THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => CLIKC => Topic started by: est on 23 Mar 2006, 18:04
-
So I know that everyone's going spastic over the next generation of consoles at the moment, but let's take time out of all that crap to examine how the next generation of pc hardware is shaping up.
Some things that are getting me excited include:- HDR and better antialiasing technologies. ATI are working on getting parts of the technology they use in the XBOX360 video system (Xenos) into pc cards. Hopefully this means that antialiasing won't give your game such a performance hit. This can only be a good thing in my eyes, as I absolutely hate those goddamn jagged edges. If they can get this working with HDR support then I'll be totally onboard.
- The shift towards dedicated physics processing. Whether it be the PhysX card from Ageia (Sample footage from Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter), Nvidia's 6x00/7x00 physics-processing hacks or just physics processing on the second core of your multi-core cpu I don't care. Just get it done! I want things to look better, sure, but a lot of what makes things look good is the natural physical impression they give you. The Havok physic engine powers the physics in a fair few of my favourite games, so I guess I'm a big fan. When you can interact with the world in ways you couldn't before that increases immersiveness. This isn't a replacement for decent gameplay/story in general, but it's definitely appreciated on top of an already good game.
- Intel's new range of CPUs. I'm infused with a healthy dose of skepticism regarding Anandtech's benchmarks, but at the same time I am also optimistic that in the next year we'll see Intel take the gaming crown back from AMD. I'm not sure what else AMD has planned for release after Intel's offerings, but hopefully supremacy will jump back and forth for a while next year. That kind of competition would only mean good things for us in the CPU performance stakes.[/list:u]
What upcoming PC tech is getting you excited? Are you a Mac person who is getting excited about the Mac on Intel thing getting because it makes it easier for games to be developed for your system? Are you getting super-excited over solid-state hard drives? Laptops? SED monitors? Megachips?!?!?!
-
Resolution independent display. I think this will be the biggest improvement in readability since VGA, as well as probably fundamentally reshaping the graphics card market (when 4000x3000 is normal, pixel fillrates suddenly start looking important again).
This article (http://daringfireball.net/2003/11/panther_text_rendering) (scroll down to the "INTERPOLATION ON WHY COMPUTER DISPLAYS SUCK FOR READING" section) explains nicely why I think this'll be such a big deal.
-
What upcoming PC tech is getting you excited? Are you a Mac person who is getting excited about the Mac on Intel thing getting because it makes it easier for games to be developed for your system?
I'm soon getting a powermac g5 before they completely transfer into intel chips. Reason being that it'll be a while before they have everything optimized for their core duos or whatever. I can't wait that long, but I'm still interested to see where it'll go. Hopefully more games will be developed for Macs.
I'm also wondering if there is going to be much change once Dell purchases Alienware. Will their prices drop or will they rise?
-
Personally, I'm just waiting for unlimited draw distance.
-
Petabyte harddrives!
-
The problem with physics simulation is that whenever I say, shoot an arrow into a bucket, and it acts like a pendulum I think, hah! the change in momentum of the arrow equals the change in momentum for the arrow and the bucket for a perfectly inelastic collision!
-
So, you don't like physics simulation because you think of physics? You must hate real life, yes? Or am I missing something big here. As a physics major, just looking at stuff such as that is completely wrong. I remember in Operation: Flashpoint (one of my favorite first person games ever), I put an satchel charge underneath a helicopter. When I detonated the charge, the helicopter flew up in the air (in one piece, which already started alarms in my brain going off) and upon hitting the ground, it bounced, like a goddamned basketball.
-
Solid state HDs would be the first thing, for me. I've got a pretty decent kit right now, and don't think I could justify upgrading till at least 2007, if not later. Unless, of course, something revolutionary happens. Solid state HDs being one of them.
I'd never cough up money for a BD-ROM drive (or HD-DVD, for that matter), nor the silly physics chip. Unless Ageia somehow manages to push their chips at cut-rate prices, no-go. Sure, some games will take advantage of them, but not in any significant way. Even if they get 10% market penetration in a year, that's 90% that don't have it. Game developers cannot optimize a game for such small market-share. They can do little things with it, but not actually base the engine on having dedicated hardware.
-
While you bring up a decent point, you're making the EXACT SAME points people used to make about dedicated video cards and now look at that. You can't buy a game these days that doesn't require a semi-recent video card. I predict the same thing with physics cards, simply because of the similarity of the benefits of the two cards. While, yes, it'll suck now - and for a few years - it'll eventually grow in marketability, decline in price and become as common to a PC rig as a video card.
