Eindelijk heeft GT Interactive de officiële demo uitgebracht van Driver . Haal hem bij 3D Files naar beneden... (14.4megs)

As promised GT has released the official demo for Driver. If you werent one of the lucky one to try out the "unofficial demo" last month, dont miss out. GT Interactive's new game, Driver for the PlayStation® game console and PC puts gamers right into the middle of the action and squarely behind the wheel of the most wanted getaway car. Driver delivers the clutch-your-seats, adrenaline-charged action of a heart-stopping, Hollywood-style car chase, propelling players along a high-speed, all-out thrill ride through the wild streets of four major U.S. cities. The new demo has a time limit, but you can still edit the file called mission661.dms manually to add time back, change cars and other fun stuff.

Bij AGN hebben ze al een hack online gezet zodat je die leuke time-limit kan uitschakelen, en wat andere stuff... pak die dus ook effe mee

SystemLogic heeft een review online gemikt van de Teac CD-R56S SCSI cd-recorder. Deze brander bakt je cd op 6 speed, en leest ze op 24 speed. Check de review hier.

As one of only a few 6X recorders, the Teac drive is only slower than the several 8X recorders out on the market. As you would expect from the 6X rating, the average time it takes to fill up a 650 MB CD falls right between the a 4X drive’s 20 minutes and an 8X drive’s 10 minutes. From my CD burning experiences, average times fell right at 14-15 minutes for 650 MB. With speed like that, I found myself going away while my CDs recorded, only to come back 30 minutes later and forgetting that I had meant to come back to my computer earlier. Having a drive this fast is a truly a convenience. To test the drive, I copied one of my game CDs. Remember that it is illegal to make a backup copy of software unless you own it, which still sounds a little weird to me. The first game I copied was Unreal, which I somehow have three real copies of. The joys of OEM bundling… Anyway, if anything, I’m entitled to a backup under the law (err…I think) even though I don’t exactly need one =). The copy was incredibly fast, in large part because Unreal does not take up a whole CD.

If you plan to also use your CD-R drive as your primary CD-ROM drive, all Teac drives serve up some of the fastest read speeds in the industry. At 24X, they may not be quite as fast as those newfangled 52X or 40X drives, but for a CD-R drive 24X is superb. The drive’s audio extraction was also impressive. Ripping music tracks was always done at an average speed of 12X in Xing Audio Catalyst

Active Window heeft een review gepost van de Matrox Millennium G400 32MB met Dual Head. De review is zeer uitgebreid en bespreekt zowat alle features van de G400. Het lezen waard dus als je deze kaart overweegt. Zie hier een gedeelte over de Environment Mapped Bump Mapping feature:

The Matrox G400 series is the first ever graphics card to introduce hardware support for Microsoft's DirectX - Environment-Mapped Bump Mapping. Environment Mapped Bump Mapping is a DirectX 6 quality feature which will be used to substantially increase the visual realism of 3D scenes. In fact, 3D graphics hardware that supports this feature will be able to render 3D scenes with more realism than was ever before possible on the PC.

Environment Mapped Bump Mapping is essentially a technique that allows a much higher level of detail to be added to a 3D world than could be possible with texture- mapped polygons alone. Fine details such as the pock- marked surface of bricks in a dungeon and scratches on robots and tanks can be added with ease. Special effects such as realistic water surfaces, heat shimmering off hot asphalt on a summer day and air turbulence in flight simulators can also be uniquely accomplished by using Environment Mapped Bump Mapping. This new feature will prove to be as revolutionary as alpha blending in terms of the creative effects that game developers will accomplish when given free rein. With the advent of the Matrox G400 as the first chip to support Environment Mapped Bump Mapping in hardware, game developers are quickly pledging to add support for this feature into cutting-edge games that will ship in 1999.

