Citing "multiple sources" Fudzilla is reporting that Intel plans to unleash their next-generation Core i7 line of CPUs on November 17th. The site expects Core i7 parts to start at prices as low as $284 for the 2.66GHz model, while a 2.93GHz SKU would sell for $562 and the 3.2GHz Extreme Edition part going for $999.

In other Core i7 news, the site also reports that the X58 chipset itself is $20 cheaper for motherboard manufacturers to purchase in comparison to X48, but prices on retail X58 motherboards are actually higher in part due to the use of more complicated 8-layer PCB for X58 versus 6-layer design used for X48.

While speaking with Gameindustry.biz Bungie confirmed that Halo 3 Recon will be their last project based on the Halo trilogy:

"But I think when this project wraps up in a couple of months that will be the time when that team moves on to something else - part of that team will move on to something else and part of them will probably be absorbed into one of the other projects that are already on the way."

And when asked if that meant Halo 3 Recon would be a "final statement" from Bungie as far as the Halo trilogy was concerned, Jarrard agreed.

"I think so," he said - but did point out that the company has always supported its community, and has no plans to change that in the near future. "We've stood by this game, and we're going to keep standing by it.

Bethesda has released the system requirements for their upcoming RPG, Fallout 3:

Minimum System Requirements:

Windows XP/Vista

1GB System RAM (XP) / 2GB System RAM (Vista)

2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor

Direct X 9.0c compliant videocard with 256MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better / ATI X850 or better)

Recommended System Requirements:

Intel Core 2 Duo processor

2 GB System RAM

Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)

• Supported Video Card Chipsets:
  • NVIDIA GeForce 200 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9800 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9600 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8800 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8600 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8500 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8400 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 7900 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 7600 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 7300 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
  • ATI HD 4800 series
  • ATI HD 4600 series
  • ATI HD 3800 series
  • ATI HD 3600 series
  • ATI HD 3400 series
  • ATI HD 2900 series
  • ATI HD 2600 series
  • ATI HD 2400 series
  • ATI X1900 series
  • ATI X1800 series
  • ATI X1600 series
  • ATI X1300 series
  • ATI X850 series

In other news, Fallout 3 for Xbox 360 has already leaked out on the web. Someone needs to send this link to the Ubisoft Creative Director that basically accused all PC gamers of being pirates.

Every year Microsoft announces holiday SKUs for the Xbox 360 that include free games. This year Microsoft will be providing the following bundles:

Xbox 360 Elite, Pro: Ship with Lego Indiana Jones and Kung-Fu Panda
Xbox 360 Arcade: Sega Superstar Tennis

Today Epic announces that Gears 2 has gone gold. Here's a brief clip from the PR:

"After two years of pouring our heart and passion into ‘Gears of War 2,’ the team is immensely happy with what we’ve created," said Epic Games Design Director Cliff Bleszinski. "This is Epic’s best work yet, and we can’t wait to see the response from fans and newcomers to the series alike."

"Gears of War 2" tells the story of humanity's last stand against the nightmarish, underground Locust Horde, and is the follow-up to one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. "Gears of War 2" is rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB and will be available exclusively on Xbox 360 with an M.S.R.P of $59.99 for the Standard Edition and $69.99 for the Limited Edition.

Gears 2 hits shelves November 7th.

Halo 3 Recon isn't the only big news from Microsoft at the Tokyo Game Show. The company also announced that the new dashboard will be hitting 360s on Nov 19th.

The new Xbox 360 Experience brings with it an entirely new 10-foot GUI that replaces the blades gamers have grown accustomed to. In a move to compete with Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft also adds avatars for the first time. CNET has a pretty detailed writeup on the new interface with screenshots here.

Tom follows up his NZXT Tempest video review with another case from NZXT. This time he reviews the Guardian 921 case. Check out our video review!

>> Click Here to read the article

Sooo, it turns out that the Bungie teaser trailer we linked too a few weeks back is indeed another Halo 3 project, more specifically, it's a prequel dubbed Halo 3 Recon. In the game you'll play the role of a UNSC Recon Marine taking on the Covenant.