-
What am I excited about? Short-term: Boot Camp, Google Wi-Fi, voice recognition for stereo systems (which I have some hand in!). Midterm: Webtops, increasing complexity of Web-based applications, eventually leading to Web-based OS's that only require a cheap hardware box and a high-speed connection to run. Somewhat longer term: effective Natural Language processing, advanced musical waveform analysis, abolishment of all copyright law, P = NP, Quantum computers, the destruction of RL society, strong AI, the technological singularity... I'm excited!
-
As far as games go, I wanna see real-time ray tracing some day. Hopefully soon. That would totally kick ass.
-
The day I buy an Intel CPU is the day they stop changing their motherboard chipset every 6 months. I don't appreciate having to buy a new motherboard every time I upgrade.
-
Quantum computers
Yeah, but they're still inherently slow due to the times associated with energy transitions. I'm looking forward to optical computers. That is, computers that have no electronic components.
-
I read a great article on quantum computers. They'll be totally kick-ass at things like hypercomplicated mathematical problems, physics engineering, biological simulations and the like, but completely retarded for gaming. Something about the obscene logical-ness (or whatever the word is) of their theoretical setup dosn't take too well with ever-changing conditions in games.
All that I mentioned before is basically getting from A to B. Gaming, any graphics-intensive work and the like is nothing like A to B.
I'm excited to see how the whole HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray pans out. I don't know which is technically better or which I like more, but format wars always entertain me. (As I said before, who the fuck thought DiVX was better than DVD?!)
I'd really like to see solid-state harddrives. I've seen stuff about Flashdrive-based HDDs, but they're not all that practical. Practical and reliable solid-state HDDs would speed things up immensely (supposedly).
In lieu of solid-state HDDs, what's the deal with current drives not being able to spin faster than 7200 rpm? I know there are 10k rpm models out there, but they're no larger than 72gig. I'd really like to see a RAID setup of two 25k rpm 500gb drives. That'd be mad insane.
Another thing I'm anticipating is a practical and relatively cheap mobo/cpu setup that supports more than 4gb ram. I realize that there are current technologies out there that supports more than 4gigs, but I want it more readily available.
Hmm, I think that's all I can think of right now. I love technology.
(And btw, am I the only one who thought of Star Trek when I read the subject line?)
-
I'm excited to see how the whole HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray pans out. I don't know which is technically better or which I like more, but format wars always entertain me. (As I said before, who the fuck thought DiVX was better than DVD?!)
It's simple really; Blu-Ray is better. HD-DVD is just electronic companies having a toddler-like temper tantrum because they didn't think of Blu-Ray first.
-
Better why?
-
BECAUSE HE SAID SO THATS WHY
-
Quantum computers
Yeah, but they're still inherently slow due to the times associated with energy transitions. I'm looking forward to optical computers. That is, computers that have no electronic components.
ALWAYS FASTER WHEN YOU WANT TO FACTOR INTEGERS AND CREATE CIPHERS THAT DON'T RELY ON THIS SOON-TO-BECOME-OBSELETE ENCRYPTION METHOD AAAHAHHAGHHRHGH geek out
-
I am an oddly luddite computer nerd. Like, I am obsessively engaged with using technology, but I have little compulsion to talk about it. Like, recently a friend started telling me about the new computers installed in the computer lab upstairs. I nodded along politely, and then after a pause when I realized that was the entirety of his message, I asked, "Why are you telling me this? Are you planning a heist or something?" To me, technology is only really interesting for the purpose behind it, not in and of itself.
-
"Why are you telling me this? Are you planning a heist or something?"
DO IT!
Better why?
HD-DVD - Maximum triple layer disk with 45GB of storage
Blu-Ray - Dual layer commercial disks with 50GB storage. Eight layer disks have been developed with 200GB of storage.
-
What's the access speed of both, do you know?
Either able for personal read/write, a la CD-Rs? (Or at least the possibility.)
(I prefer blu-ray myself - smaller wavelength of the laser = more information on the same space. Plus the name sounds way better.)
-
Blu-Ray = Sony. Sony likes to fuck consumers. So, fuck that noise. I don't care how "better" (none really) it is supposed to be. I refuse to give Sony a fucking dime.
Besides, I don't even use physical media. What do I need it for? At most to install an OS, and so far those haven't even broken onto regular DVDs. I need HD-DVD or BD to watch HDTV content? Don't have an HDTV, and given what they want to do with HDMI, I probably won't end up buying that either.
(Fuck DRM, fuck it up it's stupid ass.)
-
For the record, both formats use a "blue" (405nm - which is actually violet) laser, as opposed to the old "red" laser (650nm).