Een echte Tweaker sleutelt zijn poeter natuurlijk zelf in elkaar. Voor degene die het nog niet helemaal durven / kunnen heeft The Tech Zone een handige guide hierover in elkaar geflanst. In 11 pagina's en een flinke verzameling foto's leggen ze je het stap voor stap uit. Begin hier.

My favorite comps has always been the ones I build myself. You may have consider building your own computer at one time or another but have never done it because you think you might mess it up. Well, no need to worry. After reading this step by step guide, you'll be building your first computer in no time.

There are many good reasons for building your own computer. The first and most important is you get to decide what goes inside. No need to let IBM tell you that ATI video cards are the best and that's why they're inside IBM computers (believe it or not, that's what an IBM sales rep told me).

Building your own computer is also a good learning experience. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to put one together. As a matter of fact, Project 504 was the first computer I've ever built myself, and that was only like 6 months ago. Before then, I didn't know how to build one. Since then, I have build about a dozen computers for myself and friends. It's a lot easier than one thinks. The hardest part is deciding what to put in it.

Let's get started.

Als het goed is heb je uiteindelijk een Celeron 366 @ 567MHz

Ik kreeg net overigens een mailtje van Erik van der Neut die me vertelde dat op de AMD website ook zo'n dergelijke guide staat, over hoe je het beste een Athlon systeem kunt bouwen. Ook weer erg uitgebreid, zelfs extra fans voor in de kast en het netjes wegwerken van kabels met tie-wraps (om de airflow te optimaliseren) worden behandeld. Wellicht de moeite waard als je van plan bent zelf een syteem te bouwen. Thanks Erik!

HardOCP heeft een artikeltje over Symmetric Multi Processing gebakken, waarin in het kort de werking van SMP en Multi-threading wordt uitgelegd. Tevens wordt gekeken naar de voordelen die SMP voor gamers zou kunnen opleveren:

I have heard people refer to a second CPU as a "stand-by" that kicks in when the first CPU is loaded. This is simply not true. There is no difference in the CPUs roles, in fact the CPUs ID of 0 or 1 switches many times per second. Each CPU in a SMP system will share the workload fairly equally, there is always exceptions of course, but generally, this is the case. Now I have heard people say that you need an “SMP capable app” to get a performance increase. This also is not true.

Remember your HAL controls threads, and everything has threads, your OS, your apps, everything. So lets say you bust open Quake 2, which is single threaded. Will you see a performance increase with two CPUs over one? YES. Why? The HAL can dedicate a CPU to the Quake 2 thread, and run the OSs threads through the Other CPU. The Machine will run better. If your run a multi-threaded app, the HAL can grab the threads from that program and execute two threads at once. It will assign one to each CPU. This brings up a key point. If a p2 450 can only run one thread, and a dual p2 450 can run two, then why is there not a 100% performance increase? The two CPUs must talk to each other. This bus overhead causes a drop in the performance of the CPU’s. So, in the end, you get an 80% increase.

Op zich klopt dit natuurlijk wel, alleen ben ik bang dat je er in de praktijk bar weinig van zult merken. Een BP6 met twee Celerons op 500MHz heeft een load van ~0% wanneer alleen Windoos en Explorer draaien .

Riva Station heeft een afbeelding van de Elsa Erazor X te pakken weten te krijgen:

BetaOS heeft een how-to guide in elkaaar geklust, waarin ze uitleggen hoe je een multi-display systeem aangekacheld krijgt onder Windows 2000:

This information will guide you through the installation and troubleshooting of Multi-Monitor; the ability to setup secondary displays and extend your desktop to additional monitors. This guide assumes that you already have an operational PC and a supported display adapter with Windows 2000 installed and correct video drivers for your primary display (the display adapter already in your system). Also it is advised that you have your primary display adapter installed in PCI slot 1 (typically this slot is the farthest from the black ISA slots, and nearest the edge of the main logic board, otherwise consult your documentation for your PC).l

Extreme Hardware heeft een review gepost van de Guillemot Maxi Gamer Xentor 32. Hier een stukje over de overklokbaarheid van deze op 175/183MHz draaiende Ultra TNT2:

