grid
Latest
NVIDIA certifies PCs and routers that can stream games to its Shield handheld
If you've ever tried to stream a game from a PC (or PS4) to a mobile device over WiFi, then you'll know the bandwidth requirements can be quite fussy. Attempt to remote play in high definition at 60 frames per second, as NVIDIA promises with its Shield handheld and recently upgraded GameStream service, and things start to get seriously pinnikity. So, to help you pick the right hardware to go with your Shield (which is now going for $250 at Amazon, by the way), NVIDIA has started a certification program to label PCs and routers that are GameStream-ready. Expect to see the green logo on pre-built machines from the likes of Digital Storm and Maingear that have the necessary GeForce GTX graphical guts, as well as a number of dual-band and wireless-AC routers from ASUS, Buffalo, D-Link and Netgear. (You'll find a full and current list of certified products over at the source link). Compatible routers will also support streaming from the cloud, via NVIDIA's alternative GRID service, although of course you'll also need a steady 10Mbps broadband connection before you even think about trying that.
NVIDIA GRID cloud gaming service now in open beta for Shield owners in Northern California
NVIDIA Shield owners who downloaded a new software update a couple days ago not only received the ability to stream PC games over 1080p, but were also given the keys to try out NVIDIA's GRID cloud gaming service before anyone else. Similar to Gaikai and Onlive, GRID essentially lets you play games that are hosted on NVIDIA's servers rather than your home PC. Well, that service is finally out in open beta to Shield owners -- as long as they live in Northern California. NVIDIA's testing this out with just its San Jose servers for now, and you'll need a GameStream-ready 5GHz WiFi router, a minimum of 10Mbps download speed and a sub-40ms ping time to have a decent gaming experience. Those outside of the area can give it a go as well of course, as long as they're able to meet those bandwidth requirements -- the GRID beta app will run a network test to see if your connection passes muster. If you've already downloaded that aforementioned software update, you should already have the app, but you can download it separately from the Google Play Store as well.
NVIDIA's Shield now streams PC games to your TV in 1080p, has new control mapping capabilities
It was just over a month ago when NVIDIA's handheld, Shield, got the ability to stream Android games to TVs at 1080p resolution via Console Mode. Today, it can now do the same for PC games thanks to a software update that also brings improvements to 720p streaming mode and its Gamepad Mapper feature, too. Of course, the Gamestream technology that powers Shield streaming officially supports a limited number of games at the moment, with Batman: Arkham Origins, Borderlands 2 and Assasin's Creed IV: Black Flag among the highlights. In all, 63 games are currently available to stream in full HD, with more titles scheduled to be added every week. With Gamepad Mapper, users can now map motion controls to physical ones. So, instead of tilting your handheld from side to side in the games designed to do so, you can map those gyro inputs to the Shield's thumbsticks instead. And, to better let folks know of all the custom control possibilities, NVIDIA is rolling out a community beta feature that lets folks share and rate different control map profiles. Lastly, if you have a Shield and live in Northern California, you can now get in on NVIDIA's GRID beta. For folks who aren't familiar, GRID is NVIDIA's cloud gaming technology, similar to Gaikai and OnLive. So, folks with a sub-40ms ping time to NVIDIA's San Jose, Calif., servers and a minimum 10 Mbps connection through a GameStream-ready router can get exclusive access to the service's library of games on their Shield. Looks like Christmas came early, folks, so head on down to the source for the info needed to grab all the goodies.
EVE Evolved: Grid-Fu and bending space
In last week's article, I described how EVE Online maintains the illusion of full-scale solar systems by dynamically creating small pockets of high-detail space called grids. It's within these discrete bubbles that everything we do in space takes place, from mining asteroids to running missions or shooting at other players. The system is designed to split up space into manageable chunks to reduce server load while still maintaining persistent 3-D space that appears to span the entire scale of a solar system. Grids have been in EVE since it was first created, but over the years people have noticed a few odd things about how the system works. Flying about 250km-400km away from a stargate causes your ship to disappear from that grid and pop into a newly created adjacent one, for example, but this doesn't always happen. Bizarre occurrences such as abnormally shaped grids and ships mysteriously disappearing and re-appearing on the same grid were always thought to be freak accidents or unintended bugs until an interesting document emerged in 2009. Titled Grid-Fu: A Practical Manual, the 18-page PDF described the process of bending and manipulating space for a tactical advantage. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the various ways that players have manipulated space to their advantage.
