gameshogun™

The April 2013 NVIDIA® Gamers Conference

2013-04-29T07:47:42-07:00

April 2013 is nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX TITAN month, when the world’s gaming supercomputer is born. In the Philippines, to introduce the most powerful GPU that is powering the next gaming supercomputers, the company’s Philippines office held multiple nVIDIA® Gamers Conference in the country, two of which I was invited to cover.

What is so special about GeForce® GTX TITAN and what is this nVIDIA® Gamers Conference?

nVIDIA® Philippines country manager Glenn Paul Serrano have been meeting with the local gaming community for a couple of years already. The Philippines office, recognizing that gamers are the force that drives the company to give the best GPU, formulated a plan to support and push e-sports in the country.

They made the right decision. E-sports is big in the Philippines despite the lack of mainstream media attention. Marlon Marcelo of Mineski Marketing said, “Ganun katindi ang passion ng gamers dito sa Philippines, hindi lang natin nakikita” ("That’s how huge the passion of gamers are here in the Philippines, we just do not see it"), talking about the huge turn-out of the PGF 2012 or the Pinoy Gaming Festival where Mineski also held the National Finals of the nVIDIA® NCCL ("National Cyber Collegiate League").

The nVIDIA NCCL, a partnership between nVIDIA and Mineski, is the NCAA or UAAP of e-sports in the Philippines (now on its Season 3 as MSI NCCL). It is exclusive to current students only, where all participants are individually confirmed as students of the school they registered. Last year 2012, nVIDIA NCCL had 2,925 participants from more than 100 schools nationwide. With FEU (Far Eastern University) having the most team totalling to 265, and PUP at 220 teams.

If we count the professional leagues and brand-specific competitions like the recently held World of Tanks Philippines finals and League of Legends National finals, e-sports in the country is no doubt huge, and nVIDIA Philippines is right in the middle of it all.

It is only appropriate that a new line of GPU is introduced in the Philippine market to further support and boost e-sports in the country to new heights. Filipino players are very competitive and well able to be stars in the International scene but without the proper technology to power them, we can only dream. Here comes the nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX TITAN, the most powerful GPU the company has developed to date.

nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX TITAN

How powerful is this new GPU of nVIDIA? It has…

2,688 CUDA® cores
4,500 gigaflops
7.1 billion transistors
6GB 384-bit GDDR5 memory
206-watts
NVIDIA SLI® (3x) ready
NVIDIA 3D Vision® ready
NVIDIA TXAA™ technology
NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0
NVIDIA PhysX® technology
NVIDIA FXAA™ technology
NVIDIA Adaptive Vertical Sync
Four concurrent displays support
NVIDIA Project SHIELD™ ready
OpenGL 4.3 support
OpenCL™ support

Imagine this. Crysis 3 on maximum settings and 5760x1080 resolution. To date, only the nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX TITAN can handle it and without any problems or glitches. GeForce® GTX TITAN is the fastest single-GPU in the market today, even faster than the dual-GPU GTX 690!

nVIDIA [GeForce GTX TITAN] was highly involved in Iron Man 3, Glenn Paul Serrano, A® Philippines Country Manager said. nVIDIA GPUs are used in the world’s most advanced products, from computers to smartphones to automobiles.

2013-04-29 nVIDIA Partner Guest

Today’s nVIDIA Gamers Conference partner guest was PALiT’s exclusive Philippines distributor - Ubertech represented by Gabriel Gonzales. He presented the PALiT features that makes it the best choice for pro gamers today.

Exclusive Thundermaster tweaking utility
LED Lighting (Jetstream series)
Turbo Fan Blade (Jetstream series)
Optimized Air Flow (Jetstream series)
6-Phase PWM (Jetstream series)
Dr MOS (Jetstream series)
Simultaneous 3x DVI Monitor (Jetstream series)

In addition to that, the newest GPU line from PALiT was also announced, the PALiT nVIDIA GTX 650Ti BOOST - the Overclock Edition. PALiT is currently the strongest partner of nVIDIA in the Philippines and have the higher sales nationwide. Marlon Marcelo of Mineski Marketing even said that many of their newest gaming rigs are powered by PALiT GPUs today.

Today’s gamers conference was graced by the presence of two national champions. The “PVP” World of Tanks clan from Luzon, who will be competing with China soon in the International leg of WoT; and “Manila Eagles” League of Legends champions who likewise will be competing in the International scene, representing the Philippines.