A 2:50 trailer has been released. The trailer builds on the snippets we first saw in the Bungie teaser trailer last month, which depicted an alien invasion force landing on several cities. You've been sent out to gather intelligence on the enemy force, which is where the trailer basically ends.

Halo 3: Recon will be released in Fall 2009.

UPDATE 11:20AM: Microsoft has updated their Halo 3 Recon site with more details on the game:

All-new campaign content: The Halo 3: Recon campaign is an intriguing side story that takes place during the terrifying events leading up to the Master Chief’s return to New Mombasa in Halo 3. Experience the fate of Earth from the brand-new perspective of a special forces ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper), adding a unique outlook and new gameplay elements to the events that unfold in the trilogy’s finale. While the feel of this new chapter greatly resembles that of previous Halo experiences, Halo 3: Recon will require you to employ more elements of stealth and cunning than ever before.

Prepare to drop: Known for their courage, valor and, at times, insanity, ODSTs are among the fiercest UNSC soldiers, priding themselves on being the first unit deployed into hostile situations. While not as large or supernaturally gifted as their Spartan comrades, these "Hell Jumpers" more than compensate with their ferocious attitudes and unwavering nerve.

Expanded multiplayer collection:No Halo experience would be complete without groundbreaking multiplayer content, and Halo 3: Recon gives fans more of what they love. With exclusive new maps and expanded Forge options, Xbox LIVE® Gold members will find more multiplayer content than ever before with Halo 3: Recon.

Ever-growing community options: Enjoy all the great Halo 3 technological innovations, including Saved Films, screenshots, Campaign Scoring, and four-player co-op. All of the new multiplayer maps fully support the Forge editor, offering endless gameplay customization possibilities.

While speaking with videogaming 24/7 about a PC port of Tom Clancy's End War, Ubisoft Shanghai Creative Director Michael de Plater had some harsh words for PC gaming: "To be honest, if PC wasn’t pirated to hell and back, there’d probably be a PC version coming out the same day as the other two [Xbox 360 and Playstation 3]. But at the moment, if you release the PC version, essentially what you’re doing is letting people have a free version that they rip off instead of a purchased version. Piracy’s basically killing PC.

Ouch. With games like Crysis, CoD 4, and WoW all selling well on the PC, I'm still not convinced that piracy is as rampant as these industry executives would have you believe.

Fallout 3 has gone gold and will be hitting shelves Oct 28th in North America and Oct 31st in Europe. Based on the Gamebryo engine, the game comes from the same developers as Oblivion and is set in the year 2277. Here's a bit from the PR:

Vault-Tec engineers have worked around the clock on an interactive reproduction of Wasteland life for you to enjoy from the comfort of your own vault. Included is an expansive world, unique combat, shockingly realistic visuals, tons of player choice, and an incredible cast of dynamic characters. Every minute is a fight for survival against the terrors of the outside world – radiation, Super Mutants, and hostile mutated creatures. From Vault-Tec, America’s First Choice in Post Nuclear Simulation.

Vault 101 – Jewel of the Wastes. For 200 years, Vault 101 has faithfully served the surviving residents of Washington DC and its environs, now known as the Capital Wasteland. Though the global atomic war of 2077 left the US all but destroyed, the residents of Vault 101 enjoy a life free from the constant stress of the outside world. Giant Insects, Raiders, Slavers, and yes, even Super Mutants are all no match for superior Vault-Tec engineering. Yet one fateful morning, you awake to find that your father has defied the Overseer and left the comfort and security afforded by Vault 101 for reasons unknown. Leaving the only home you’ve ever known, you emerge from the Vault into the harsh Wasteland sun to search for your father, and the truth.

Fallout 3 features one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Set more than 200 years following a nuclear war, you can create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of Washington, D.C however you choose. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders, and other dangers of the Wasteland.

Reuters is reporting that Google-owned Youtube will begin selling video games, music, and more shortly. The site plans to partner with sites like iTunes and Amazon to power their upcoming e-commerce service:

Visitors to YouTube.com can buy songs from music videos they watch on the site by clicking on buttons that take them either to Amazon.com Inc's MP3 store or Apple Inc's iTunes store.

