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  • 3 weeks later...

Fri Jun 19 2009

Dirt 2 Impressions Sans Porn Star

===========

E3's Lone Porn Star Booth babe

Plenty of video game developers have booth babes on hand at this year's E3 to add a little sizzle to their games, but only Codemasters has an award-winning porn star in attendance.

:/

New WRC Simulation Coming 2011

In yesterday’s iOpener & Simbin story, I tried linking iOpeners involvement with the Swedish developer to a new World Rally Championship simulation that has been announced to also feature the iOpener technology.

These seem to be two different projects though as the WRC simulation has been announced to not be released before 2011. International Sportsworld Communicators, holders of the WRC commercial rights, are planning to release a multi-platform WRC title that will be available both on consoles and the PC to an international audience.

Until 2006, Sony held the WRC license, their rally games were available exclusivly for the Playstation and on only on certain markets though. North American rally fans and buyers in other countries could not buy the Sony WRC games, an approach that will change with the new title. Other than that, not much details on the new sim have been revealed, iOpener’s technology will enable gamers to compare themselves to WRC stars like Sebastien Loeb and Marcus Gronholm.

Playstation 3 owners won’t have to wait until 2011 to get their hands on virtual WRC cars as the series has recently been revealed to be included in Gran Turismo 5.

http://www.virtualr.net/new-wrc-simulation-coming-2011/

  • 2 weeks later...

Saw that this morning too. I was planning on playing it on the computer with my 360 controller so I could run higher settings than a console. Now with the delay, I'll probably just be picking it up for 360. I don't see how it can be that much better with the delay.

It's not that long of a wait, only an extra month or something right? W7 is out in October and Dirt 2 was supposed to release in September.

At least the 360 version will be out on time. That's all that really matters :p :heart:

It's not that long of a wait, only an extra month or something right? W7 is out in October and Dirt 2 was supposed to release in September.

At least the 360 version will be out on time. That's all that really matters :p :heart:

From the Kotaku article:

PC users will have to wait until December before they get a much nicer version of the title, provided they have the hardware to support it, of course.

Substantially longer time than most will wait for.

DiRT 2 Delayed for DirectX 11

July 6, 2009 - If you're looking for a game that will fully take advantage of the latest hardware and software on the PC market, Codemasters has a racing game for you. Earlier today, Codemasters announced that the Games for Windows edition of DiRT 2, the fast paced sequel to the 2007 off-road racing game, will fully support DirectX 11 as well as Windows 7. Citing the release of DirectX 11 hardware in the second half of 2009 as well as the launch of Windows 7 (which will come with DirectX 11 on October 22, 2009), Codemasters stated that the game will intentionally take advantage of various DX11 features, such as Shader Model 5.0 for richer 3D, enhanced depth of field and other features.

(...)

"While the console editions of DiRT 2 will retain their September ship date, we believe that the DirectX 11 feature set is too compelling to ignore, especially considering how much more it can add to the visual experience for PC gamers," said Bryan Marshall, chief technical officer, Codemasters. (...)

Source

I would normally jump in delight, but I just forked out 200$ for an HD 4890 and I'm worried about not being able to benefit from these features. I heard DirectX11 was sort of compatible with DirectX10 hardware, but partially, can anyone confirm / provide sources ?

Edited by Dr_Asik

Ok so according to the Gamefest 2008 announcement on DirectX 11, DX11 hardware is required for Shader Model 5 and Tesselation, but otherwise DX11 is backward-compatible with DX10 hardware. However from the DiRT 2 article it appears that they will be using SM5 so I guess the game will require DX11 hardware for full support of all the features.

Guess I'll have to exchange that card sooner than I thought. :/ I can't wait to see the game in it's full DX11 glory though. About time we moved on from DX9.

Argh really wished they just sticked with DX10 seeing as it was only a couple of months away from being released, now we have to wait until December so that a tiny minority can have improved effects. Surely they could have just rolled it out and then patched it later like Microsoft did for FSX with DX10

I'd pay good money if they finally incorporated the ability to copy data to the PS3 harddrive - the loading times on the PS3 Dirt 1 were pitiful. Yes, everyone who owns a PS3 has a harddrive. Use the damn thing!

Same goes for EA - for the love of god, learn to use the harddrive.

Argh really wished they just sticked with DX10 seeing as it was only a couple of months away from being released, now we have to wait until December so that a tiny minority can have improved effects. Surely they could have just rolled it out and then patched it later like Microsoft did for FSX with DX10

That is the exact way they should have handled it.

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    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
    • Or... just use Bitwarden. Free, and has on-prem option as well. Works both on desktop and mobile, wherever you are. The age of local password files is over.
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