Before starting the overclocking tests, I first had to determine what clock and memory speed the Xentor 32 would reliably run at. The card ships set at 175 MHz clock and 183 MHz memory, and after a lot of experimenting (and rebooting) I was able to get it running very stable at the 183/200 MHz setting. These speeds shouldn't be taken as indicative of all Xentor 32 cards out there, since anything from the grade of the TNT2 Ultra chip, to the speed and brand of SDRAM will have an effect on the overclocking results. All during the overclock testing, Guillemot's cooling fan and heat sink were able to keep the TNT2 Ultra chip relatively cool, and even when I got lock-ups at high speeds, I felt that the overall grade of the TNT2 Ultra chip, and not heat, was the ultimate determinant of overclocking success.

3D Wars heeft een kleine flat panel speaker comparison in elkaar gedraaid, waarin de performance van de Benwin BW2000, Avus QX-TFT-02 en Monsoon MM-700 wordt vergeleken. De Monsoon wordt als beste (en duurste) speaker bevonden:

Overall, each one of these speakers was nice to listen to. Having their own strengths and weaknesses, all are entitled to a fair share of the audio market. However, in my opinion, the MM-700's are the best. I say that because I enjoy directional sound, and a powerful sub. Many others do not. The MM-700 is at it's 'best' when it is being used by one person at one PC. Other than that, the directional sound won't make them a pleasant treat. With Avus, the sub is nice and the satellites have pleasant sound quality. Despite that 'empty' signal sound, these are a top pick for flat panel speakers. Benwin was one of the first companies to fully make use of the NXT technology. If Benwin gets a sub that can output more power with lower resistance, then they will have a greater chance to be at the top.

Een week na de ontdekking van het 'Thursday'-virus of 'W97M/Thurs.A.' wordt er dan toch alarm geslagen. Dit haal ik van McAfee.com:

W97M/Thurs.A or "Thursday" is a recent virus, discovered on 8/26/99. W97M/Thus.A has been given a HIGH risk assessment by AVERT. Though it spreads through sharing of documents, and not by automatically emailing itself across networks, it has achieved a high rate of prevalence very quickly.

The virus carries a potentially destructive payload that will attempt to delete all files on a user’s c: drive on the trigger date of December 13th. The pattern of reports from multiple financial institutions around the world in rapid succession suggests the initial outbreak may have occurred through the distribution of a single infected document within the financial community.

De nieuwste DAT-files voor McAfee kun je o.a hier neerhalen.

Bij Thresh's FiringSquad staat nu een review van de Diamond Stealth III S540 Xtreme online. Dit kaartje draagt de nieuwe "Xtreme" uitvoering van de S3 Savage 4 Pro chip, wat resulteert in een 166/166MHz core/memory clock. Helaas blijkt hij nog steeds alleen op lage resoluties snel te zijn. Check de review hier.

The Savage 4 Pro Xtreme chip is probably one of the last video chips you'll see that's still made with a .25 micron process. All the next generation chips will use smaller die sizes. The Savage2000 will use a .18 micron process, and Nvidia's GeForce 256 will use a .22 micron die size.

The Stealth III Xtreme will have support for AGP 4x, but the increased AGP transfer rate won't be as important with the Savage 4 because the card already supports S3 texture compression.

The Savage 4 carries over all of the Savage3D's features including 32-bit color, 2048 x 2048 texture support, and full speed DVD video playback with motion compensation. The OEM version will feature a 143MHz core clock and 166MHz memory. The retail Xtreme will have a 166/166MHz core/memory clock.

Volgens Next Generation Online heeft Microsoft een eigen games console in ontwikkeling. Het ding draagt de codenaam 'X-Box' en is gebaseerd op traditionele x86 Wintel hardware:

In a world exclusive report in its October issue (due on stands next week), Next Generation magazine has revealed that Microsoft is working on a set-top games playing console, code named X-Box.