YouTube users will also be able to buy video games, such as Electronic Arts Inc's sci-fi game "Spore" through the Amazon link.

Amazon and iTunes will share revenue with YouTube when users buy content through the partnership.

Earlier this week we highlighted reports suggesting that NVIDIA would soon unveil an updated GeForce 9600 GSO based on NVIDIA's G94 GPU. More confirmation comes today from Expreview, who is reporting that the "new" 9600 GSO will indeed be based on the same G94 GPU powering the 9600 GT, only NVIDIA will reduce the shader count from 64 stream processors to 48. However, the "new" 9600 GSO will retain G94's 256-bit memory interface; current 9600 GSO cards utilize a narrower 192-bit memory interface.

Expreview mentions that the "new" 9600 GSO will have lower performance than today's GSO cards, but thanks to its smaller die should boast lower pricing when it debuts later this month.

Today Pacific Crest analyst Michael McConnell downgraded NVIDIA to a neutral rating, noting that NVIDIA's shares could fall another 25%. McConnell believes the company will sell its chipset business next year, stating that 40% of the 360 employees that were recently laid off came from the chipset R&D group.

NVIDIA Investor Relations VP Mike Hara denied the report "We are continuing to invest in our chipset business, and drive new technology and platforms for all PCs. This is a long term and important strategy for us".

This isn't the first time NVIDIA's had to deny exiting the chipset business, and it probably won't be the last. NVIDIA has stated in the past that they eventually plan to release chipsets for Intel's next generation Core i7 CPUs, although initially they're licensing their SLI tech to Intel for use in the X58 chipset.

As many of you probably know, AMD and Intel share a broad cross license agreement that covers tech such as AMD's 64-bit instruction set, Intel's MMX and SSE, and most importantly, Intel's x86 license, which allows AMD to produce x86 compatible CPUs such as Athlon and Phenom.

The terms of this agreement are confidential, but today Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said that Intel has "serious questions" about AMD's spinoff plan, implying that the deal could be a violation of AMD and Intel's license agreement. Ultimately Intel could attempt to revoke AMD's x86 license: "Intel has serious questions about this transaction as it relates to the license and will vigorously protect Intel's intellectual property rights."

The two companies are already engaged in a bitter legal battle, this new deal could potentially add fuel to the fire if Intel feels AMD has violated the terms of their license agreement. During the conference call AMD CEO Dirk Meyer addressed this issue stating: "This deal is structured in a way to keep us consistent with the obligations we have under all our IP cross licenses".

Stay tuned...

With the game hitting shelves for consoles today, 2K has announced that their NBA 2K series will hit the PC for this first time in just two weeks:

2K Sports today announced NBA 2K9 will be available for the first time on Windows PC on October 21. The NBA 2K franchise is now poised to reach even more fans on a global scale with this addition to the already anticipated console versions of NBA 2K9.

“We are excited about the growing popularity of basketball and are eager to get NBA 2K9 in the hands of PC fans,” said Greg Thomas, senior vice president of sports development at 2K. “The PC version will please even the most dedicated basketball fans with the same level of quality simulation we’ve become known for in the console versions of the NBA 2K franchise.”

NBA 2K9 is the latest edition of NBA 2K, the #1 selling current gen basketball video game that has also been the #1 rated NBA simulation for seven years in a row, is back for its 10th season. NBA 2K9 is the premier basketball game for serious players, and will deliver the most realistic and feature-rich simulation experience ever available in the NBA 2K franchise – from gameplay and graphics to presentation and online features. Fans will also be able to enjoy the most up-to-date basketball experience ever available in the NBA 2K franchise through Living Rosters with constant updates to player ratings and player tendencies, along with access to exclusive unlockable animation packages for players in the game. If it happens during the regular NBA season, it will happen in NBA 2K9.

NBA 2K9 is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB and now available for Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and the PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems. For more information about NBA 2K9, please visit http://www.2ksports.com/games/nba2k9.