As for the "war" its all bullshit. Everyone managed to get together for DVD (even after a year+ of bitching) and the whole damn everything was better for it. Now they've split up again? Bah.
I don't care for either, but my prediction is HD DVD will win. Sony's got the touch of death with formats (see: Betamax, Minidisc, UMD), and while they've got plenty of big name hardware manufacturers, the lions share of content producers (publishers etc) seems to be on the HD side. Not to mention HD should be slightly cheaper to produce. And lower price + more content wil trump superior technology any day of the week in a free market. Sad but true.
Me, I don't plan on upgrading anything for a while. God knows there'll be a new damn format next year anyways.
-
Blu-Ray = Sony. Sony likes to fuck consumers. So, fuck that noise. I don't care how "better" (none really) it is supposed to be. I refuse to give Sony a fucking dime.
Ahh, Touché. However this is unfortunate since looking at the specs shows Blu-Ray to be the superior product. And yes, it does have a cooler name.
-
The name may be cooler, but it's kinda stupid for normal conversation. I mean, so are a lot of techy names (Java? wtf) but the point is that it's relative. Blu-Ray sounds like a brand of sunglasses, not data storage media.
-
But it rolls off the tongue so much better. HD-DVD is a real motherfucker to pronounce.
Sony's gotten way too cocky for their own good. They have great designers and R&D, which makes it all the more painful. Hopefully the PS3 will tank and send them the message that that kind of hubris will not benefit them. Exactly why do you give some of your closest third-party developers (including ones lined up to make games) dev-kits less than a year before the system is released? Especially when it's a totally different system architecture from PS2 (or for that matter XBox)? Jackasses.
The moment I'll get excited about technology is the moment game companies decide to apply it to something other than Call of Duty X+1. Last three games I bought: Uplink, Democracy, Wierd Worlds. Need I say more?
-
Sony likes propriety which is fucking gay when dealing with mediums.
I dont are how much better Blu-Ray is, if Sony wont let anyone use and make it for no fees then it is retarded and I want to kick the CEO in the balls for it.
All Blu-Ray is, is a hurdle in the path of innovation, all mediums should be designed with a sense of universality, in which they can be used in by as many things as possible in as many ways as possible without one dominating influence. By making it ok, to let different formats for the same type of device exist we are doing nothing but cluttering the technilogical landscape of the world with unnecissary formats that just make transferring information way more difficult then needed.
All you Blu-Ray lovers pull your heads out of the selfish little picture's ass wipe off the shit, and open your eyes to the big picture.
-
All you Blu-Ray lovers pull your heads out of the selfish little picture's ass wipe off the shit, and open your eyes to the big picture.
The big picture is that both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are being backed by giant corporations that like to fuck users over. Also, they're physical media. Physical media suck.
So basically (to quote that lame movie poster from a while back), no matter which one wins, we lose.
-
Better battery technology. I don't care how they do it. I don't care if it's fuel cells, organic batteries, souls of the damned, I DON'T CARE.
I just want a laptop that I can play a game on or watch DVDs on for a full 8 hours.
-
The big picture is that both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are being backed by giant corporations that like to fuck users over. Also, they're physical media. Physical media suck.
I dont know anything about HD-DVD so I dint mention it, but who is backing it?
-
The big picture is that both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are being backed by giant corporations that like to fuck users over. Also, they're physical media. Physical media suck.
I dont know anything about HD-DVD so I dint mention it, but who is backing it?
Microsoft, Disney, Intel, a bunch of others.
-
Well then you just made up my mind. When everyone is willing to comprimise on a medium, its not a single company trying to forcefully make it the dominant one.
Its everyone trying to co-operate and not make everything more difficult by each company developing their own.
HD-DVD for the win.
-
Well then you just made up my mind. When everyone is willing to comprimise on a medium, its not a single company trying to forcefully make it the dominant one.
Its everyone trying to co-operate and not make everything more difficult by each company developing their own.
HD-DVD for the win.
http://www.blu-raydisc.com/
Look at the list of supporting companies. It's not as clear cut as you're trying so hard to make it. Both sides have large numbers of backers. Some companies (Disney for one) back both.
-
Im not "trying" to do anything, I just have ignorance and sonys history on my side.
But after seeing the pedigrees of the two. I am not too sure which I would choose. Are they both backwards compatable with regular DVDs and CDs?
-
Yes they both will be due to dual-laser technology in new players. So yeah.
-
Im looking forward to good pc components being cheap enough for me to afford without putting a second mortgage on my house.
I've got a long long wait.
-
as for the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray argument:
HVD FTW (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc)