Gm3r.com | Party Like A Gamer.

It’s a sad morning.

PC gamers everywhere will be up-ending their Olde English 800s today in honor of a staple brand, ATI. Founded in 1985, ATI (Array Technologies Incorporated) produced integrated graphics cards for PC manufacturers, eventually going on to release legendary products like the 3D Rage chip, All-in-Wonder product line, and Radeon GPU series. ATI merged with chip maker AMD in 2006, enhancing AMD’s graphics portfolio.

Fortunately ATI AMD’s Radeon and FirePro products aren’t actually going anywhere — the change is in name only. AMD’s research suggests that consumers prefer the AMD brand over ATI, and that changing the brand will enhance preference over competitors. The real benefit will come later this year when AMD ships hybrid CPU and GPU chips, which would have required some awkward hyphenation sure to cross eyes and pose uncomfortable self-identity questions.

The move fits nicely with AMD’s motto, “assimilate or die the future is fusion.”

Like its Microsoft brethren, Windows XP, the Xbox 360 has no intention of going quietly into the night. The venerable second-gen console has plans to live a full and rich product lifecycle, with Kinect as a much needed mid-life shot in the arm. MS will continue to offer the 360 for another five years, giving the console, which launched in 2005, a ten year lifespan.

Microsoft Europe’s VP of interactive business, Chris Lewis, let loose his company’s plans at gamescom last week. Lewis attributes the extra old age to a number of life saving drugs, including the upcoming motion-sensing whiz kid, Kinect. This aligns neatly with Sony’s ten-year plan for the PlayStation 3. As usual, nobody knows what Nintendo has up their sleeve.

Frankly, we’re divided on the next next-gen arms race, having just recovered emotionally from the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray wars.

Eurogamer got the scoop! According to “three separate development sources who have seen and used the new PSP,” the new toy comes in around the same dimensions as the PSP-3000 and (probably) sports the same flash storage that made the PSP Go such a controversial handheld.

The big twist, however, comes in the control scheme: touch-sensitive controls behind the screen, keeping our filthy fat fingers from blocking the action. Couple that with a colorful display, decent game selection and a release date sometime in the next few years, and what do you get?

A shiny new handheld that still probably won’t stand up to the Nintendo 3DS. Let the flaming commence!

Families, children, and maybe your girlfriend who still isn’t quite sold on video games are the target of THQ’s new Wii accessory, set to hit shelves this holiday season: The uDraw GameTablet. The GameTablet will be sold bundled with the uDraw Studio, touted to allow users to create doodles or masterpieces.

The game tablet seems fairly dependent on games designed specifically for it, and it will be interesting to see whether or not the third-party accessory will succeed. While some Wii accessories have gotten great traction (think the Wii balance board, I try to use mine for Yoga daily), the most successful have been created and released by Nintendo rather than ambitious third parties.

The Wii remote docks into the tablet, utilizing a touch sensitive stylus with buttons mimicking the C and Z buttons of the Nunchuck. THQ will also be releasing Pictionary and Dood’s Big Adventure (Dood=doodle, it took me awhile on that one), both designed for the GameTablet.

These may not be ideal for the hardcore gamer, but you can always save your pictures to the memory card then print and hang them on your fridge or give to your mom. The true question is will the GameTablet succeed? Will it be a gateway to get your friends into gaming? Will your kids like it? And most importantly, is there a series of Mario Paint games in my future?

Read on for the press release and trailer.

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For years now, people have been keeping their eyes peeled and their brand loyalty banners ready to hail in the one true iPhone “killer.” For those of us with any brains there’s no such thing, just like there’s no World of Warcraft “killer.” Still, the major phone manufacturers can still do a number on the competition by taking a bit out of market share (much like Android has done recently), and Microsoft and Sony hope take a bite out of the iPhone’s mindshare by casting it as an inferior product by comparison.

First up is Microsoft. Our favorite gadget blog, Engadget, has the scoop on a number of Xbox Live launch titles for Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 — yes, that’s Xbox Live on a phone — and the service looks great. If you’re unfamiliar with mobile phones and gadgetry (really?) then you should take some time and read up on Windows Phone 7, as it’s a phone on a short list of phones for this editor’s next “daily driver.” Microsoft is using it’s considerable depth — both in clout and bank reserves — to secure an impressive list of launch title’s for it’s brand new flagship mobile operating system.

As for Sony? Well, they’re acting cute, as usual. Check out Sony’s new shot-across-the-bow featuring Kevin Butler’s protege, “Marcus PSP,” after the break, where you’ll also find Microsoft’s Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7 press release.

Oh, and look out, Apple. Sony might just beat you at your own game: Marketing.