As expected, today AMD announced their plans to spin off CPU manufacturing:

NEW YORK -- October 7, 2008 --AMD [NYSE: AMD] and the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) of Abu Dhabi today announced the creation of a U.S.-headquartered, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing company to address growing demand for independent, leading-edge foundry production capabilities. The new global company, to be temporarily called “The Foundry Company”, will serve this need by combining advanced process technology, industry-leading manufacturing facilities and aggressive plans to expand its global capacity footprint. At the same time, the Mubadala Development Company will increase its current investment in AMD to 19.3 percent on a fully diluted basis.

AMD will contribute to The Foundry Company its manufacturing facilities, including two fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany, as well as related assets and intellectual property rights. ATIC will invest $2.1 billion to purchase its stake in The Foundry Company, of which it will invest $1.4 billion directly in the new entity and the remainder will be paid to AMD to purchase additional shares in The Foundry Company. The Foundry Company will also assume approximately $1.2 billion of AMD’s existing debt. ATIC has committed additional equity funding to The Foundry Company of a minimum of $3.6 billion and up to $6.0 billion over the next five years to fund the expansion of The Foundry Company’s chip-making capacity beyond the manufacturing facilities initially contributed by AMD. These funds will be used by The Foundry Company to (i) proceed with capacity expansion at its fabs in Dresden, Germany, including an upgrade of one of its fabs to a state-of-the-art facility, and (ii) begin construction on a new state-of-the-art facility in Saratoga County, New York, subject to the transfer of previously-approved New York State incentives. The New York facility is expected to create more than 1,400 direct jobs, and, through its operation, to generate an additional 5,000 jobs in the region. Once operational, the New York facility will be the only independently-managed, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing foundry in the United States.

Global demand for independent foundry manufacturing is growing because leading semiconductor companies are exiting manufacturing, as the cost and complexity increases and capital and research and development costs have become too high. In addition, the world’s requirements for devices that use more advanced semiconductors continue to grow, and the IBM technology alliance, to which The Foundry Company will belong, creates an increasingly larger foundation for semiconductor innovation.

The Board of Directors of The Foundry Company will be equally divided between representatives of AMD and ATIC. AMD will own 44.4 percent and ATIC will own 55.6 percent of The Foundry Company’s fully-converted common stock upon its formation.

Doug Grose will relinquish his current role as AMD’s senior vice president of manufacturing operations to become chief executive officer of The Foundry Company. Hector Ruiz will relinquish his current role as AMD’s executive chairman and chairman of the board to become chairman of The Foundry Company. To augment its announced leadership, the new company plans an aggressive recruitment strategy to round out a world-class semiconductor manufacturing leadership team.

ATIC is an investment company formed by the government of Abu Dhabi to invest in advanced technology opportunities that require patient capital and long-term time horizons to achieve economic returns while also increasing the economic diversification of Abu Dhabi. While it enhances its capabilities specific to the transaction, ATIC will enter into a 12-month agreement with Mubadala to project manage ATIC’s interest in The Foundry Company.

As a result of the transactions, AMD will strengthen its financial position and focus on the design and development of innovative computing and graphics solutions. AMD will improve its liquidity through The Foundry Company’s assumption of approximately $1.2 billion in debt, ATIC’s $700 million payment to AMD for ownership interests in The Foundry Company and Mubadala’s $314 million paid to AMD for 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares.

Mubadala, an existing 8.1 percent AMD shareholder, will increase its stake to 19.3 percent of outstanding AMD shares on a fully diluted basis. This will be accomplished through the purchase for $314 million of 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares. Mubadala will also have the right to appoint a designee to AMD’s board of directors.

“Today is a landmark day for AMD, creating a financially stronger company with a tightened focus,” said Dirk Meyer, president and chief executive officer of AMD. “With The Foundry Company, AMD has developed an innovative way to focus our efforts on design while maintaining access to the leading-edge manufacturing technologies that our business needs without the required capital-intensive investments of semiconductor manufacturing. I particularly want to congratulate our Chairman Hector Ruiz, whose vision and leadership of our Asset Smart strategy is fulfilled today.”

