AMD and nVidia each have just introduced their latest next generation GPUs.  The two companies are taking totally different approaches to improving graphical performance.  This comes at a crucial time when GPUs are increasingly becoming the bottleneck for latest games (see Crysis).  AMD/ATI's R700 series GPU takes a more traditional approach by improving their older design and simply making it parallel by adding duplicate cores much like a modern multi-core CPU.  On the other hand, nVidia's Geforce 200 GPU is a completely redesigned monster with 192-240 stream processors packed into a single die.

I believe ATI's approach will be more scalable due to its parallel nature.  The low end RV710 with a single chip should be fairly efficient while packing enough punch to counter the older but effective 8800/9600 series Geforce cards.  I predict the RV710 and RV730 to be popular for laptop applications.  On the high end, I believe the Geforce 200 design will prevail simply because parallel processing is still not as efficent as it could be to benefit the R700 design with multiple chips.  Furthermore, nVidia's proprietary CUDA technology along with their recent aquisition of PhysX will allow the GF200 to be extremely efficient on multiple fronts, not just graphics.  This is all speculation for now until we see some benchmarks but I'm hoping that AMD/ATI steals the show this time around as they have been on the losing side on both the CPU and GPU fronts (against Intel's Core CPUs and nVidias 8XXX series GPUs). 

Healthy competition always benefits the gamer!

Crysis is almost making me cry.   Crytek's montly update on Crysis doesn't look promising for the pretty looking FPS.  As their latest decisions indicate, the developers don't seem to think too highly of the game's future.  Hell, they don't even sound remotely excited about their current industry niche.

From the Crysis monthly update:

At this time, there almost certainly will not be a patch 1.3 delivered for Crysis. We are aware that this news will disappoint many of you, and we would like to apologize profusely. There is a good reason for this and we hope you understand when you hear more about the reasons why in the very, very near future. Please realize this was an extremely difficult decision, but please do know that we are listening to your comments and are making more consistent community support a high priority.

Crytek will also be halting development on their promised dedicated Linux server for the game. 

We are sorry to say that the current development progress is not satisfying enough, as we have a hard time getting the code to a state where it is stable and playable.

Thus we made the decision to put the development on hold for now. We are definitely not happy with the current quality and stability of the server and we are far away from having a stable version which could be sent out to the community for alpha/beta testing.

If you ask me, Crytek looks like they're totally neglecting the fans that have stuck with them and endured with Crysis.  With Crytek's whining and whoa-is-me attitude, they certainly aren't doing themselves any favors by screwing over their community.  Good developers know that they have to satisfy their audience and perhaps more importantly, retain their trust.  Crytek complains about PC piracy hurting their sales.  But did they make sure they released a polished product (Crysis is still buggy) with enough resources (like a dedicated server) to ensure its success?  It's always easier to blame something or someone else for your problems, isn't it?  Crytek, by disappointing your fanbase, blaming it the PC industry, and basically airing out your ineptitude on your blog, you deserve all the criticism that's coming your way.  Do the right thing and give your fans patch 1.3 and a server to play on.  If you're counting on Crysis 2 to be your golden egg, then all the fans you lost with this debacle will make sure it's big goose egg.

My suggestion is this:  take a page out of Blizzard's book.  While StarCraft wasn't the perfect RTS from the beginning, patch after patch made sure the game got better and better.  Blizzard focused on making battle.net a great place to find opponents and they made sure the game had everything it needed for success.  Blizzard built on trust with their users, and each game after StarCraft has benefitted from this momentum (see WarCraft 3 and WoW).  

I'm really hoping Crytek can turn this thing around - it's not too late, after all.  Hopefully this lacksidasical attitude won't poison the rest of the PC industry, as we all know it could use every developer it can get.  I'm not above spitting out cliches to Crytek right now, so fellas, in times of crisis, only the resilient will prevail!

I hate dating sims.  I think they're pointless and lame.  Except Sprung for the DS, which, if played through as both male and female protagonists, will exponentially increase your chances of getting laid with voluptuous blondes by teaching you the intricacies of the dalliance (great scripting in that game, I promise).  Anyway, one of the few things lamer than dating sims is Naruto, the very thing that pre-teen boys are into before they discover masturbation.  Pasty white socially-awkward otaku types also like this crap because watching animes about pubescent ninjas helps them get Asian girls.  Due to my fervent dislike of Naruto and dating sims in general, you can bet I got real P.O.'ed when I saw this Naruto Dating Sim on gamesforwork.com...

 And if you're playing Naruto Dating Sim flash games while you're on the clock, may all your co-workers find out how much of a fruitcake you are.

An interview by PC Play reveals that Crytek will no longer develop exclusively for the PC platform.  President Cevat Yerli cites software piracy as the main reason behind the decline of PC gaming. 

"We are suffering currently from the huge piracy that is encompassing Crysis. We seem to lead the charts in piracy by a large margin, a chart leading that is not desirable. I believe that’s the core problem of PC Gaming, piracy.  To the degree PC Gamers that pirate games inherently destroy the platform. Similar games on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more. It was a big lesson for us and I believe we wont have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future. We are going to support PC, but not exclusive anymore."

This may only pave the way for more PC developers to follow suit.  Crytek feels they have a solid release in Crysis, but are skeptical of whether the development costs were worth its PC-only status.  Nintendo reported losing nearly a billion to piracy last year, and they are on the sunnier side of this part of the industry - the console market.  Although piracy happens on all platforms the PC has always been the easiest target.  The PC will always be around for gaming (freeware/casual friendly, optimal for MMO's, probably the easiest barriers to entry of any console - distribution through the internet, no licensing, etc.), but that particular market segment may be in trouble financially.  My guess is the PC market may go through some necessary adaptations... here's hoping the quality of its games won't be taking the hit.