EVE Evolved: Does EVE Online have the world's largest MMO map?
MMO game worlds seem to be getting larger every year, and the debate over which is biggest frequently appears on forums and blogs. It usually starts with people breaking out infographics comparing the size of the various islands and continents in their favourite fantasy MMOs, and it escalates from there. World of Warcraft's Azeroth turns out to be surprisingly small at an estimated 80 square miles, while World War II Online claims to have the largest MMO game map in the world with over 300,000 square kilometers (115,831 square miles) of playable space modeled as a half scale map of Western Europe. Someone in the discussion will inevitably mention EVE Online, and that's when things get complicated. The New Eden star cluster is lightyears across, and its 7,699 accessible solar systems have earned it a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, but can EVE's map even be compared to accessible landmass in a fantasy MMO? All of the space between stars is currently empty and inaccessible, and players warp between points of interest within a solar system without interacting with any of the space in between. With that and the relative difference in scale between EVE and land-based games, it isn't immediately clear whether EVE Online still has the world's largest playable MMO map. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at how empty space works under the hood in EVE Online and crunch some numbers to find out whether it really does have the biggest playable game world.
Daily iPhone App: Grid is an idea organizer for the visually oriented
Organizing your ideas and keeping them tidy can be a challenge. Sometimes you just have to try different apps and different methods until one sticks. If you are in the market for another idea organizer and want something different, you should check out Grid by Binary Thumb. As its name implies, Grid uses a grid to organize your ideas, your tasks or pretty much anything you want. It reminds me a lot of the good old days when you would clear off the kitchen table, lay down a stack of colored index cards and arrange them until they were organized just right. When Grid launches, you are presented with an empty grid and are prompted to fill it in with blocks of text, photos, contacts or location information. You can create columns to help manage your tasks or add photos and texts to prototype the layout of a blog post. I used the map data along with a photo of my house to create a visual map that I sent to a friend who was visiting for the weekend. Grid has an interesting UI that takes some patience. Before you can add items to your grid, you must select the squares in the grid that will house the content. You tap a square, and then drag your finger to select adjacent squares to form a block, as shown above. The app does a nice job of following your finger, but it is very easy to accidentally select a block of squares that is too small or too big. You can't resize your grid selection and must start over if you make a mistake. Once you have your block selected, you swipe up to select the media you want to insert into the grid. You can add photos from your camera, contact information from your address book, a map of your location and text that you can format. You can move the block around and place it wherever your want. You can also change the background color of a blocks, which is handy if you want to group blocks by color. To take full advantage of Grid, you need to sign up for an account. If you share your grid, the recipient must have the Grid app installed on their iPhone or iPad. Using an account lets you share your grids with other Grid users. An account also allows you to create multiple grids within the app. Grid is a unique idea organization tool for people who prefer a visual layout over a text-based list. Its movable and customizable blocks allow you to get creative with your layouts and arrange your info in a way that is both visually appealing and helpful to you. Grid by Binary Thumb is available for free from the iOS App Store. It works on the iPhone and iPad. It requires iOS 6.1.
NVIDIA demos GRID streaming on OUYA, proves little boxes play big games (video)
NVIDIA champions GRID as a perfect fit for cloud gaming platforms, but we haven't had much chance to see a good use case in action. The company was more than happy to oblige at E3, however, by streaming games from GRID to an OUYA system. As Android Central caught on video, the tiny console is well-suited to the job: its Tegra 3 and gamepad can comfortably handle remote delivery of an intensive game like Borderlands 2, at least in the controlled world of a trade show. While OUYA doesn't have much (official) access to NVIDIA's GRID at present, the booth demo was a possible vision of the future. It certainly gave OUYA an escape from its hassles on the street.