“We are as enthusiastic about AMD’s potential today as we were when we made our initial investment last year,” said Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chief executive officer and managing director of Mubadala. “This increased investment is a strong vote of confidence in AMD’s Asset Smart business strategy, evolved leadership team, and best-in-class technology.”

“ATIC and AMD are the ideal partners with which to create The Foundry Company,” said Hector Ruiz, chairman of AMD’s board of directors, who will become chairman of The Foundry Company. “Working together allows us to combine ATIC’s long-term vision and patient capital with our manufacturing leadership, innovation and highly-skilled workforce. Moreover, The Foundry Company’s presence in Upstate New York alongside IBM and other research leaders will cement the region’s position as one of the world’s premier centers of nanotechnology development.”

ATIC Chairman Waleed Al Mokarrab said, “More than a year in the making, today’s announcement significantly reshapes the global semiconductor industry – it is an investment where all parties see significant opportunity. Independent and well-capitalized, The Foundry Company begins day one with an established leading-edge customer, an advanced technology roadmap, an R&D partnership with IBM, and a clear plan to scale capacity, providing it the foundation to become a clear leader in global semiconductor manufacturing.”

“The creation of The Foundry Company represents a critical milestone in the evolution of the semiconductor industry,” said Doug Grose, who will be the CEO of The Foundry Company. "Companies are eager for choice in the supply of leading-edge manufacturing capacity, and our new venture is answering that call. By combining operational excellence, leading-edge technology developed in collaboration with IBM, and an aggressive capacity roadmap, The Foundry Company aspires to drive the next round of innovation in this industry."

The Foundry Company will join the IBM joint development alliance for both silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and bulk silicon through the 22nm generation. The alliance consists of a group of leading semiconductor companies collaborating on next generation silicon technologies.

"We welcome The Foundry Company into the IBM alliance and are pleased to see the company investing in New York,” said Dr. John E. Kelly III, senior vice president and director of Research at IBM. “The Foundry Company’s membership in the alliance brings new intellectual capital to our collaborative effort and continues to build on the momentum and leadership that the alliance has established in semiconductor technologies."

Upon closing of the transaction, The Foundry Company will commence operations with approximately 3,000 employees who will transition into the new company from AMD facilities in Silicon Valley, New York, Dresden, and Austin. The new company’s principal headquarters will be in Silicon Valley and its research and development and manufacturing leadership teams and ecosystems will be based in New York, Dresden, and Austin. After the upgrade and expansion in Dresden and the build-out of the New York facility, The Foundry Company envisions expanding its global manufacturing footprint over time, if commercially justified, to also include new fabrication facilities in Abu Dhabi.

The transaction is expected to close at the beginning of 2009 following satisfaction of conditions such as approvals from regulators, transfer of previously-confirmed New York incentives to The Foundry Company, and the approval of AMD stockholders for the issuance of common stock and warrants to Mubadala. Prior to closing, AMD, ATIC and Mubadala will file a joint voluntary notice of the transaction for review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a government inter-agency committee chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury.

Upon closing, The Foundry Company will:

Have a total enterprise value of $5.0 billion, consisting of AMD's contribution of manufacturing assets and intellectual property (including its fabrication facilities in Dresden), intellectual capital and employees valued together at $2.4 billion; ATIC's contribution of $1.4 billion in new capital; and $1.2 billion of debt assumed by The Foundry Company from AMD;

Be consolidated with AMD for purposes of financial reporting;

Have a board of directors whose membership is equally divided between representatives of AMD and ATIC; Have only AMD and ATIC as stockholders, each of which at the closing will have equal voting rights;

Be owned 44.4 percent by AMD and 55.6 percent by ATIC on a fully converted to common basis. ATIC’s economic ownership will increase over time based on the differences in securities held by AMD and ATIC, and depending on whether AMD elects to invest proportionately with ATIC in future capital infusions to support The Foundry Company’s growth;

