ATI has just announced its latest video card Radeon HD 5970. The new card is one of the first to support Microsoft DirectX 11 and Eyefinity multi-display.  The 5970 is based on a pair of Cypress GPUs linked on a single board by a PCI Express bridge for almost 5 TeraFLOPS of scorching power, and if that’s not enough for you then you can get 10 TeraFLOPS using the CrossFireX.  The card has already been put through the tests by several sites like HardOCP and Hot Hardware, and the outcome is as expected.  The card is a definite performance leader regardless of the application or a game that was thrown at it.  The power consumption is kept low in normal working environment.  When the card is going to hit store shelves, expect to pay a full retail price of $599 until the  demand subsides.  The card will be going on sale starting today.  For complete list of specs read the official press release below.

Press Release:

SUNNYVALE, Calif. –11/18/2009  – AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the flagship installment in the award-winning line of graphics cards, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970, the fastest card ever created.1 The new ultra high-end model joins a growing list of the world’s first and only graphics cards to fully support Microsoft DirectX® 11 technology and ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology.

Designed to support the most demanding PC games at ultra-high resolutions and image quality settings, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 has unlocked overclocking potential, granting access to every bit of power the card has to offer through ATI Overdrive™ technology.² Now shipping from retailers and available in the channel, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 also launches today in new Alienware Area-51, Area-51 ALX and Aurora desktop PCs.

Record-breaking overclocking capabilities take Dragon Platform technology to the forefront for users that demand the utmost control in performance tuning. The unrivaled overclocking capabilities of the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 are enabled by the unique design of the card, which features advanced fan and vapor chamber technologies and a fully vented exhaust to keep the card cool and ensure overclocking headroom using ATI Overdrive™ technology.2 The formidable combination of AMD Phenom II processors, AMD 7-Series chipsets, and ATI Radeon HD graphics deliver comprehensive tuning, immersive entertainment, and outstanding value.

Enthusiasts can expand their field of view, ATI Radeon™ HD 5970, driving up to three displays at once, delivering an unmatched maximum resolution of 7680×1600 and creating an unparalleled game play experience.³ For the first time ever, ATI CrossFireX™ technology leverages the power of multiple graphics processors to deliver even more game performance in 20 of today’s popular titles when using ATI Eyefinity technology, with more to come.

The ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 graphics card delivers nearly 5 TeraFLOPS of compute power, ensuring superior performance in the latest DirectX® 11 games, as well as in previous versions of DirectX® and OpenGL titles. With the world’s most powerful graphics core built on 40nm process technology harnessing up to 3,200 stream processors, gamers can enjoy DirectX® 11 games now, such as EA Phenomic’s BattleForge™ and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:Call of Pripyat from GSC Game World, with many more titles on the way, including:

• Battlefield Bad Company 2 from EA DICE
• DiRT™ 2 from Codemasters, arriving December 1, 2009,
• Aliens vs. Predator™ from Rebellion,
• Update to The Lord of the Rings Online™ from Turbine,
• Update to Dungeons and Dragons Online® Eberron Unlimited™ from Turbine.

New features and functionality of ATI Stream technology allow users to harness the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 graphics card to enhance their computing experience, helping to improve the performance of enabled media, entertainment and productivity applications.⁴ ATI Stream technology and the HD 5970 support both Direct Compute 11 and OpenCL industry standards for application acceleration.

Delivering full-fledged performance when needed, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 also leads in power efficiency by automatically powering down unused GPU resources when not in use, resulting in idle desktop power consumption as low as 42 watts.⁵

The ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 is supported by a wide range of add-in-board companies, including ASK, Asus, Club 3D, Diamond, Gigabyte, High Tech, MSI, Sapphire, Tul/Power Color, Visiontek and XFX.

To celebrate the launch of the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 and to conclude a series of contests created to celebrate AMD’s 40th anniversary year, AMD is announcing the third and final contest designed to give back to AMD fans and supporters. Starting today, fans of AMD on Facebook will be able to enter to win one of 10 Microsoft Xbox 360s or one of 10 Wiis from Nintendo. One gaming system will be given away every weekday for four weeks. Full contest rules and details available online: www.amd.com/40years

“With the arrival of the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the fastest graphics card in the world, we’ve cemented AMD as the unquestioned graphics leader,” said Matt Skynner, vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics Group. “With the holiday shopping season right around the corner, the new card, coupled with the awesome power of ATI Eyefinity technology, is the ultimate setup for serious gamers.”

“The extraordinary performance of the ATI Radeon HD 5970 is a perfect match for the Alienware Area-51, Area-51 ALX and Aurora desktops,” said Frank Azor, senior product planning manager, Dell Gaming. “By offering this level of graphics capability as well as the visual and performance enhancements made possible by DirectX 11 hardware, gamers will benefit from enhanced image quality enabling an incredibly intense gaming experience.”

