eliminating the need for a cable box, this technology will allow cable companies to offer products that can unlock encrypted channels and decrypt and record cable programming.
With Sony being one of the largest television manufacturers in the world, the adoption of Tru2Way will encourage many other companies to embrace the technology. Currently technologies such as TiVo use cablecards to decode the video and thus the, Tru2Way technology is currently incompatible with the TiVo technology. However, TiVo has expressed its interest into looking into the Tru2Way technology.
With Sony being one of the largest television manufacturers in the world, the adoption of Tru2Way will encourage many other companies to embrace the technology. Currently technologies such as TiVo use cablecards to decode the video and thus the, Tru2Way technology is currently incompatible with the TiVo technology. However, TiVo has expressed its interest into looking into the Tru2Way technology.
Friday, June 27, 2008
NVISION 2008 and GeForce LAN
One of the biggest and most anticipated events this summer is the NVISION 2008 event which will feature not only just games but will be a first-ever visual computing mega-event. This even is gathering top visual computing professionals and specialist, professional gamers, product artists and designers, and cutting edge technological developers and researchers. Thousands of engineers, designers, developers, researchers, artists, enthusiasts, gamers, film makers, business professionals, and consumers from around the world are expected to attend and this is a 3 day event that any computer enthusiast doesn't want to miss. I will personally be in attendance at this event for the GeForce LAN and the 5v5 Call of Duty 4 tournament that will be held. The turnout for this LAN is already looking to be larger than the previous NERV LAN in Pennsylvania which had 26 teams attend. There are already 16 teams confirmed for this event with many more interested in signing up.
Where: San Jose McEnery Convention Center
150 West San Carlos St., San Jose, CA 95113
When: Monday, August 25–Wednesday, August 27, 2008
How much: $50.00 on or Before June 1 (Early Bird Ticket)
$65.00 June 2 through August 27 (Standard Ticket)
Monday, June 16, 2008
Call of Duty 5: World at War
The next installment to the Call of Duty franchise has decided to return to the World War II theme and is taking place in the Pacific theater. Based off of the Call of Duty 4 Engine, World at War looks to keep things fresh by completely redesigning the AI to simulate the Japanese style of warfare as compared to our familiar European style.
"We figured out early that the Imperial Japanese fought in a different way that was full of suspense," creative lead Rich Farrelly tells OXM. "From that point we started to skew the game in that direction."
To boot, Treyarch has had a full extra year in development compared to their last title of COD3, which from many viewpoints felt rushed despite the good reviews it got. Expect a very successful game that will live up to all the previous installments in the franchise.
"We figured out early that the Imperial Japanese fought in a different way that was full of suspense," creative lead Rich Farrelly tells OXM. "From that point we started to skew the game in that direction."
To boot, Treyarch has had a full extra year in development compared to their last title of COD3, which from many viewpoints felt rushed despite the good reviews it got. Expect a very successful game that will live up to all the previous installments in the franchise.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Frag Dominant Back with New Roster
Due to Alec "s1refrosty" Zurek's return from Australia to the North American CoD4 competitive scene, Frag Dominant has decided to return to Call of Duty 4 to sponsor his newly assembled roster. This roster is comprised of two previous Frag Dominant players, myself and jestlolk, a few players from the old guardians roster and some new faces to the CoD4 scene. We hope to build a solid and stable roster that will be able to compete with the best and are in it for the long run. Check Gotfrag for the full story on this latest roster development.Current Frag Dominant CoD4 Roster:
Brett "brett" Crick Alexander "MasterAlex" Solis
Chad "jestlolk" Hansen Alec "s1refrosty" Zurek Zach "Holt" Holt Mark "Benn1tt" Bennitt Ray "rayZer" Sheehan
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