Have its principal headquarters in Silicon Valley, and its research and development and manufacturing leadership teams and ecosystems in New York, Dresden, and Austin;

Have an exclusive supply agreement with limited exceptions to manufacture AMD processors and to manufacture, where competitive, certain percentages of other AMD semiconductor products;

Begin construction of the Fab 4X manufacturing facility in New York in the middle of 2009, directly employing more than 1,400 workers in Upstate New York when the facility is in full operation;

Expect to increase capacity through completing the 300mm conversion of a second state-of-the-art facility in Dresden in 2009;

Join the IBM technology development alliance for both SOI and bulk silicon technology, greatly expanding the addressable market of The Foundry Company;

After the upgrade and expansion in Dresden and the build-out of the New York facility, The Foundry Company envisions expanding its global manufacturing footprint over time, if commercially justified, to also include new fabrication facilities in Abu Dhabi; and

Announce its permanent corporate name and identity.

Upon closing, AMD will:

Have equal voting rights with ATIC in The Foundry Company;

Own 44.4 percent of The Foundry Company on a fully converted to common basis;

Improve its liquidity through The Foundry Company’s assumption of approximately $1.2 billion of AMD’s debt, ATIC’s $700 million payment to AMD for ownership interests in The Foundry Company and Mubadala’s purchase for $314 million of 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares;

Tightly focus on the design and development of the next generation of innovation based on the fusion of computing and graphics processing;

Elect a Mubadala designee as a member of its board of directors;

Excluding its consolidation of The Foundry Company for financial reporting purposes, improve its net cash position by $2.1 billion, through The Foundry Company’s assumption of approximately $1.1 billion in debt (net of approximately $100 million cash transferred by AMD to The Foundry Company) and cash payments from ATIC and Mubadala aggregating $1.0 billion;

Have the option, but not any requirement, to provide additional capital funding to The Foundry Company in response to future capital calls; and

Have an exclusive supply agreement with The Foundry Company, with limited exceptions, to manufacture AMD processors and to manufacture, where competitive, certain percentages of other AMD semiconductor products.

Upon closing, ATIC will:

Have equal voting rights with AMD in The Foundry Company;

Own 55.6 percent of The Foundry Company on a fully converted to common basis;

Invest an initial $2.1 billion, of which $1.4 billion will be invested directly in the new company and $700 million will be paid directly to AMD;

Commit a minimum of $3.6 billion and up to $6.0 billion in additional funds over the next five years for the upgrade and expansion of fabrication facilities in Dresden and construction of a new facility in Upstate New York.

Upon closing, Mubadala will:

Purchase for an aggregate of $314 million 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares, giving it a total stake in AMD of 19.3 percent on a fully diluted basis; and

Have a right to designate a representative for election as a member of the board of directors of AMD.

For more information on the announcement, visit www.amd.com/NewGlobalFoundry

With its beefier 3-phase power, dual-slot cooling, and 8-pin PCIe 2.0 connector, Palit's Radeon 4850 Sonic is designed for the enthusiast who wants to push the Radeon 4850 to unprecedented levels. But does it live up to the hype? Find out in this review!

>> Click Here to read the article

Up to this point NVIDIA's GeForce 9600 GSO has relied on the same G92 chip and board design as NVIDIA's highly popular GeForce 8800 GT. However according to Expreview, NVIDIA will soon begin using G94 for 9600 GSO cards instead.

Why would NVIDIA switch to G94? Simple. To reduce manufacturing costs. To further reduce costs, Expreview believes the "new" 9600 GSOs will all be manufactured on TSMC's 55-nm manufacturing process. No word on what the final clock speeds or configuration of the new 9600 GSO will be; the G94 GPU is limited to just 64 shaders, while today's 9600 GSO cards ship with 96 shaders enabled, so obviously the "new" 9600 GSO cards will be crippled in this regard in comparison to today's cards. According to Expreview's sources only a handful of partners will actually ship cards based on this new 9600 GSO: Asus, Leadtek, XFX, PC Partner and MSI.