NVIDIA enables full virtualization for graphics: up to eight remote users per GRID GPU
You probably won't have noticed the following problem, unless you happen to be the IT manager in an architecture firm or other specialist environment, but it's been an issue nonetheless. For all our ability to virtualize compute and graphical workloads, it hasn't so far been possible to share a single GPU across multiple users. For example, if you'd wanted 32 people on virtual machines to access 3D plumbing and electrical drawings via AutoCAD, you'd have needed to dedicate eight expensive quad-GPU K1 graphics cards in your GRID server stack. Now, though, NVIDIA has managed to make virtualization work right the way through to each GPU for users of Citrix XenDesktop 7, such that you'd only need one K1 to serve that workforce, assuming their tasks were sufficiently lightweight. Does this mean NVIDIA's K1 sales will suddenly drop by seven eighths? We couldn't tell ya -- but probably not.
Roku's second gen players can get their grid menu update now
We dug the grid-style menu system that came along with the Roku 3, and now owners of some of the company's older players can experience it as well. The Roku 2 boxes, Roku LT, newer Roku HD and Streaming Stick are all eligible to download the new update, although it's not coming to the company's first generation boxes. It's been rolling out to limited numbers of users all month for testing, but tonight the company announced anyone can get it by prompting their box to manually update. All it takes is checking the update section under settings, otherwise it will be downloaded automatically at some point in the next few weeks.
NVIDIA's GRID VCA now available to graphic crunching pros at a cool $24,900
While it won't supercharge Crysis or other games like its upcoming Cloud Gaming device may, NVIDIA's GRID Visual Computing Appliance is now up for grabs to designers, animators and visual production types for $24,900 plus a $2,400 yearly software license fee. That sum will merely get you the starter model consisting of 8 GPUs, 16 threads of CPU and 192GB of RAM to service up to 8 users, while the 16 GPU model -- which doubles all that up -- is hitting the dreaded "contact us" price point. For reasonable-sized studios with multiple designers or artists, though, it'd allow humdrum machines to link up via a network and still crunch complex models -- making the price rather beside the point for us individual users. For more info, hit the PR after the jump.
Codemasters restructuring, reports suggest 80 layoffs
Grid and Dirt developer Codemasters is consulting "affected employees" as part of a restructuring process, with 80 people reportedly being laid off as a result. A "strong source" told GamesIndustry International the figure, saying the majority of those layoffs are being made at the company's global headquarters in Southam, England.A Codemasters spokesperson told us there is no confirmed number of affected employees, referring to numbers reported elsewhere as "speculative." Codemasters' official statement says the restructuring is "not companywide," and that the process isn't expected to affect development of "core console and PC titles" like Grid 2 and this year's Formula One game.Codemasters' official statement reads: "As the Company realigns its operations to focus on areas of increased strategic importance and decrease resources in areas that are not delivering value for the business, the Company has proposed the restructure of certain aspects within its digital development and publishing units in line with future product strategy. As a result of the proposed restructure, the Company has therefore entered into a period of collective consultation with the affected employees. The restructure is not companywide and is not anticipated to impact the development of its core console and PC titles such as Grid 2 or its annual Formula One title."
Nvidia Grid server pumps power into cloud gaming, six partners already lined up
Nvidia unveiled "Grid" at this year's CES, a powerful server built for cloud computing across PCs, smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs. As Engadget reports, Grid is catching the attention of cloud gaming companies, with Agawi, Cyber Cloud, G-cluster, Playcast, and Ubitus already signed up to use the technology.According to Nvidia, a single Grid server can enable up to 24 HD quality game streams. At CES Nvidia showcased the Grid gaming system, which incorporates 20 Grid servers into a single rack. Nvidia says the rack is capable of producing 36 times the amount of HD-quality game streams as 'first-generation cloud gaming systems.'As our friends at Engadget note, that gaming rack of 20 Grid servers pumps out around 200 teraflops worth of operations, which equates to what around 700 Xbox 360s can do. That's a whole lot of Master Chiefs running themselves to death on hamster wheels.
