IT News HeadLines (Elite Bastards) 17/03/2010

AMD's Gamers Manifesto

There's often a feeling amongst PC gamers (and frequently understandably so) that NVIDIA are on top of their game when it comes to developer relations and marketing activities based upon that, leaving AMD trailing in their wake on many occasions. However, to respond to such criticisms, AMD used this year's Game Developers Conference to outline their so-called "Gamers Manifesto", outlining both what they believe is important to the gaming industry and how they go about achieving that.

The second point that AMD wanted to make in our meeting with them was about HOW they worked with developers and to demonstrate the point they brought several of them to the stage. AMD made comments about “not preventing competitors from getting access to game builds” and “not sending programmers to game houses to fix a problem for only their own hardware” so it was painfully obvious why AMD felt the need to respond. AMD was definitely making these exact claims about NVIDIA just in a more diplomatic way than we might have expected. (We have discussed these accusations before.)

The software developers on stage, ranging from Activision to Codemasters, all pushed upon us that AMD was very easy to work with and was flexible both in terms of hardware and software support as well as with various marketing goals and programs. Of course none of them would come out and say anything directly about NVIDIA since they still have some kind of relationship with the other hardware vendor. Overall it was great to see so many software developers on stage backing what many consider to be the underdog in the gaming race even though they current have the best hardware.

The culmination of the day was in the revelation of a new branding program for all of AMD’s product and technical marketing efforts called “AMD: Gaming Evolved.” AMD’s team claims that this will bring “real resources and real commitment” to the world of PC graphics. I do feel that AMD is taking another step in the right direction here by publicly displaying their vowing to support the future endeavors of this industry.

PC Perspective has more on the launch of Gaming Evolved, while you can see AMD's Gamers Manifesto in full on their company 'blog.

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Windows Phone 7 Series supports DirectX 9

Fancy playing DirectX 9 game titles on a smartphone? Theoretically, you'll be able to do just this with any Windows Phone 7 Series devices, which comes complete with support for DirectX 9 and Shader Model 3.0.

As you’d expect for a smartphone, the CPU uses the ARM architecture, specifically the ARMv7. More interesting is the GPU. Microsoft is promising high levels of integration between Windows Phone 7 Series devices and the Xbox 360, but it's surprising just how much power Microsoft wants its new mobile phone to have. At MIX 10, a presentation showing details of the phone listed the GPU as providing ‘DirectX 9 acceleration’, while at South by Southwest (SXSW), in an XNA presentation, the phone’s GPU was claimed to support Shader Model 3.

The presence of SM3 would imply it’s DX9.0c the phone supports - meaning the GPU supports the same kind of features first popularised by PC GPUs such as the GeForce 6800, including HDR lighting and high levels of precision throughout the pipeline. While DirectX 10 and 11 are starting to appear in some new games, the vast majority still target DX9.0c, meaning that we could be seeing mobile games that are on a technical par with PC and console titles.

bit-tech has the story in full.

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Crysis 2 GDC 2010 technology trailer

Want to check out what the third iteration of Crytek's CryEngine will have to offer both PC and console gamers, as debuted within Crysis 2? Check out this video recorded from last week's Game Developers Conference.

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