While a Microsoft spokesperson quoted in the article called the story "wishful thinking," several independent sources have confirmed that X-Box has been in development for several months. Contacted today, a Microsoft spokesperson repeatedly stated, "This is a rumor. It is Microsoft's policy not to comment on rumors."

According to the story, X-Box will feature a 500 MHz processor by Intel (note: according to a follow up story in the forthcoming November issue of Next Generation Magazine, an AMD Athlon powered version is also planned), nVidia's NV-10 graphics technology (recently renamed GeForce), and a modified version of the WinCE operating system. According to the story, this will make X-Box capable of PlayStation 2-level performance.

Design for the system will come from Microsoft, but it will probably be built and sold by multiple manufacturers (Dell and Gateway are mentioned in the story), and it seems that multiple CPU/graphics technologies are possible in different X-Box variants.

Aha, dus het is in feite gewoon een PC, alleen moet-ie dan zo simpel te bedienen zijn dat de console kleutertjes het ook kunnen begrijpen?

John Carmack heeft z'n .plan geupdate met zijn bevindingen van de nVidia GeForce 256:

I have been getting a lot of requests for commentary on two subjects lately:

Nvidia's new geometry accelerated card with the funny name. It is fast. Very, very fast. It has the highest fill rate of any card we have ever tested, has improved image quality over TNT2, and it gives timedemo scores 40% faster than the next closest score with extremely raw beta drivers. The throughput will definately improve even more as their drivers mature. For max framerates in OpenGL games, this card is going to be very hard to beat.

Q3's target of about 10,000 triangles a frame doesn't stress this card at all. If you want more polygons out of Q3, you can do:

r_lodBias -2 // don't use lower detail models
r_subdivisions 1 // lots more triangles in curves
r_lodCurveError 10000 // don't drop curve rows for a long time

I haven't looked at the stencil shadow stuff in a long time, but it gives the largest increase in triangle use (and a lot of fill rate as well):

cg_shadows 2 // turn on stencil shadows
// (if you have a stencil buffer) [break] Verderop komt de PowerPC G4 ook nog even voorbij wandelen: [/break] Apple's new G4 systems.

The initial systems are just G4 processors in basically the same systems as the current G3. There will be some speedup in the normal C code from the faster floating point unit, and the Apple OpenGL has AltiVec optimizations, so framerates will improve somewhat. The limiting factor is going to be the fill rate on the rage128 and the bandwidth of the 66mhz pci bus and processor to main memory writes.

The later G4 systems with the new memory controller and AGP will have better performance, but probably still limited by the new 3D card.

After Apple gets all their driver tuning done, it will be interesting to try running timedemos at low resolution to factor the fill rate out. Apple has a shot at having the best non-geometry accelerated throughput, but it will still be tough to overcome a K7 with an extra hundred or so mhz.

On a purely technical note, AltiVec is more flexible for computation than intel or AMD's extensions (trinary ops), but intel style write combining is better for filling command buffers than the G4's memory streaming operations.

TV Gamespot heeft een in totaal 45 minuten durend video interview met John Carmack online gezet:

Without Id Software's lead programmer John Carmack, there would never have been any Doom, Quake, Quake II, or Quake III. Carmack's innate knack for 3D graphics and game engine programming has made him one of the most respected programmers of all time.

GameSpot TV recently caught up with Carmack during QuakeCon 99, where perhaps the largest gaming network - over 500 workstations on one LAN - was put together for an all-out Quake III tournament. Carmack took a break from the carnage to share his thoughts about Quake III on camera.

We have put together seven RealVideo clips of the forty-five minute interview. Carmack covers topics ranging from his game design philosophy to his top Quake III strategies.

Links naar de filmpjes vind je hier.

Andy van BXBoards heeft een review van de Gigabyte GA-6WMM7 (dankewel voor deze mooi naam) i810 moederplank op z'n site geparkeerd. De GA-6WMM7 heeft een geïntegreerde videochip, 3 PCI sloten en 1 ISA sloot. De ondersteunde busspeeds zijn 66/70/75/ 83/90/95/100/105 /115/120/124/ 133/140/150MHz, dat biedt dus mogelijkheden voor overklokken:

Gigabyte definitely have one eye on overclocking / feature expansion with a multiplier range from 3.0 9.5x supported. There are many bus speeds too including 90 and 95 MHz. 90mhz runs at a hard disk slaying bus speed of 45mhz (90 / 2) whereas 95Mhz runs a /3 PCI divider. Much beyond 124Mhz and the onboard display cache fails.

Overclocking at 100Mhz (and beyond) is supported with the help of an onboard jumper. To run a 66Mhz CPU at 100Mhz this needs to be uncovered in order for the onboard i752 to work correctly.

VIA heeft grootse plannen in het low-end CPU segment, zo bericht EETimes:

Via Technologies Inc. has laid out its grand plans for its recently acquired CPU makers: the Cyrix Corp. subsidiary of National Semiconductor Corp. and the Centaur subsidiary of Integrated Device Techology Inc.

And grand they are. "By 2001, we want to be the fabless Intel," said Wen-chi Chen, president of Via. "We will offer our own low-cost integrated CPU-core logic-graphics solution in 2000." For now, CPUs will continue to be made by current fab partners such as National Semiconductor.

"In the future, we plan on using Taiwanese fabs such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. [TSMC] and United Microelectronics Corp. [UMC]," said Chen. "Our business model is to use the efficiencies and low cost of the fabless design house-foundry production model in order to compete very effectively in the low-cost PC market."

CT News heeft een snelle reaktie op het ZDNet PC's vs Consoles artikel in elkaar geklust:

Here we go again, someone had to start up the console vs PC battle again, and with the imminent debut of 128 bit systems such as the Dreamcast (Sept 9) and the still in development "Playstation 2" and "Dolphin" due out for fall 2000. It is true that the Playstation 2 (especially) will have some sweet hardware on board, Ken Kutagari of Sony Computer Inc says the PSX 2 will have 200x the graphics power of the PSX and 10x faster than the Sega Dreamcast. I don't doubt that for a second, since many who have witnessed the PSX2 in action give glowing testimonials.

That said I believe ZDNet didn't take into account the new generation of graphic cards coming, with the announcement of the GeForce 256 a while back operating with a GPU. Just for comparisons sake, take a Voodoo card as a first generation card, and cards like the Voodoo3 and TNT2's of today as the current cards. Now picture the GeForce as being a first generation card, coupled with the fact that development time in decreasing with increasing budgets, and what a "current" card will look like by the time the PSX2 rolls out next fall. As far as technology goes, the PC walks along at an ever increasing pace, while console systems take big giant long jumps.

De rest van het verhaal vind je hier.

Op eBay wordt tegenwoordig zo'n beetje alles verhandeld, zo ook overgeklokte Athlons. Voor 480 dollar heb je er eentje op 700MHz:

This is a verified Athlon 700mhz Processor, available with or without a motherboard (Microstar 6167). The AMD processor has been physically modified and contains no warranty from AMD.

However I will fully warranty the CPU for 90 days as long as it isn't tampered with. All CPU's are burned in for 72 hours at 100% CPU usage using SETI and other CPU intensive programs.

These babys fly! If you want details, or have any questions feel free to drop me a line. Don't bother bidding here, the selling price is $480 for the CPU ALONE, or add $250 with a microstar motherboard. 750's also available, and 800's soon! Pre-order now, orders are being shipped the first week of Sept. Get the most speed for your money, own the fastest system to-date.

ZDNet heeft weer zo'n onzin artikeltje waarin beweerd dat de PC door de consoles voorbij gestreefd zal worden als meest krachtige game platform:

Sony Corp. hopes to drop a bomb on rival makers of video-game systems next year. But in the coming war, the personal computer may take the most collateral damage.

For the first time, video-game machines are expected to decisively trump the performance of general-purpose PCs. As game developers and publishers ponder where to allocate their scarce resources, the power shift could cause a software stampede.

The transition begins a week from Thursday with the planned U.S. launch of Sega Enterprise Ltd.'s Dreamcast console, the first of a new generation of game systems that handle 128 bits of computer data at a time, compared with 32 or 64 bits with previous machines. The more bits, the more realistic the games can be. The two market leaders, Sony and Nintendo Co., have scheduled their own 128-bit systems for fall 2000. [break] En zo bláten ze nog een eind verder... Gelukkig hebben we daar onze vriend John Carmack die de zaak even recht komt zetten: [/break] "The impression that the PlayStation 2 will be light years ahead of the PC is really incorrect," says John Carmack, the top programmer at "Quake" developer Id Software Inc. in Mesquite, Texas. "We're going to continue with the PC because it will move ahead of the consoles and it gives us complete freedom to make the kind of games we want."

Eindelijk enige duidelijkheid over de prijs van een GeForce 256 plankje: Voodoo Extreme kreeg een mailtje van Best Buy, met de prijzen van de Creative en Guillemot GeForce 256 kaarten:

We recieved two SKUs and prices for two new graphics cards based on the GeForce yesterday. The first is the Creative Labs 3D Blaster GeForce 256 which will retail for $299.99 and has an in-stock date of 10/03/99. The second is the Guillemot Maxi Gamer Prophet which has an MSRP of $249.99 and has an in-stock date of 10/17/99. Interesting, considering that Guillemot hasn't even formally announced their product yet...These products are in our system as of yesterday.

Abit heeft nieuwe BIOSsen gereleased voor de BE6 moederplank en de HighPoint UDMA/66 controller:

Even more from the BE6 beta BIOS release list. This new file contain the latest BE6 BIOS with the latest Highpoint BIOS and new drivers. The version released from Taiwan a couple of days ago doesn't have the latest Highpoint BIOS. If you're still having problems with ATA-66, download these and give them a shot!

De file kun je neerhalen bij Thresh's Firingsquad.

Thresh en kameraden, die in hun GeForce Press Conference verslag van gisteren nog twijfelden aan de door nVidia opgegeven fillrate van 480Mtex/sec, bevestigen nu dat de texel fillrate van de GeForce 256 inderdaad 'maar' 480Mtex/sec is:

We've received several reports on e-mail claiming that Nvidia has verified the texel fillrate of GeForce 256 as 480 million texels per second, equal to that of their pixel fillrate. This would imply that each pixel pipeline renders one texure per pixel (though other schemes are also possible).

If this is true, then we can expect competing accelerators from s3, 3dfx, and possibly even BitBoys to be easily competitive with GeForce 256 products in today's low-polygon, high filtering applications such as Quake 3 and 3DMark (remember that S3's Savage2000 will also incorporate a T&L engine, as well as a 700-800Mtexel/sec fill rate). When developers start taking advantage of super-high polygon count models however, the GeForce 256 will really start to shine.

PowerVR Network heeft een aantal Tiberian Sun en System Shock2 Neon 250 creenshots gepost. Hier heb je alvast de bijbehorende info:

Well first impressions are very good now that I've sorted out the OpenGL setup for QuakeII (we've had to put in the N250's OpenGL32.dll for optimum performance and image quality) but man does it rock. The image quality has to be the best I've seen and performance is definitely higher than a Voodoo3 3000 and up there with a TNT2/Ultra on this system. However, before I post the benchmarks, I'll check that no more settings/tweaks should be done to optimise performance (expect them tomorrow).