GeForce® GTX TITAN
- nVIDIA® website
- GeForce® website
National Cyber Collegiate League (NCCL)

All images licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

[Video] The Father of Computer RPG and MMORPG is Back

2013-03-18T00:32:09-07:00

NVIDIA to Build A New Headquarters

2013-02-27T19:39:29-08:00

nVIDIA® is turning 20 this month. Twenty years ago, the vision that computer graphics would revolutionize computing has propelled nVIDIA into becoming one of the leading technology companies in the world. The three-person startup has grown to 8,000 staff across 40-plus sites.

Today, on their official blog, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, announced they have big plans on their next residence. In the post, they show off the design for their new headquarters, saying that the new building will be “the symbol, the physical manifestation of our vision for the company“. Right across the street from the old one in Santa Clara, California, the new nVIDIA® building looks impressive and the architect on the project is Hao Ko from Gensler.

The design harmonizes smart functionality and a shape that connects with and inspires our employees - a triangle, the fundamental building block of computer graphics. Efficient in every way, the design is thoughtful in its use of space, energy, and environment, and of course, cost.

For more information, visit the official blog post.

GeForce Experience Now in Open Beta

2013-01-26T07:58:07-08:00

nVIDIA® announced that their new tool GeForce Experience entered into open beta and is now downloadable for everyone. Over 40,000 gamers downloaded the application during the closed beta and have provided tremendous feedback which helped bring the software to open beta quality. In this stage, support for the latest games like FarCry 3, Mechwarrior Online, and Hawken were added, bringing the total supported games to 41.

In addition to that…

…CPU support has been extended to Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors. The game detection logic was also improved which will help supported games to work more reliably with the tool. And it doesn’t end there, gamers have requested support for 2560x1440 screen resolution and that’s included in the v1.0.1 open beta release.

v1.0.1.0 Release Notes

Expanded game support, including FarCry 3, Mechwarrior Online, Hawken, Hitman Absolution, Left 4 Dead 2, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Fable III, The Secret World, Football Manager 2013, and Fallout New Vegas. GFE now support 41 titles.
Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad CPU support in most games. More to come.
Dramatically improved game detection logic.
Added optimal playable settings for 2560x1440 displays.
Improved translations for Chinese, Danish, and UK English.
Improved performance for client startup, billboard display, game scan, and communication with nVIDIA servers.
Numerous bug fixes and improvements.

GeForce Experience can be downloads here.

[Video] Hitler Tries to Play Ingress

2013-01-25T21:39:49-08:00

via +Aja Lorenzo Lapus

Trion Worlds to Publish XLGames ArcheAge in the West

2013-01-24T16:23:02-08:00

English speaking gamers all around the world have been waiting for years to hear news about the English server for XLGames‘ ArcheAge®. Get those drinks and food ready for today, XLGames officially announced the English server publisher.

South Korea-based game developer XLGames have entered into a strategic agreement with Trion Worlds to exclusively publish and operate ArcheAge® in the West. Created by Jake Song, best known for his hit game Lineage, the highly anticipated ArcheAge is poised to be the most polished MMORPG coming out of Asia. Trion will host the game on its Red Door platform in North America, Europe, Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Trion Worlds, a company who is setting a new standard for gaming by embracing original, high-quality IPs on a dynamic connected platform", said Jake Song, CEO and founder of XLGames. “We are impressed with Trion’s track record as they have consistently delivered against an unwavering vision; we are confident partnering with Trion will help bring ArcheAge a successful game that satisfies audience both in East and West".

“We’re very impressed with ArcheAge and the level of anticipation for the game is absolutely astonishing", said Dr. Lars Buttler, CEO and founder of Trion Worlds. “We are very proud of the catalog of world-class games we will be offering through Red Door. Now, with ArcheAge, we are bringing the best in Asia onto our platform".

ArcheAge development took more than six (6) years and nearly two (2) years of closed testing. Players are introduced to a fantasy sandbox world where they begin their journey on one of two continents: Harihara and Nuia. From there, everything else is up to the player, from what character they want to play, to where they want to go, their background story, items they want to wear, things they want to do, and many more.

The game promises to remove the restrictions that have hindered other MMORPGs, especially concerning character classes and skills. ArcheAge started its commercial service on 16^th of January in South Korea, and it is truly the spiritual successor of Richard Garriot’s Ultima Online, the most successful sandbox MMORPG and still kicking.