NVIDIA details the Grid, a card built for powering cloud computing
NVIDIA's CES 2013 press conference is still ongoing, but the chipmaker is already unveiling something we've only seen teased before: the NVIDIA Grid, a card used for cloud computing across PCs, smart TVs, and smartphones. CEO and founder Jen-Hsun Huang detailed the new card on-stage, which you can see above in a rack of 20 grid servers. Huang says the rack pushes out roughly 240 NVIDIA GPUs worth of power, or about 200 teraflops -- equivalent to approximately 700 Xbox 360s. The Grid was given a tease earlier this year; the card will assist in pushing serious horsepower to the cloud, so that gaming over the air, across multiple devices becomes a less complicated reality. During an on-stage demonstration, NVIDIA showed Frozenbyte's Trine running on various devices, all powered by the Grid system. Beyond just looking great, it carried over seamlessly between multiple devices. Huang also detailed NVIDIA's first partners for Grid: Agawi, Cloudunion, Cyber Cloud, G-cluster, Playcast, and Ubitus. Apparently biggies like OnLive and Gaikai are already all set? We'll be sure to get a closer look in the coming days as CES rages on. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Addon Spotlight: Raid healing addons, part two
Two weeks back, I looked into two fine contenders for raid healing addons, namely Healbot and VuhDo. There was a great and lengthy tussle between the two, and no clear victor was named, although VuhDo snatched a narrow lead. As I promised back in that column, I've gone away to test two more raid healing addons, or party healing addons, as you prefer. Actually, I tested three of them, to be precise, but one probably couldn't stand alone as a healing addon, and is more a raid frame replacement. Those three addons are Healium, Clique and Grid. I began with Healium, for no other reason than because that was the first one I decided to switch on, but as it happens that worked out pretty well for the testing as, when I wandered into the settings, I discovered it could work with Clique. Healium Healium takes quite a different approach to the other addons I've reviewed so far in this set of Addon Spotlights. VuhDo, Healbot, and Grid+Clique are all click-to-heal addons, that is to say, they take a set of either their own frames or a third-party set of frames, and set up mouseover macros on them. A left-click on a frame fires one heal at that player, while an ALT+ left click fires a different one. Healium, on the other hand, as can be seen in the header image, doesn't perform quite like this.
Codemasters hires achievement bloggers to design achievements for Grid 2
Dan Webb is the editor-in-chief of both Xbox 360 Achievements and PS3 Trophies, two sites that have covered metarewards on the two major consoles for a few years now. But he's never actually helped write an achievement list, and so Codemasters is finally giving him that chance with Grid 2. Webb and the rest of his writers will not only create the achievements for the upcoming racing game, but will have a series of posts, videos, and other content showing off what actually goes into the process of giving away all of those gamerpoints."Codemasters have put their faith in us to work with them on creating the ultimate list," says Webb in the press release, "and we're looking forward to repaying that trust to design Achievements and Trophies with unique objectives that will put a smile on players' faces with each and every unlock." We're interested to see just what Webb and the developers create. Even if things don't work out, odds are they won't make the worst achievement list ever, right?
Daily iPhone App: Chip Chain is a great, free matching game
Chip Chain is a great game, and considering that it's free (there are in-app purchases, but I didn't find them overly invasive at all), it's probably well worth a download no matter what. As much as the game is polished and professional, it hasn't yet caught me up in its mechanics, and I'm not really sure why. On its surface, Chip Chain is very appealing. It's a puzzle game at its core: You have a grid of boxes and into each of those boxes, you can put a numbered poker chip. Once a few chips of the same number touch each other, you can then link those up and form a chip one number higher. You can then link those chips up (if you have enough in the right places), and so on, scoring more points and clearing chips off of the board. You can see the game in action below -- it's simple to play, but a little tougher to master. And I think it's that "mastery" part that's tripped me up a bit. The mechanics are very interesting indeed, and it's possible to play and set up big combos and chains with a little bit of thought. But the core mechanics of the game aren't that clear to me, and when you add in a somewhat confusing card mechanic (that lets you tweak the game board in various ways), the game moves from a clear simplicity to something that seems a little too complicated. That's not necessarily bad, but it has kept me from really getting invested in Chip Chain so far. All of those concerns aside, however, Chip Chain is a great app with plenty of content, and it's available for the low price of free. Puzzle fans should not pass this one up -- just because I haven't completely figured it out yet doesn't mean there's not plenty of fun to be had.