While we obviously haven't tested this "new" 9600 GSO GPU, if you're in the market for a 9600 GSO, you may want to pick up one of the 96 shader cards on the market today, rather than wait and see how the benchmarks shake out. Unless NVIDIA decides to crank up the clocks, it's possible that the new 9600 GSO could be slower than the current GSO. Personally I'd rather see NVIDIA give this new G94 variant a different name rather than market it as a 9600 GSO, as this will only add to the confusion in the marketplace if this report is true.

So over the weekend I ran some benchmarks with the Catalyst 8.10 RC2 driver that I mentioned in news last week. My first impression? WOW! In testing with a Radeon 4870 512MB I saw double-digit performance improvement in games like Company of Heroes and Lost Planet. On top of that the new driver adds manual fan control adjustment for Radeon 3000 and 4000 series cards. It's definitely a must download driver if you own a Radeon 4800 card.

Starting next weekend, gamers will have a chance to check out Crysis Wars for free:

Electronic Arts and Crytek are announcing today that Crysis Wars, the new multiplayer suite for Crytek’s award-winning Crysis franchise and part of the critically acclaimed Crysis Warhead package, will be available for free from Friday, October 10th through Sunday, October 12th.

“We have been extremely pleased with the reception we have received from gamers and press for Crysis Warhead,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek. “Crysis Wars is definitely a big reason for this success and something we are dedicated to, not only as a part of future Crysis titles, but in terms of releasing new modes and continued support for our growing community.”

Starting on Monday, October 6th, gamers can take advantage of this offer by registering online at www.mycrysis.com. After registration, those who sign up will be emailed a unique activation key that will allow them to immediately play Crysis Wars on LAN for the entire week and will allow them to play on Gamespy servers from October 10th at 11:00 AM PT to October 12th at 11:59 PM.

Crysis Wars includes:

Three diverse multiplayer modes including InstantAction, TeamInstantAction and PowerStruggle

21 maps ranging from large battlefields to smaller, more intimate battlegrounds with a diverse array of settings ranging from beaches to graveyards

All weapons and vehicles released within the Crysis Universe

Nintendo's had the midas touch lately: every new product they've launched has been a huge hit with consumers. But multiple analysts are skeptical that their latest creation, the DSi, will enjoy the sales success of previous products.

New articles at Reuters and Gamespot highlight analysts concerns that the new portable game console adds little over Nintendo's current DS. From Gamespot:

The new functions to be added to the DSi are no more than minor changes, and as such are unlikely to expand the NDS user base, in our view.

Demand is likely to centre on replacement. Additional functions may extend the software line-up but not by enough to further boost consumer spending. Body size will be smaller, but not enough to change convenience dramatically.

Are adding two cameras and music functionality really enough to differentiate the DSi from the DS?

With just 512MB of built-in storage capacity, it doesn't take many Virtual Console or WiiWare games to fill up the console.

Fortunately it appears that Nintendo is finally doing something to address this issue. Beginning in Spring '09, gamers will have the option to download games directly to SD cards. Still no USB HDD option though.

Earlier this week we learned that AMD's 45-nm Shanghai CPUs are in full production now, with retail introduction later this quarter. Now word comes from DigiTimes that AMD plans to offer 9 different Shanghai processors at launch later this month, with clock speeds ranging from 2.3-2.7GHz.

Unfortunately the CPUs are limited to HyperTransport 1.0, HT 3.0 CPUs won't be released in Q2'09. Five Shanghai models will be geared towards 2P servers, while four models will be offered for 8-Way servers. In Feb'09 DigiTimes expects AMD follow up the initial Shanghai launch with low-power 55W Shanghai parts and two high performance models.

While speaking at CEATEC this week in Japan, AMD's VP and GM of Graphics Rick Bergman confirmed that AMD plans to release their first DirectX 11 GPU next year. AMD also plans to transition to 40-nm as well as "widespread use of GDDR5" memory.

AMD also demo'ed the first Mobility Radeon 4000 cards at CEATAC. No word on when they'll hit laptops though.

