Gamertell

As I wandered through the 2008 Scion Slam Basketball Tournament held August 23, 2008 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I was amazed at all the cool schwag being handed out by the local Scion dealership. I’m simply in love with my backpack filled with CDs featuring the Backyard Bangers, MP3 cases, mini basketballs and different ways I can customize my own Scion in a glimpse.

But another part of the show is the Scion Slammer Car Show held the same day at Fort Bragg and featured many customized Scions. As I walked through the rows of gorgeous tricked out cars I came across one that was sheer beauty. A dark gray Scion XB covered with scenes from Heavenly Sword and Prince of Persia...

Click through for more photos.

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You’ve heard of the “uncanny valley” that is, the fact that the more realistic computer-generated graphics become, the more disturbing their flaws (i.e. the best animated humans look very creepy and weird). Now, an excellent editorial at Gamasutra examines the “graphics plateau” - the point where graphics are basically “good enough” and all anyone cares about is gameplay. Writer Brandon Sheffield thinks we’re there already. He cites the crazy popularity of underpowered machines (like the Wii and even the DS), and the PS2’s continued success, along with the ubiquity of mobile gaming in Japan, as reasons supporting this.

What do you think? Are graphics now at the point where we no longer need the uber-machines to be satisfied? Or are simpler games just in fashion due to demographic reasons? An argument could certainly be made either way, but Sheffield’s piece is well worth a look whichever side you’re on.

Read [Gamasutra]

• Aonuma will not stop until he makes a game better than Ocarina of Time
• PlayStation 3 firmware 2.53 available now, may make you underwhelmed
• Amazon offers RPG bargain buys in honor of Cyber Monday 2008

A PC gamer needs a deep pocket and to be an early adopter of change (of which there is plenty in computer technology). One of the newer technologies out there is the range of 45 nm Penryn processors from Intel that run cooler while providing increased speeds ideal for gaming use. Now Toshiba has introduced the latest and the meanest version of its flagship gaming notebook series. The Satellite X205-SLi has a cogent Penryn at its heart backed by NVIDIA’s SLI graphics, which will combine to give you the…

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PNY Technologies, makers of professional grade graphics boards and consumer graphics cards, today (January 7, 2008) announced its upcoming release of the XLR8 Chilled Edition high-end graphics card systems. Each system will be complete, pre-assembled and fit standard size home computer cases.

Screw crazy wiring or complicated hardware reconfiguration to fit all the tubing. According to a PNY, the design incorporates what it calls a “Rad Box” (aka a Radiator Box) that houses the fans, radiator and pump in a metal box that fits into two drive bay slots on the front of a standard PC case. (Cooler system = less drive bays). A tube will connect the radiator to the cooling block mounted to the graphics card.

The liquid-cooled cards were developed by CoolIT and PNY and will include the Dual Drive Bay VGA Cooler for extra cool oomph and, according to PNY press release, cool an overclocked system up to 40 percent more than the average cooling system.

The XLR8 Chilled Edition graphics card systems will be available Q1 2008 from most retailers beginning at $599 (and more depending on the model and configuration) and will include a three-year warranty.

Site [CoolIt] Site [PNY] Site [XLR8 Gaming]

• Visa’s new card with buttons and screen
• Gamertell Exclusive: Photos of game-skinned car at Scion Slammer Car Show, Fort Bragg
• Nvidia announces desktop MacBook GPU

The PS3 version of Madden NFL 08 has instigated a fierce defense of the machine from both EA and Sony.

The PS3 is taking fire because, as some claim, Madden looks much better on rival Xbox 360 and has superior AI and overall smoothness. The PS3 version has been reported to run at a yawning 30 fames per second, while the 360 version breezes at 60 fps.

Meanwhile, EA has attributed the inferiority of games on PS3 compared to the 360 versions to the lack of knowledge about the PS3 among game developers since most developers have spent 3 1/2 years developing games for the Xbox360 which has provided them more…

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