Supporting Resources

• Pictures: See photos of the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 series graphics cards on Flickr
• Press kit: More information on the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 series of graphics cards
• Product page: ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 series product information
• Contest: Enter the third and final contest in AMD’s 40th anniversary celebration for a chance to win one of 20 Wiis from Nintendo or Microsoft Xbox 360s. More information available online: www.amd.com/40years, or enter to win on Facebook.
• Twitter: Follow AMD graphics news on Twitter at @ATIGraphicsFacebook: Become a fan of AMD technology on Facebook

About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and technology partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

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If you are a gamer then you are clearly familiar with virtual currency and points that you can buy in many games that you can then trade for virtual currency to buy what ever it is that you may need to get that edge in the game.  But the time goes by and you no longer want to play this game anymore, or you won every level and have every piece of machinery that you ever wanted.  Where do you go from here?  Well most likely you just stop playing this game and move on to the next one.  So what about all that virtual currency that you have so patiently collected over the months or worse, years?  It would just sit there in your account until you decide to play the game again, or not.  Well, there may be a solution for this problem. 

A new startup company called Bodega, is working on a solution that will help users swap virtual goods and currencies across different games, and even across different social networks.

Bodega supposed to allow users sell their virtual goods at auction in return for Bodega’s own currency.  You can sell your virtual goods in an e-bay like fashion, where you can put it up as a ‘buy it now’ style purchase or an auction, with an ability to ser a reserve price.  Users looking to purchase these virtual goods or currency can obtain Bodega Money by buying them with their credit cards, or by selling their own virtual goods in the marketplace.

This sounds like a great idea and is very promising accept for one thing.  Unfortunately almost no game manufacturers have this ability developed for their games, weather it is PC, iPhone or web.  Currently Bodega is available on Facebook with plans to launch on MySpace, Bebo, and the iPhone in the near future.  iPhone market is full of these type of games and would be great if Bodega can get their foot in the door on many of these games.  Lets hope they can do it. 

Source:  Techcrunch

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If you are one of the lucky ones to make the cut, you will receive an invitation.  Some testing will be performed before you are fully entered in to beta testing group.  Once that has been taken care of and you have made the cut, let the games begin.  but its not just fun and games, as you know being a part pf the beta testing, you will have to fill out reports about the gaming experience, bugs, and problems you have experienced. 

Let us know how you make out.

Source:  Joystiq

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The SDK developers create their flash games for Platogo and submit them to the community.  The users can manage the Dev games themselves and respond to bug requests.  Developers can make money by selling In-game items or settling for shares in ad revenues.

Some other features that site has are social networking with friends that you play with, as well as saving and sharing your personal levels for each game.  See if you can be the one of the lucky ones who can get a beta code.

Source:  Techcrunch

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 ”Take-Two claims that “upon information and belief, [3D Realms/Apogee Ltd.] has title to a substantial amount of funds deposited in an off-shore account, which Take-Two believes Apogee can use to fund its outstanding obligations.” Take-Two further notes that, in the event of “any future development of the Console Versions of DNF,” 3D Realms and Apogee are “required to cooperate”–suggesting that there may still be a chance of Duke Nukem Forever, in some form, hitting store shelves”

Source: Shacknews

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From a reliable source:  

In May 2009, after 12 years of development, ShackNews announced that 3D Realms had closed, halting production on Duke Nukem Forever.

Not much further can be said at this time.

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Sony’s PlayStation 3 has outsold Nintendo’s Wii console in Japan for the first time in 16 months.

Last month, Sony shifted 146,948 units of the PS3 compared to 99,335 Wiis, reported publishing firm Enterbrain.

While some suggest it could signal the end of Nintendo’s dominance, others think it is unlikely that the PS3 will threaten the Wii’s popularity globally.

Meanwhile, Nintendo’s revamped DSi console sold 92,000 units in the UK during its first weekend of sales.

It makes it the fourth biggest ever console launch.

Wii success

Experts see the dominance of the PS3 during March as a temporary blip rather than a sign of Nintendo’s decline.

Microsoft however only shifted 43,172 units of its Xbox 360 during the same period.

Games such as Resident Evil 5 and the latest version of action adventure Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 are credited with driving demand for the PS3 in Japan.

But Wii sales remain extremely buoyant.

During March global sales of Nintendo’s Wii console passed 50 million, making the Wii the fastest-selling games console in history, surpassing the PlayStation 2.

“PS3 hardware sales picked up due to brisk-selling software. But I don’t see any drastic change in the industry landscape,” Okasan Securities analyst Masashi Morita told the AFP news agency.

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