IBM announces Smarter Energy Research Institute, aims to improve energy grids (video)
IBM is no stranger to energy concerns, and now its founded the Smarter Energy Research Institute in partnership with Canada's Hydro-Québec, the Netherlands' Alliander, and the US' DTE Energy to help build a better grid. The partnership will leverage Big Blue's computing and analytic oomph to help the utility companies predict and detect anomalies within infrastructure, identify areas of the grid that need to be developed, integrate new energy sources and increase efficiency among other improvements. What's this mean for you? For one, power outages should be less frequent and shorter lived when they do occur. Thanks to the distributed nature of the project, research will be spread throughout IBM's worldwide network of research labs. If you'd like to hear more details straight from the folks involved, hit the jump for a video and the full press release.
Daily iPhone App: Rune Raiders charges into turn-based combat
Rune Raiders isn't a new app -- it came out a little while ago and has been updated a few times (and you can actually play a version of it online in Flash). But I was looking through the App Store for a few good turn-based games recently, and Rune Raiders has been stealing more and more of my playtime. It is indeed a game you play by turns, where you control a small party of square-shaped soldiers, who move upwards on a grid-based battlefield, fighting a series of enemies who are also represented by tiles. Each of your heroes (and the enemies you face) have various abilities and uses, and each of those abilities has their own range and strength of attack. You can push your party to the right or left or forward, or simply move them at will around the bottom of the screen. Of course, every move takes up a turn, and the game progresses in this way, with you trying to make the fewest turns to keep your heroes alive and bring them to the end of the level as quickly as possible. The whole thing is governed by a currency system (supported by in-app purchases), and unfortunately, the system is a little wonky -- if your characters die during, you can spend some more money to get them back to life. That's a little more annoying than it has to be, I think -- I wish the devs here had come up with some other way to keep characters going than simply asking you to pay more money. But if you're smart with your moves and the strategy behind them, it's completely possible to get lots and lots of gameplay in just by using and earning the in-game currency. There's also a rating system for each level, and you open up different heroes as you go along, so there's plenty of replay value as well. Rune Raiders is a free universal download that's available right now.
UK gaming pioneer Mike Singleton dies at 61
Mike Singleton, a prominent and prolific game developer based in the UK, died on October 10 of natural causes at the age of 61, following a year-long battle with jaw cancer. Singleton was responsible for a few games that serve as the foundation of home entertainment, including Space Ace for the Commodore VIC-20, War in Middle Earth for the ZX Spectrum, Midwinter and Midwinter 2 for Atari ST, Amiga and PC, and more recently GRID for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.A friend and previous employee of Singleton's has a heartfelt dedication to his work and life here, along with a list of all the games Singleton created or had a hand in. The friend writes, "Next time you pop in a disk, raise a glass and say 'Cheers Singo!'"Cheers.
ROCCAT Power-Grid Android version on its way, we go hands-on with the keyboard-augmenting app (video)
ROCCAT's plans to fight back against Razer's glowing customizable macro-keys and touchscreens are nearing the finish line. Here at Gamescom, the mouse and keyboard maker's Power-Grip app was at a nearly-finished stage on the iPhone. Better still, the Android version was close behind it -- although it was slightly less polished. The idea is to add a wealth of touchscreen widgets and quickly viewable data to your smartphone, sidestepping the need for pricier hardware solutions. That said, there are plans for ROCCAT to create some happy medium between the rogue smartphone interface and its more standard keyboard, with ideas gravitating towards a docking space for your phone built into the keyboard. We took the slightly more temperamental Android version for a spin on ROCCAT CEO Rene Korte's Galaxy S III -- check what the app's likely to offer on its December release in our hands-on after the break.%Gallery-162619%