An RC2 version of ATI's upcoming Catalyst 8.10 driver hit the web this week, and the new driver has a feature we've been hoping to see ATI add for quite some time now: manual fan speed control. Radeon 3000 and 4000 series card owners can now manually adjust the RPMs of their card's fan from 20-100% inside the Overdrive section of Catalyst Control Center.

Keep in mind that these aren't the final 8.10 drivers, so download with caution. Hopefully the official driver will be released soon.

As expected, today Nintendo Japan announced the successor to their popular DS portable game console, the Nintendo DSi. The DSi features larger 3.25" dual screens, integrated camera and music player, and is slightly thinner than the original DS. The new console will go on sale Nov 1st in Japan while the rest of the world won't see the DSi until sometime next year.

DRM has been a huge issue for PC gamers lately. EA has come under fire for their DRM integrated into Spore and Crysis Warhead; a class action suit was filed last week for their use of SecuROM and its lack of an uninstall feature. DRM has become so obtrusive that it's getting to the point where many PC gamers need to know which DRM techniques ship with games before they're released.

With this in mind, Shacknews asked Bethesda's Pete Hines about the copy protection techniques integrated into Fallout 3. Here is what Pete had to say on the topic:

Shack: Similar question in the sense that it's an issue that can be overblown. What kind of copy protection will be included on the PC version of Fallout 3?

Pete Hines: Pretty similar to what we did for Oblivion, which was--we basically don't do any--we do the mildest form possible. I actually don't know if I even want to get into what it is that we exactly do, but we try to be really noninvasive when it comes to that stuff. [ed- Oblivion employed a simple DVD check.] And to have to support all of that--which is often the unspoken thing that nobody really wants to point to. You can argue all day whether or not somebody would have bought a copy of a game they pirated, but you can't argue, and you will never win the argument that I'm not having to provide tech support for those folks. Because I know for a fact that we are. We catch those folks all the time, where we're providing support for somebody who turns out didn't actually pay for the game and just downloaded a copy.

I see HUGE sales in Fallout 3's future! I'll certainly be adding it to the list of games we use for hardware testing.

Further along in the interview Hines mentions that the game has been extensively tested with NVIDIA cards, but he doesn't mention ATI hardware. Hopefully the game will work equally well with both IHVs products when it debuts later this year.

Next year Toshiba plans to launch "Cell TV", taking the Cell chip powering Sony's PS3 game console and placing it in their next crop of flat-panel TVs launching in fall '09.

According to Toshiba, Cell-powered TVs will bring faster channel changes (today's HDTVs take a few seconds to switch HD channels) and will also be able to decode and play back up to 8 live TV streams. Toshiba's Cell TV was even used to simultaneously display 48 video streams stored on a HDD:

The same Cell TV could also time-slice a single video program in 48 segments and play them back on the same screen at the same time. "This lets viewers choose a specific video segment they want to see," said Nishida.

The Cell processor can also decode eight live broadcast streams simultaneously, Nishida added, when the Cell TV features eight TV tuners.

Speaking of Cell, reports out of Japan suggest that the chip could be used to power Sony's Playstation 4 console. Using Cell would help reduce development costs for Sony, which spent billions on R&D for Playstation 3. In addition, the move would also help Sony bring the PS4 to market sooner.

But there are other benefits to using Cell for PS4. Rehashing Cell would also make life easiers for game developers.

According to the article, Sony could increase the number of processing cores to 24 or even 32 in order to improve performance. Higher clock speeds could be in the cards as well. Add a next-generation ATI or NVIDIA GPU, Blu-ray optical drive, and DDR3 RAM, and the PS4 could be easily introduced in time to compete with Microsoft and Nintendo.

What They Play is reporting that Nintendo is working on a high-definition Wii console with true "next-generation" graphics set for an introduction in 2011.

Their sources liken the new console as a successor to the original Wii concept, similar to the transition from the Game Boy to the Game Boy Advance. Those who have been briefed on the new console have described it as a Wii HD. The new console will be backward-compatible with the Wii and will likely have some form of built-in storage (HDD or integrated flash).