Amazing new graphical upgrades to EVE

Here's a great video to wet your appetite on what the pre-Kali upgrades (Revelations) to EVE will bring. If that is what CCP can still do with DX9, I can't wait to see EVE running on Vista with DX10!

Gaming: Getting ready for next year

I've been trying to keep myself abreast of the latest Vista news, making sure I stay on top of things so that I don't get a nasty surprise when the time comes to upgrade.

The main reason for me to upgrade will be the new Trinity II graphics engine for EVE Online. Hell it might even be the only reason. I really don't give a monkey's ass about the 'look' of Vista - I currently run Windows XP with the bare minimum graphics fluff (the Windows 2000 look). Not that I don't have the hardware for it (1Gb of RAM, Radeon 9500 Pro 128Mb), but I prefer to keep things lean and fast. I like things to look good in EVE, not in Windows.

And so, I keep looking for information, advice, tips and all in knowing if I'll need to upgrade any parts of my current PC in order to run Vista and its new graphics engine - again, the only reason is for the new EVE graphics engine (check this flickr slideshow and you'll understand why). This morning I came across this news article of at GameSpot that has a load of goodies. Here you'll find links to the Microsoft Vista Home and to the Get Ready beta utility with which you'll be able to see if you can run Vista when it comes out or if you'll need to upgrade anything. In my case, I'll have to change my main (master) hard drive - a very old (2000) yet very sturdy and reliable Fujitsu HDD.

While you're at it, head over to these previous posts to learn about Windows Vista: "Gaming: Windows Vista review on Gamespot" - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4. I also suggest you take a look at my growing Windows Vista blinklist, with which I keep track of everything related.

Gaming: Windows Vista review on Gamespot - Part 4

The final part of the Windows Vista review, Windows Vista Part 4 - Gaming and DirectX 10, was published prior to my trip to Vegas. I meant to post about sometime ago, but the whole Vista mess/delays/unknowns has prevented me from doing so. I just wanted to gather more information on it before sharing it with you.

DirectX 10, or whatever they decide to call it, will be the single most important update to impact the gaming community. Once it's available to card manufacturers, game developers will be able to start creating games to take full advantage of it (as in the new EVE graphic engine). But we're far from there, as quoted in Part 4:

The problem is that DirectX 10 video cards don't exist yet. Nvidia has the G80 in the works and ATI is polishing up the R600, a GPU based on the Xbox 360 "Xenos" core, but cards won't appear until the second half of this year. Even the game companies are having a tough time getting early-development GPU hardware right now. Several game developers we've spoken to have told GameSpot that they're still waiting to see DX10 reference cards.

And until they do, we certainly won't. And with Vista being pushed back to early 2007 (read mid-2007), then the chances of seeing EVE Online in a new light anytime soon, are just unrealistic. Or are they? We'll just have to wait to read about it in the next issue of E:ON.