As you can see, the days of Direct3D incompatibilities are long gone. Tiberian Sun, System Shock2, Dungeon Keeper2 all run just fine with great image quality, zero slowdown and high frame rates. What more do you want? Just a few more shots to tie up the evening and I'll get back on it tomorrow. These are from System Shock2 with slight gamma correction for clarity:

Wazige Japanse site heeft weer toegeslagen met een fotootje van deze nVidia roadmap projectie:

Nintendo heeft een nieuwe Gameboy in ontwikkeling, die zal worden uitgerust met een 32-bits ARM processor. Het apparaatje kan middels een mobiele telefoon aan het internet geknoopt worden. Het is de bedoeling dat de Gameboy Advance meer wordt dan alleen een idioot spelcomputertje, het ding zou ook een concurrent voor handheld devices zoals de Palm Pilot kunnen worden:

Game Boy, Nintendo's best-selling handheld video game machine, is about to grow up. Nintendo plans to upgrade its popular device by including a powerful processor and a port that will allow it to be connected to a cell phone for accessing the Internet. With the new capabilities, users will be able to go online to play multiplayer games, participate in online chats, download software, and retrieve email. Nintendo also said it will develop a new digital camera for the new Game Boy that will allow users to see the faces of their online opponents.

Game Boy Advance, as it is currently being called, should reach the Japanese market by August 2000 and the North American market by the end of the 2000. Pricing details were not released, but current Game Boys cost less than $100. "This is an entirely new field of development for the video game industry," said Nintendo Chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi at a press event in Japan. "Being able to play any time, any place is what video games should be all about."

Check News.com voor het complete verhaaltje.

Gamespot heeft een review van de Voodoo3-3500TV online geplant:

The bottom line is that the 3500 was simply shipped before it was ready. Given 3dfx's recent quarterly losses, it's clear that it had to get this out the door before the end of the quarter. The result has been a host of problems on the part of users, ranging from the problems I uncovered to cracked CDs to missing DVD player serial numbers. To say that it all feels rushed is to say that the Earth orbits the sun. If you want a fast Voodoo3 and media convergence, you would do better to simply get a Voodoo3/3000 and then drop in the ATI PCI TV Wonder next to it.

Serieuze kritiek dus. Lees hier waarom.

GA-Source heeft een interview gepost met Adrian Smith en Mike Schmitt van Core design, waarin wat heen en weer gechat wordt over Tom Raider IV. In deel 4 mogen we een 16-jarige Lara besturen (<standaardgrap>de vraag hoeveel polygonen dit scheelt wordt niet gesteld</standaardgrap> ). Blááh, een vraag over de verschillen met vorige Tomb Raider delen:

How different will Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation be from the previous incarnations? How much of the original game is incorporated in this lastest version?

We're trying to get back to the spirit of the first game (ie...more adventuring/puzzles...less shooting) the inventory system has been redone to make life easier for the player. Objects can now be stored/combined (ie...batteries/flashlight). Pieces of maps can be collected and lara will have access to an overview map for the first time in a tr adventure when she finds them all. Lara will have binoculars at her disposal to view things too far away for the naked eye. Information she collects will be stored in her diary where she can refer to it later.

360 Degrees heeft een review van de Asus V3800 Deluxe op het net gekwakt. Op zich zit er weinig bijzondere info in de review, wel heeft 360 Degrees een handig stukje over de overklokbaarheid van deze Ultra TNT2 kaart:

The ASUS V3400 16MB SGRAM was one of the best overclocking TNTs. Unfortunately, the V3800 Ultra is just an average overclocker. I admit that I have returned this card to my works warehouse 3 times to bring you the facts. Each card was capable of overclocking to 160MHz core and 200MHz memory. One card was able to reach 183MHz core in playing D3D games forever, but could only handle Q3A for a few time demos. The SGRAM makes the card very stable. But I am warning, the motherboard plays a major role. Switching to a BH6 with full multimedia peripherals caused crashes. I place the blame on the VIO (voltage I/O). After all ASUS is a rather large company and does not spend the time hand picking Ultra chips that rate at 175. The card is not for overclocking, but for stability and features.