Raytracing is a method of generating a computer image by tracing a ray of light through an image plane. The whole process is similar to how light bounces off objects in nature, determining the colour, sheen, luminosity, etc. Whereas other methods of creating graphics have to generate special effects, shadows, bloom, and other popular lighting techniques are all occur as a natural product of raytracing. The problem is that raytracing is very resource intensive, making it great for pre-rendered applications, not-so-great for on-the-fly applications like games. According to Intel's Michael Vollmer, that's a fact that could change sooner than we think.

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If your games are calling out for a dual-core or quad-core processor (a high-pitched whine, if you're not familiar with the sound), the next few weeks will prove to be a great time to go shopping. Intel's just dropped the prices for the E8400 and Q6600, which you'll remember came highly recommended by me.

Intel Cuts Quad-, Dual-Core CPU Prices [TrustedReviews]

We're a great deal savvier than we used to be about PC hardware. No longer are the insides of a computer scary - merely dark and, depending on how neat you are, dusty. Sure, you might scratch yourself on a sharp piece of metal, or procure a burn from a toasty heatsink, but any gamer who's owned a system longer than five years has earned his licence to fly solo in the bowels of his silicon beast.

Titles such as Crysis have raised awareness of Direct3D 10, while Supreme Commander proved that dual and quad core processors have a place in the motherboard of the average gamer.

It's a shame then that it's become progressively harder to identify which graphics cards or processors are better, thanks to the irrelevancy of megahertz and esoteric product names packed with hyperbole. Is an Intel E6600 better than a Q6600, because E comes first in the alphabet? Shouldn't a GeForce 9600GT be faster than an 8800GT by the difference of 800 "whatevers" in its name? The answer would be "no" in both cases.

I recently made a few purchases for my brother, whose AMD-based system finally decided that being a working PC wasn't hip any more. As part of the process, I had to put together a few parts that would serve him for the next few years, but wouldn't leave him scrounging his pocket lint for food money.

Anyway, hit the jump for my recommendations.

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And here I was thinking I was crazy. Back in November 2007 I made a post regarding memory errors I'd been seeing while using the latest version of Intel's GM965 display drivers on my Dell M1330. I was able to correct the errors by reverting to an older driver.

Looks like I wasn't the only one. Over at Intel's software developer forum, user 7oby created a detailed thread describing the symptoms of the bug, and the driver versions it affected. The post includes a link to the release notes for the driver where the problem may have been introduced, though going over the list of changes, anything could be the cause.

The bug has also been identified by Blizzard's tech support for World of Warcraft, where it was shown to crash the MMO on Macbooks.

Fortunately, the problem seems isolated to certain models of Dell and Macbook laptops running the GM965 chipset. Apparently Intel has a new driver with a fix in the pipeline, and will be releasing it shortly.

Journalists in the UK who were receiving advanced copies of Grand Theft Auto IV had an interesting caveat—beyond wanting to know which platform was preferred for testing, Rockstar wanted to know their LIVE Gamertag or PSN IDs. While Rockstar's email request has been pulled from the source site, it's speculated that they intend to track various non-approved players, looking for regions where GTA IV might be leaking early. But from what we know about LIVE and PSN, Rockstar will have no way of differentiating downloadable copies (that have just leaked) from retail discs actually being sold early. So it all becomes an exercise in futility.

GTA IV: Microsoft and Rockstar tracking Gamertags before April 29 [videogaming247 via Gaming Today]

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After transplanting Master Chief from his warm, green home on the Xbox 360 to the PlayStation 3, it was hard to imagine a greater iconoclastic modder offense...but one may have just happened. The newest entrant to the UTIII unlicensed mods club is this Samus Aran skin. Play Metroid, kinda, on your PS3!

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Even though his presence in the industry has declined somewhat since the release of Doom 3, and his passions have shifted from polygons and frame buffers to mobile phones and space rockets, it's always pure win reading interviews with id's John Carmack. Mention any topic and the man has something compelling to say.

PC Perspective managed to get a hold of the programming guru and quiz him on the latest happenings in the industry, including the recent purchase of AGEIA by NVIDIA and Intel's consuming of Offset Software and its luscious graphics engine and physics middleware vendor Havok.

Early on in the piece Carmack gives ray tracing a tongue lashing and fortifies his opinion on rasterisation, the dominant form of 3D rendering. According to Carmack, the argument that the former scales better than the latter is "ridiculous". He even throws in a chunk of info on voxels, which our good friend Ken Silverman loves to bits.

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I totally didn't see this one coming. At all. By the looks of things, Intel has just swept in and plucked the company from the realms of independent development.

From the site:

Today we have some major news to announce. Intel has acquired Offset Software. Yes, you read it correctly! Project Offset is going strong and we are excited about things to come. Stay tuned.

The main dude in charge of art, Rod Green, is originally from Australia. He was unbelievably helpful when I was putting together an article on the developer's tech back on Atomic. In fact, Rod is probably the most accommodating developer I've worked with in my career.

I've pinged Rod an email, hopefully he'll be able to share a few details about the acquisition.

Project Offset [Official site, via Blue's News]

Me, I've got a single core processor sitting on my motherboard. Just the one. Was thinking of upgrading to a quad-core later this year, but now, I don't know. That notion's coming under very close scrutiny after this monstrosity was announced today, most likely to coincide with the official unveiling of the PC Gaming Alliance: Intel's eight-core processor, officially dubbed the Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform, but more awesomely known as the Skulltrail. Eight cores? Was man meant to reach such dizzying heights? We are but Icarus, flying too close to the sun...It's targeted specifically at gamers, and sure, it's $US 649, but for that price you can plug two quad-core processors into it, which when combined with support for both CrossFire and SLI graphics cards should be enough to melt both your face and you wallet.
Eight-Core Intel Skulltrail Motherboard Gets Official, Is the Biggest, Baddest, Gaming Motherboard Around [Gizmodo AU]

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The PC Gaming Alliance is real. It was just announced at GDC, and comprises not only the rumoured Intel, NVIDIA, AMD/ATI and Microsoft (along with Alienware, Dell, ACER and Gateway), but publishing giants Epic and Activision as well. Intel's Randy Stude will be heading up the group, which rather than making things like official stickers, box labels and slogans will instead be working to provide the platform with a unified "voice":

One of our main major objectives is to provide one voice on PC gaming market. There's no one source that says 'hey this is where the PC market is going'. Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are always calling their market share - we're going to call our market through this group.

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