For us Asean gamers, we can only hope that there will be no IP-blocks, otherwise, we may have to live with playing this amazing game via proxies or VPNs.

Trion Worlds is the developer and/or publisher of Rift® and the upcoming online games Defiance™, a multi-platform shooter MMOG; Warface®, from the creators of Crysis® and Far Cry™; and End of Nations®, a free-to-play gaming arena that redefines the MMORTS genre.

Visit the official (publisher) Trion ArcheAge website here: archeagegame.com; or visit the official (developer) XLGames ArcheAge website here: www.archeage.com/en.

My NVIDIA Gaming Experience

2013-01-24T07:58:00-08:00

nVIDIA® is no doubt the GPU today. Everywhere, we see the recognizable logo of nVIDIA especially in the official websites of most game titles and on their retail boxes and fan-kits. nVIDIA truly conquered the scene as the undisputed leader and provider of GPUs that can pull us inside virtual worlds.

Here is my story… sort-of…

Today, I am using nVIDIA® GeForce® GT630. An entry-level GeForce 6 series GPU that so far has provided the right graphics for my gaming needs. The GT630, though belonging in the entry-level category, already pack solid features like having a 128-bit 1 GB RAM which is needed if you want better graphics.

Take for example the game that I am playing today, ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2. I play this game on both (Linux) Lubuntu 64-bit and Microsoft® Windows 7 64-bit. And I can tell you, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this game if not for nVIDIA GeForce GT630. Just look at these screenshots.

Guild Wars 2 on (Linux) Lubuntu 64-bit

Guild Wars 2 on Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit

Another game that I play is, again from ArenaNet, the original Guild Wars, the game that introduced the now popular buy-to-play (B2P) model. This one is interesting because I used to play this game on nVIDIA® GeForce® 7300LE. Yes, pretty old, bought it back in 2006/2007, but it was more than enough for me then.

Guild Wars on (Linux) Lubuntu 64-bit

Guild Wars on Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit

The GeForce® 7300LE Days

Then came Runes of Magic, look at these screenshots of RoM running on (Linux) Ubuntu 64-bit with nVIDIA GeForce 7300LE.

I also played Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft during my GeForce 7300LE days, however, when I won the GeForce GT630, I’ve long stopped playing WoW. With the old 7300LE model, I was already enjoying a good fps on WoW especially in Linux, and nVIDIA wasn’t giving much concentration and support for Linux yet at that time.

Which brings me to my next point…

nVIDIA’s Linux Support is Unparalleled

nVIDIA GPUs are that good because even without the same level of dedication and support for Linux during the good ol’ days (as compared today), I was able to run games properly in my Linux OS - even better than what I was getting in Windows XP.

Today, or since 2012 especially, nVIDIA’s support for the Linux OS was fantastic. We get more patches than before, patches that - mind you - also improves the Windows nVIDIA drivers. Because of this new-found love of nVIDIA with Linux and the Linux gaming community, we are now enjoying a much better experience than before. Which also had the domino effect of convincing the major game developer companies to port their used games to Linux!

That is what nVIDIA is to me. That is my nVIDIA experience. As a Linux gamer, I am proud to say that I am using and will only use an nVIDIA® GPU.

The Future

This year, I am looking at building a new PC, this time a true gaming box. New games are coming out with built-in nVIDIA technologies support. Games like the much-awaited spiritual successor of Ultima Online - ArcheAge (AA). Then there is also the community favourite The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO). And let us not forget, the ever popular franchise now MMORPG - Neverwinter (NWN).

I will definitely play these upcoming games. These are my kind of games - sandbox MMORPGs. Of course I want to play these games in all its glory, and that is only possible with a high-end level nVIDIA GPU like a brand-new GeForce GTX680Ti.

nVIDIA® the way it’s meant to be played.

NVIDIA and ArcheAge Technology Video

2013-01-24T01:11:15-08:00

Here is a tech video showing the latest technologies that comes with nVIDIA® GPU using the magnificent world of the much awaited MMORPG, ArcheAge online.

[Video] StarCraft II: Heart of the Swam Opening Cinematic

2013-01-24T01:04:19-08:00

[Video] Elder Scrolls Online: Alliances Trailer

2013-01-24T00:38:06-08:00