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The Nintendo 64 was really and truly the first game system that blew my mind. Sure, I had played a bunch of old-school IBM games on early consumer PCs, dabbled with earlier Nintendos, and maybe even a Sega or two, but there was just something about seeing Goldeneye 64 on my friend’s television that inspired the first memorable envy of my life. It took us a good three hours to figure out how to open that first gate, but we were unfazed.

You can imagine that, like me, Goldeneye was a formative gaming experience for many youngins’ back in the day, and that Activision’s announcement of a remake of the Rare classic struck a cord very near to the heart. Now we learn that they’re also bringing back the legendary gold controller.

Expect many a stocking to be stuffed with an extra golden prize come this holiday season. Goldeneye 007 releases wintertime on the Wii.

Bonus: Check out some recent 007 screenshots after the break!

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If Microsoft’s patent listing for their new Kinect peripheral manifests in reality, the device could prove to be not only an innovative gaming peripheral, but an incredible accessibility device as well. The patent from the Redmond giant claims that their motion sensing whiz-kid can recognize American Sign Language in addition to the body, face, and voice, and those who communicate with ASL will be able to talk to the device with letters, phrases, and words.

It would be easy to jump in here and make a few jokes about the mute finally being able to trash talk more efficiently, but we’re excited that Kinect could open up gaming to a group unable to communicate online with the now ubiquitous voice chatting functionality — not to mention the innumerable other possibilities (for instance, a sign language training software that could be used in the home with Kinect).

Here are a couple relevant excerpts from the patent:

Where the user is unable to speak, he may be prevented from joining in the voice chat. Even though he would be able to type input, this may be a laborious and slow process to someone fluent in ASL. Under the present system, he could make ASL gestures to convey his thoughts, which would then be transmitted to the other users for auditory display.

In this situation, for example, when the user kills another user’s character, that victorious, though speechless, user would be able to tell the other user that he had been ‘PWNED’. In another embodiment, a user may be able to speak or make the facial motions corresponding to speaking words. The system may then parse those facial motions to determine the user’s intended words and process them according to the context under which they were inputted to the system.

This device gets more exciting every time we hear about it.

What’s that? You think Kinect is overhyped? Well now it helps the disabled, so you just sound like a dick.

The title of “midrange graphics champion” changes hands more often than the baton in a relay race, and Nvidia is picking up the crown in this round. The GFX Giant announced today that that Direct-X 11 GTX 460 will be the newest recruit in its Fermi series. The good news is that the hardware has received broad acclaim for its performance. The better news is that it will only set you back $199 clams.

The GTX 460 will add two cards to the Fermi Flotilla:

• GTX 460 768MB, 192-bit ($199)
• GTX 460 1GB, 256-bit ($229)

You can grab the 768MB edition today, but unless you need to buy the card right frickin’ now, we recommend waiting to grab the 1GB flavor for only $30 more. Check out Nvidia’s product page for additional specs, or any of popular review houses listed here:

The Guru of 3D Review
AnandTech Review
Tom’s Hardware Review
HardOCP Review
Hot Hardware Review

Nintendo just unleashed it’s little 3d handheld monster, and it’s looking pretty interesting at this point. The device sports a somewhat strange viewing arrangement with the top screen a 3.5 inch widescreen 3D display, and the bottom a 4:3 touch screen. The top screen will not have touch functionality because, according to Nintendo, touch and 3d do not mix well.

In terms of specs, we can’t offer any hardcore details about hardware, other than major elements. Nintendo says that the 3DS is beefier on the performance front (presumably to run all that 3D stuff), but also comes with some nice upgrades such as persistent internet and 3DS to 3DS connectivity. You’ll also see a whopping three cameras, with one on the inside of the device, and two on the exterior for — get this — taking 3d pictures! Pretty cool, right?

The biggest news of the day is partner support. Frankly we’re stunned at the impressive list of powerhouse developers who are signed on to bring huge titles to the 3Ds. The partner list includes, among others, Activision, Capcom, EA, Harmonix, Konami, Level 5, Square Enix, SEGA, Take 2 Interactive, THQ, and Ubisoft. You can expect to see some big name series on the platform including Kingdom Hearts, Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil, and Metal Gear. THQ takes the cake though, with the presumption that Saints Row will make an appearance — meaning Nintendo just might be all grown up now.

While the press conference was a little awkward and corny (okay, majorly awkward and corny) the 3DS is looking like an incredible huge platform in a tight little package. This ain’t your daddy’s DS, folks. More pictures after the break.

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There’s a lot of good stuff from today’s Microsoft E3 2010 press conference. Hit the read more link to see the breaking news.

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